SG Special Upgrade Day...

Mr Grumpy

Mr Grumpy

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...my 2019 SG Special is a pretty good guitar although it had a problem with the bridge, so I decided to sort that out. I also thought I'd put some new tuners on.

The guitar is a limited edition which gives a nod to a '64 (or late '63 or '65...) SG Special, so I wanted to keep it close to an original spec. It's not a reissue, so it's not vital that everything is perfect, but I tried to keep it the same, such as a lightening bar MojoAxe bridge:

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Even though not absolutely required for this guitar because the short Maestro helps the bridge to be more stable... one problem with these guitar is post leaning, and this can be gotten rid of by Faber locking studs, so I got some of those:

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&, just because I like them, I got some strip tuners:

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Below you can see the Gibson lightening bridge and posts (on the right) next to the MojoAxe and Faber posts:

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Below you can see the Gibson post and the Faber locking post (underneath). Basically, the Faber has an additional thread near the top which allows the bolt to lock the stud in place with the bridge - making a solid bridge that doesn't move or lean. The Faber is also slightly heavier, thicker and 'heavy duty'. I've had Faber bits before, and they are very well made. I'd call them top end.

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Below, you can see the MojoAxe to the left of the Gibson. They are very similar. The MojoAxe is maybe 30% heavier, the metal segments are thicker, and it feels a tad better made, but not much in it. The lightening stagger looked the same to me... The problem with the Gibson bridge was that the little internal screws seem to have a different thread size to the actual thread in the bridge. I got the screws out, but I tried changing them over, oiling them a bit, cleaning them, etc, and nothing helped - I've put it in the Gibson case, but will probably throw it away - it fits on the guitar, but isn't really functional.

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The guitar came with chrome hardware, but I prefer Nickel, so all the bits I bought were nickel.
 
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Thought I'd start with the tuners.

The old ones on the right, the new ones on the left.

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The bushings are a bit different, so I just took my time taking the old bushing out and putting the new bushings in - not difficult, but worth a bit of care/

One side done, front and back:

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1) You can see that the buttons are whiter on the new ones. Actually, the old ones better matched the binding (although the pickguard is white, so you could say the new buttons match that better.

2) The new tuners are the latest Klusons, 18:1, so they will probably work well. They weren't expensive, about $50 delivered to me Korea. The MjojoAxe was about $60 delivered to me in Korea, and the posts were about $20 delivered to me in Korea, so I didn't spend much on this stuff. The worker costs were free, but of very low quality... me... :)

3) Screw holes? The old tuners had 6 screws whereas the new tuners had 4; the bottom hole was exactly the same; the other 3 were very slightly different, so new holes. I see no reason to ever change back to the old tuners, so shouldn't be an issue.

Both sides done, front and back.

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It was easy work, and I'm happy with the outcome.
 
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Lastly, the posts and bridge.

Easy work...

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The bridge fitted much tighter into these posts (as did the Gibson bridge, as I thought I'd check...), and once you tighten the screws then you have a perfectly straight bridge that neither flexes nor leans - it feels really good (thanks to Ivan for suggesting them). Anybody who has a basic wraparound, and gets lean and movement at the bridge should consider these, imho.

I just set a basic angle:

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&, I oiled the board which I feel is a nice board, and I'll leave the guitar for a bit then string it up, do a quick setup, leave the guitar out overnight then really try to get it perfect tomorrow.

I'll report back.


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I'm nowhere near as capable as most of youse, but this was all pretty straightforward.
 
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Gahr said:
How could anyone not love a guitar like that! I definitely NEED a Special. My only problem is I'm running out of things to sell to finance it...
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I have been looking on this one......

www.andertons.co.uk

Epiphone SG Standard 61 Maestro Vibrola in Vintage Cherry - Andertons Music Co.

Get the Epiphone SG Standard 61 Maestro Vibrola in Vintage Cherry from Andertons Music Co. Free UK delivery on qualifying orders!
www.andertons.co.uk www.andertons.co.uk

www.thomann.de

Epiphone SG Standard '61 Maestro Vibr.

Electric Guitar Body: Mahogany, Neck: Mahogany, Fretboard: Indian Laurel, Trapezoid fretboard inlays, Neck profile: Slim taper, 22 Frets, Scale: 629 mm (24.75"), Nut width 43 mm (1.693"), Pickups: ProBucker-2 (neck) and ProBucker-3 (bridge)...
www.thomann.de www.thomann.de

 
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Very nice personalizing it like that.

I dont understand the use of a wrap around bridge with the vibrola though.

These Gibson SG posts lately are really giving me GAS.
I wont be buying anything; it is like ogling super models.
I know I'm not getting any of that but I still like to look.

After last week I was jokingly considering a funeral pyre for ALL my gear and starting over.
Things were better last night.
 
TCE63 said:
Nice job (y)
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Thank you, Sir, but it was all pretty straightforward stuff.

Edit to add: that Epi '61 does look nice. It's really an intriguing guitar at a good price. I worry a bit about the wood grain, but I'm looking forward to seeing and trying one in person. This is the first vibrola SG I've had and it's rock solid - much better than I thought it'd be.
 
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jtcnj said:
Very nice personalizing it like that.

I dont understand the use of a wrap around bridge with the vibrola though.

These Gibson SG posts lately are really giving me GAS.
I wont be buying anything; it is like ogling super models.
I know I'm not getting any of that but I still like to look.

After last week I was jokingly considering a funeral pyre for ALL my gear and starting over.
Things were better last night.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm getting my Junior back in a couple of weeks - that guitar felt perfect from day 1. This Special is nice, but kinda irked me from day 1... I feel much happier now.

Edit to add: regarding the wraparound bridge and vibrola - many people either take the vibrolas off or don't use them, so a decent wraparound just gives you that option. If you have, say, an ABR-1 (which the standards with vibrola do) then you need to do something about the saddles otherwise the bridge moves too much and causes problems. The wraparound is much more solid and just a better option with the vibrola, imho. The Fabre locking posts would pretty much be a requirement along with either nylon or roller saddles if you have the ABR-1 bridge. Gahr has this setup on his DT SG, but I'm pretty sure he has the nylon saddles to help the situation.

On a standard, the ABR-1 looks good. But, on a Special with vibrola, the lightening bridge looks right to my eyes. There's no rights or wrongs, of course, just views and preferences.
 
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syscokid said:
Very classy and solid upgrades. Very well done. Congrats... :cheers:
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Thanks, Sysco - I wanted to start with the basic stuff that'd see her close to a '64; then if that didn't work get a bridge with adjustment, etc and do more of a job... But, as we've said before, the vibrola takes a lot of stress off the bridge.

I took some time to sort out the nut before I put the strings on. The guitar came with the strings ontop of the nut and a strange break angle - as if they were putting minimal effort into getting a good nut position. I was not happy with the G-string, but thought I'd sort the entire nut out, so I cleaned the slots, enlarged them and put some nut oil fully into each slot. The strings are now in the slots, level - you can run your finger along the nut and the strings are even with the top of the nut - feels right to me, and plays well open and at the first fret, so that's a good sign. It was all of 20 minutes work, but well worth doing.

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Then I strung her up with the locking method. Did some scales and stretched the strings - actually, I mostly used the vibrola for that, but did stretch them with me fingers too; 15 minutes. Now staying in tune well, and the G-string sounds correct (not stuck in the nut) and is smooth.

The 18:1 tuners are a really nice improvement, very smooth, easy and exact. I like them a lot. &, it might be a small thing, but I really love the look of them (I might put them on the Junior too, feeling 50/50 because the Junior just works, so I should leave it alone...). I have no idea what is written on these tuners instead of Gibson Deluxe???

The Fabre studss are excellent. Now, other folks will disagree with me, but a few years back when I had an Epi G310 and changed the stop bar for a heavy low lying Fabre stoptail piece it made a big difference to the sound. These studs also improve the sound, imho (ok, I changed a few bits and did the nut, so there's a combination of sounds, but getting the nut right and solid studs into the body makes a decent sound and playability improvement, imho.

I set the bridge to the MojoAxe specs which they suggest intonating to A and B. B is perfect right off the bat (although I wanna lower that side a tad, so that may change things) whereas the A is a bit out. I had the strings off for a couple of hours, so I'll do a full setup tomorrow morning, but even now, without making any setup attempt, it's much better than when the guitar arrived to me.

I wanted to make an effort to get this guitar right, to dial it in as close as it can be, and I'm very happy with where I'm at now - confident that I can really dial it in tomorrow morning (I haven't touched the trussrod since I got the guitar, but I will tomorrow). I'll learn her ways... :)

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A little update: all is well. Intonation on the A & B strings is perfect. Either side of both the upper string is a tad sharp and the lower string a tad flat, but just a tiny tad for each. I suppose that's as good as the lightening bar is gonna get, but that's fine for me - the guitar sounds good. The upgrades all worked well, and were worth the effort/cost.

I ordered a couple of other bits, so I'll update this thread in about a week... :)
 
Mr Grumpy said:
A little update: all is well. Intonation on the A & B strings is perfect. Either side of both the upper string is a tad sharp and the lower string a tad flat, but just a tiny tad for each. I suppose that's as good as the lightening bar is gonna get, but that's fine for me - the guitar sounds good. The upgrades all worked well, and were worth the effort/cost.

I ordered a couple of other bits, so I'll update this thread in about a week... :)
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Good to hear. I find that the intonation on my wraparound guitars are all good enough. Not necessarily perfect, but never problematic. And you learn to compensate for whatever small imperfections there might be when you play.

By the way, how is the Vibrola holding up? Does it hold the tuning well? Have you done anything to the nut to make tuning stability better, or was ist well cut to begin with?
 
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