NGD - 1970 Gibson SG Special

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 2:45 pm

I've been keeping my eye out for an older SG Special for a while, I've had an itch for a twin P90 guitar and I wanted a decent old Gibson without spending daft money.

This came into stock on consignment in a shop not far away - the same place my 64 JM came from.

It's a 1970 SG Special, original bar the tuners, which are a modern 'Gibson Deluxe' tuner, and it came with the trem arm. It's the original finish, and, although on their last crown/file, the original frets. It plays very nicely and sounded great through the shops RI tweed Bassman , I've yet to try it through the Twin or Marshall.

Anyway, I was taking some pics of guitars I'm selling in the garden and took a few shots of it.

speedfish · Post by **speedfish** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:03 pm

Nick,

she's gorgeous! Recently purchased a 2011 classic with P90's and absolutely love the sound of these pickups! Congrats!

gusman2x · Post by **gusman2x** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:33 pm

I've never really fancied SGs, and yet recently I've found myself wondering what it would be like....

Looks nice, and does not help my wandering eye.

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:53 pm

Nice.
The SG Special w/soapbars is a guitar I always fancied, but have never had one.
All purely down to Townsends white boiler suit era at Woodstock etc.

Been thinking myself of further downsizing the collection to say 5 top quality guitars. One would have to be a Gibson of course.

BillClay · Post by **BillClay** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:34 pm

The ultimate SG...

George · Post by **George** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:37 pm

un
real

cur · Post by **cur** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 4:51 pm

wow - cool!

James · Post by **James** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:51 pm

That looks class. I'm also not normally one for SGs but I love that.

finboy · Post by **finboy** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:56 pm

Beautiful, how's the neck?

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:26 pm

Similar to the average modern Gibson at the nut, thickens up near the heel. Pretty much how Gibson describe their 70s tribute necks TBH.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:42 pm

Gorgeous guitar

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 6:43 pm

And of course this
[youtube][/youtube]

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 8:18 pm

Oh my word Nick, that's a smasher. Very jealous. Love my SG Classic. Especially love poo brown SGs.

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 9:13 pm

I knew you'd like it, the lure of P90s

DGNR8 · Post by **DGNR8** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:08 am

Keep pete townshend away. That really is the dream SG.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 3:52 am

I'm probably going to do up my SG as one of these after seeing a few other identical conversions online, it's my dream SG too (and almost the only one I haven't owned next to Mr. Alpine White III).

Nice one dude. Those inside horn bevels are SO DAM SEVENTIEZ. Is it sort of fretless wondery with the worn down frets?

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:00 am

Side note: if you get the guard off this thing in the near future can you take pics of the mounting bars/brackets for the soapbars that attaches them to the pickguard? I'm trying to make some because SGs are so thin at the bottom of their routes and I'm scared to trad-mount two soapbars in it after routing it EVEN MORE.

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 4:04 am

siiiiick. Makes me want to dig out the SGuar from the closet and have a go.

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:31 am

Thanks guys.

So I decided to string it up using the trem last night, I knew there would be a compromise with the action as the wraparound bridge design along with the trem doesn't give a great break angle. There is a reason why 3/4 of the juniors and specials fitted with rhis trem don't have it anymore.

After stringing it up, all the strings sat in grooves worn in over the years and were solid, except for the high E. Everytime I bent a note anywhere above the 12th fret it would slide across the bridge out of place. I know I could sort it by filing a groove in it, but I don't fancy filing a vintage bridge, and I don't own any fret files.

As a compromise, I restrung the high E round the wraparound, with the rest of the strings going to the trem and it is rock solid now. I'll consider filing grooves in a repro bridge, or getting something intonatable in the future. What I didn't expect is that as the bridge moves a little with the trem - which does little more than a vibrato shimmer anyway - the high E moves a little as well, so I still get a subtle vibrato on all strings.

If anyone has any better ideas though, please let me know.

Here is a quick pic of my solution.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:45 am

You can get that exact lightning bar wraparound all over the place, as well as some modern plain G versions for the current LP Jrs too, so I'd just alter a repro bridge and hang on to that one for safekeeping/originality's sake. The vintage style intonated wraparounds like yours are usually referred to as SG Junior bridges as they debuted on that guitar (and this one around the same time granted, but quickly became a hot commodity for people with older Les Paul Juniors).