NGD and a hearty recommendation

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:12 pm

After dezb1 posted about the quality of the Sg Tribute guitar and being impressed by the LP tribute I'd picked up I had been considering picking one up for a while. This week I had the chance to grab one. I picked up a new neck and finally finished off my JM project so the Squier neck I had on that went back on the VM which I planned to sell.

A day later there was someone looking to sell/trade thier SG for a JM or a Jaguar, so I asked if he was interested in mine (thinking there was no way he'd go for it) and the guy wanted to do the trade.

I was intending to sell on the VMJM to but some parts and decided to trade thinking that if I didn't like the Sg I could always use the Grovers and the Burstbuckers. Well I got the guitar home and was super chuffed. Dezb1 was right. These guitars are FANTASTIC. For Just over Â£450 new you are getting a lot of guitar. The hardware is top notch, the guitar is really light, even for an SG but has no neck dive. The one I got (60s tribute) has the larger headstock which I like too and the Burstbuckers are great. I am sorely tempted to paint it white or pelham blue, tho it's a lovely dark brown as is.

The only negative is the fret ends. They were a bit pokey down the neck but up at the dusty end it's like there's been no work on the fret ends at all. I'll be filing and polishing them tonight. Still for the price point it's not a big issue. Chances are if you're buying in a shop they'd file and polish the fret ends for you.

So a big thanks to dezb1 for the recommendation.

Here's a shitty pic. It's too dull to get a decent shot.

singlepup · Post by **singlepup** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:19 pm

I have considered getting a 60s tribute SG for a while now. Love Burstbuckers and the tapered neck. I rather like the brown color, too.

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:26 pm

It's on my list. Killer guitar really.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:35 pm

The P90 50s model looks really great too. They have a shop floor model for sale locally for Â£435....

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 4:55 pm

I've always thought they looked cool with a bigsby. I'm a Robbie krieger and iommi fan so these appeal to me. Stoner/doom metal guitarists favor them as well.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:34 pm

Well played sir... I've had my SG for the best part of a year now and it's definitely been added to my small list of guitars I will never sell.

Ps: I also like the dark broon.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Sun Dec 20, 2015 8:37 pm

They also sold this as the "Future Tribute" with different pickups and Steinberger gearless tuners (like the newer Firebird's tuners).

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 1:03 am

I've never seen one of those in a shop. Only online.

sunshiner · Post by **sunshiner** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:24 pm

Gorgeous. Sharp fret ends may be a consequence of a dry fretboard, it shrinks when it loses humidity. Lemon oil yours and it may solve theproblem

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:59 pm

The actual fret width is fine, the roundover at the edges where the angle is on the fret ends are just improperly finished. Luckily there's no actual sprout

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Tue Dec 22, 2015 11:36 am

We'll soon be changing the name to SGscale, what with you, timhulio, me, Freddy and Noirie... Benecol is sure to join us again soon by the sounds of it.

singlepup · Post by **singlepup** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 12:45 am

24.75" is short enough

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 1:33 am

Wasn't going to say anything but I bought three SGs in 2014.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Wed Dec 23, 2015 3:29 pm

I went from 3 SGs to none and now I'm back up to 3 too...

dezb1 wrote:We'll soon be changing the name to SGscale, what with you, timhulio, me, Freddy and Noirie... Benecol is sure to join us again soon by the sounds of it.

SG splinter group!! Doesn't Stewart have one of the Yamaha ones too?

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Dec 24, 2015 8:54 pm

Thomas wrote:I went from 3 SGs to none and now I'm back up to 3 too...

dezb1 wrote:We'll soon be changing the name to SGscale, what with you, timhulio, me, Freddy and Noirie... Benecol is sure to join us again soon by the sounds of it.
SG splinter group!! Doesn't Stewart have one of the Yamaha ones too?

Only ever seen Stewart's jag n Coronado.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 4:29 pm

I used to have a Yamaha one yonks ago and I'd love to get one again. I keep missing them at decent prices tho. I almost bought a Yamaha Super Fighter in December.It was great but it was Xmas so i couldn't spare the moolah and it sold a week later.

My current bunch:

BearBoy · Post by **BearBoy** » Wed Dec 30, 2015 5:06 pm

Thomas wrote:Doesn't Stewart have one of the Yamaha ones too?

[youtube][/youtube]

Zack · Post by **Zack** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 5:29 am

Thomas wrote:My current bunch:

is that an sg-x? siiiiiiiiiiiick, which do you prefer?

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:33 am

Yeah it's an SGX. I was going to buy the silver one but the guy who was selling never got back to me. In the meantime a local shop got the SGX in. One of the guys knew I was after an SG with an ebony board and recommended it to me so I gave it a try and loved it. The neck on that thing is AMAZING. Like the SG Special but a bit thinner and faster, but it still retaining some of the heft. It's a bit of a metal machine and has a 24 frets too. So I bought it as it was inexpensive and I thought I could route it for a neck P90 and always hide it under the guard to put it back to stock. I bought an extra black guard for it to cut out too. I need to drill out a screw to change it tho as the top has disintegrated and it's stuck in there good.

The SD Invader was in the guitar when I bought it and I did plan to remove it however with dirt it sounds pretty good and matches the guitar really well so it'll stay for now. The previous owner had bypassed the coil tap when they installed the Invader so I need to wire that up as I'm curious how it'll sound split as I've had great results splitting high output humbuckers in the past.

A few days later the guy with the Pewter finally got back to me. I told him that in the meantime I'd bought another guitar because I hadn't heard from him. He offered to drop the price of the guitar if I'd buy it so I gave it a try and it was great (these have my fave Gibson neck carve) ended up picking it up too. Meaning the SGX could stay un-routed. The Pewter came out after the SG Platinum. The Alu was all silver including all the hardware including the headstock (with black Gibson logo) and doesn't have any fretboard markers. My version of the Pewter is an in-between model, it has some of the appointments of the Platinum, namely all silver plastics and hardware, ebony fretboard (with dots tho). But with a normal black headstock which looks better IMHO. The later versions have rosewood fretboards and black plastics.

The Pewter has quite an extreme neck angle. Due to the way Gibson make guitars and fit the neck you can get a degree or two difference in the angle of the neck. This guitar has what's got to be the steepest I've seen. I'm going to have to put some foam under the pickups to get them sitting parallel to the strings.

I prefer the ebony board, but it was just too silver for me. So I've started switching out the plastics. I have the poker chip to put on the toggle and I need to order a switch top. The silver pickups may have to go to but I'll probably just solder on some nickel covers.

Then this Tribute model came along unexpectedly and I traded that Squier JM for it. Not bad considering I was about to stick it up for sale for Â£150.

as for my fave... well I've been reaching for the Tribute most often for a number of reasons.

It has the Burstbucker and Burstbucker 2 pickups that sound great, clean or dirty.

It has the super beveled edges so it's comfy to play standing or Xmas slouching on the sofa. The bevelling is similar to that of the expensive 61ri (which is something Gibson nuts go crazy about). The difference when looking at the different models side to side is pretty dramatic

It's super light, adding to the comfort factor.

The neck carve on this guitar is PERFECT. Very similar to my Les Paul Classic.

The grovers hold tune better than most too.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Dec 31, 2015 12:27 pm

After learning at and reading your review of the 3 rather nice SG's, I just realised you go the tribute in trade for a Squier jag that must be the trade of the year...