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74 gibson SG , love it , hate it?


Guitarzan

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well i have the opportunity to purchase a 74 sg ( very well worn!) for 500 canadian. it has a super distortion in the bridge and one of the original hb's in the neck. i almost pity this guitar, it needs alot of work but it is also pretty solid . the finish has been sweated away, the frets are next to nothing and i had to raise the action to remove buzz. i am trying it for a few weeks in the band environment to decide whether to buy i t.( not live! but rehearsal for a cd). are there any sg owners out there who have praise or negative info to share which may help me decide? i have a friend who will dress the frets no prob.i am looking for any info on sg's , technical or experiences, it is difficult to evaluate this guitar in its present condition. i can however use it with the action like this to get a general idea if i like its tone and if it fits with the mix, the other guitar player uses a strat with vintage noiseless pu's and our style is fairly heavy rock. all you sg lovers and haters fire away, i am waiting. :wave:
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Yep! What the Tedster said.

Gibson had an old guitar that had the SG body but different pickups and the hookups were different so you could fade the pickup volumes. Man, that's what I'd buy in a hearbeat. I had a Carvin DC150K that was originally set up that way & it's a really neat feature.

 

Our Joint

 

"When you come slam bang up against trouble, it never looks half as bad if you face up to it." The Duke...

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hey guitarzan!

 

is your SG tobacco sunburst? does it have an ebony fingerboard? has the headstock been broken and repaired? is the gibson pickup potted in epoxy?

 

if you can answer yes to three of the four above questions, i can tell you some stories about that guitar. my reccomendation - buy it, it's got soul and it rocks

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well..hells bells! to answer the questions.. the fretboard- its dark but might be rosewood that has been stained ?, colour.. originally red but faded to brown over time, and the neck humbucker is probably the bridge installed in the neck( the pole pieces are to the rear and the leads are coming from the treble side and through the inner wire channel. i assume when the previous owner put in the dimmarzio he took both pickups out and put the wrong one back in the neck? but so far it does sound cool , even with the action raised it still has some buzz. it has been neglected! tommorrow i get to hear it at practice! woo hoo! you know at 500 canadian i can't really go wrong. the headstock hasn't been broken( probably because of the volute) its really growing on me! :D jail....break!
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Sg's are God's gift to humanity. They've got the Les Paul sound without the back-breaking weight. If I were you I'd buy a Gibson '57 and stick it in the bridge instead of the Duncan and let 'er rip. They're great guitars, in feel, tone and, they've got style boy!
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Originally posted by guitarzan:

well i have the opportunity to purchase a 74 sg ( very well worn!) for 500 canadian. it has a super distortion in the bridge and one of the original hb's in the neck. i almost pity this guitar, it needs alot of work but it is also pretty solid . the finish has been sweated away, the frets are next to nothing and i had to raise the action to remove buzz. i am trying it for a few weeks in the band environment to decide whether to buy i t.( not live! but rehearsal for a cd). are there any sg owners out there who have praise or negative info to share which may help me decide? i have a friend who will dress the frets no prob.i am looking for any info on sg's , technical or experiences, it is difficult to evaluate this guitar in its present condition. i can however use it with the action like this to get a general idea if i like its tone and if it fits with the mix, the other guitar player uses a strat with vintage noiseless pu's and our style is fairly heavy rock. all you sg lovers and haters fire away, i am waiting. :wave:

Buy it, get a fret job and restore the original harware, including the pickups(you can probably find what you need on ebay, make sure you get the right pickups for that model and year). DOn't touch the finish! Play it and see if it works out for you. If it does ... great, if not, sell it on ebay for a healthy profit.
I really don't know what to put here.
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Originally posted by guitarzan:

well i have the opportunity to purchase a 74 sg ( very well worn!) for 500 canadian. it has a super distortion in the bridge and one of the original hb's in the neck. i almost pity this guitar, it needs alot of work but it is also pretty solid . the finish has been sweated away, the frets are next to nothing and i had to raise the action to remove buzz. i am trying it for a few weeks in the band environment to decide whether to buy i t.( not live! but rehearsal for a cd). are there any sg owners out there who have praise or negative info to share which may help me decide? i have a friend who will dress the frets no prob.i am looking for any info on sg's , technical or experiences, it is difficult to evaluate this guitar in its present condition. i can however use it with the action like this to get a general idea if i like its tone and if it fits with the mix, the other guitar player uses a strat with vintage noiseless pu's and our style is fairly heavy rock. all you sg lovers and haters fire away, i am waiting. :wave:

haha i try to buy all my guitars through canada. i get em very cheap. i have a 74 sg its alright. i have alotta retro stuff. I have a few 1960's strats, a authentic 1959 blackbeauty LP, and a 79 sg its alright. im not really into the newer guitars like ESP. the only one i can kinda say new is the Alembic Prototype Tribute i like
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I won't sell mine ever! (sg standard with the long metal plate with the lyra on it...don't know exactly how it is called in english.. and two nickle humbuckers)

 

I bought it in 1970/71 used..It survived 12 years of heavy gigging and is still in excellent and original condition.

The fretboard is rosewood with perl inlay's and the colour is cherry)

 

It is a rocksolid guitar with a great dynamic sound.

 

So yes you should buy it for that price!

gigging favorites at the moment LP Special order 1973 and PRS custom 24
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well i attempted to play it at practice last night, the pickups squealed like a pig? i was suprised seeing i assumed the gibson and the dimmarzio were potted. but its not the guitars fault, and its not that i can't fix that. so it sure looks like i want it. not to mention that my friend will let me make payments! how can i say no? i did use it ( clean) on one song that had a pink floydish chord comp, it did sound so sweet in the middle position considering i was using two very different pickups combined. its in need of a lot of work , but it is worth it . most of the work i can either do or have a friend do. thanks for all the input guys, i appreciate it.
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Originally posted by guitarzan:

well i attempted to play it at practice last night, the pickups squealed like a pig? i was suprised seeing i assumed the gibson and the dimmarzio were potted. but its not the guitars fault, and its not that i can't fix that. so it sure looks like i want it. not to mention that my friend will let me make payments! how can i say no? i did use it ( clean) on one song that had a pink floydish chord comp, it did sound so sweet in the middle position considering i was using two very different pickups combined. its in need of a lot of work , but it is worth it . most of the work i can either do or have a friend do. thanks for all the input guys, i appreciate it.

Yeah, it's worth it. Definetly man. Jump on it.
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Peel...

Holy crap! Your SG is beeeyoootifull.

 

Guitarzan:

My SG is a ragged '78 tobacco-burst. I got it used for $250(US). It's covered with cigarette burns, scrapes and burns, but it rules. It had brass fittings and old-ass wiring (& PUPS) when I bought it, but I replaced all that crap. It's now an f-ing GREAT guitar. You should definitely buy that '73.

\m/

Erik

"To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

--Sun Tzu

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