AcornHouse
Venerated Member
I got the sale Gibby SG Special delivered yesterday. Pretty much as expected, except for the setup. Now, I will say that as a “new” guitar over a year old, I suppose it’s anlittle much to expect it to be as it left the factory, but it required some considerable adjustment of the truss rod to straighten the neck’s up bow, and I will still need to tweak the bridge height. (If this was, indeed, Gibson’s factory specs, then no wonder they are in trouble.) Playing it acoustically, there was a dry sound to the frets and fretboard, telling me that it really needs some oil on the fretboard, and some 12000 micro mesh love to the frets. Plugged in, you don’t notice it.
The Model is a bit of a mystery. It was advertised as a 2017, which is what the serial number reflects, but the check card says it was finished on 12/8/2016. But, in 2016, the Special had a thicker neck, with a volute, and a pickguard, and no crown on the headstock. The 2017 had the thinner neck, no volute, and the crown, but had full size humbuckers with a pickguard. So, a transitional model? Using up the minihumbucker routed body from ‘16 with the ‘17 neck. If there is additional routing under the pickguard, then they would have to have used leftover bodies from the limited edition ‘16 SG Naked Model, which had P90s, but also no pickguard.
As for the sound and feel, the 60s slim taper neck feels good to my hand, and the mini-hums have that punchier, brighter sound compared to full size buckers. While it can clean up with the right amp, this is at its best driving a good Marshall type amp. At least that’s how I plan to use it.
Along with the guitar, I got a Gibson branded strap (of the cheapest kind), the typical paperwork, truss rod tool and Allen key (higher end models get a multi-tool), and the crappiest gig bag you’ve ever seen. (Which I was expecting. They now come with a much nicer gig bag, but I have a deluxe Gator case coming in.)
The pics:
The
The Model is a bit of a mystery. It was advertised as a 2017, which is what the serial number reflects, but the check card says it was finished on 12/8/2016. But, in 2016, the Special had a thicker neck, with a volute, and a pickguard, and no crown on the headstock. The 2017 had the thinner neck, no volute, and the crown, but had full size humbuckers with a pickguard. So, a transitional model? Using up the minihumbucker routed body from ‘16 with the ‘17 neck. If there is additional routing under the pickguard, then they would have to have used leftover bodies from the limited edition ‘16 SG Naked Model, which had P90s, but also no pickguard.
As for the sound and feel, the 60s slim taper neck feels good to my hand, and the mini-hums have that punchier, brighter sound compared to full size buckers. While it can clean up with the right amp, this is at its best driving a good Marshall type amp. At least that’s how I plan to use it.
Along with the guitar, I got a Gibson branded strap (of the cheapest kind), the typical paperwork, truss rod tool and Allen key (higher end models get a multi-tool), and the crappiest gig bag you’ve ever seen. (Which I was expecting. They now come with a much nicer gig bag, but I have a deluxe Gator case coming in.)
The pics:
The
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