everythingSG.com

Review by Forum Moderator - Terry Anderson (Six String)

With the loss of my “mom and pop” shop, I admittedly haven’t been out much… but I had the very good fortune recently of taking a tour of Sweetwater Sound just outside of Fort Wayne IN. (http://www.sweetwater.com) For those of you that are not aware of Sweetwater, they are a gear center like none I have seen. They have just put up a new state of the Eco-Art building that is unbelievable.

Review by John Abel aka Guitarweasel (Forum Administrator)
Photographs by Tim Hines

Well fellow ETSGer’s we are proud to say that Gibson has acknowledged us as an authority on SG’s and has sent us “THE ROBOT SG” for review!

First off, I want to preface this by saying I have played the Fender VG Stratocaster, and the difference is night and day. The Fender is Virtual, the Gibson is mechanical. My point? With the Gibson, you can feel the difference in tunings, the slack of the strings and the over all feel, which is completely different, a plus for Gibson IMO. Enough about the Fender and on to the Robot SG.

I’ve had it for a few days now and I have to say, being very old school I really wanted to hate this guitar……..BUT……the more I’ve played and fiddled with it, the more impressed I’ve become.

If you are a player of a certain age then the chances that an SG was the first “real” guitar you got your hands on - and if you're 17 and in a punk band you might well be playing one, too. This sculptured, high-power classic has been driving rock, pop and blues for 40 years and more. Tony bacon has the Inside story of Gibson's slimmed-down rocker...

Gibson's SG solid bodies have attracted lots of interesting players over the years from John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service to Robbie Krieger in The Doors, Brian James of The Damned to Micky Jones in Man, and of course Clapton, Harrison, Townshend, Angus Young and the rest. The other day The Osmonds even turned up with an SG Junior on a vintage TOTP clip, playing Crazy Horses. Despite all this notable action, however, the SG divides players, with some considering it little more than a Gibson also-ran. Which is odd.

(2-2006)
In the past there were only a handful of SG models so you'd simply choose the one you could afford. These days Gibson and Epiphone make 24 – everything from vintage reissues to Signature models and cheapies with bolt-on necks. HUW price samples seven of the best...

Imagine the scenario. Seven boxes arrive and excited fingers pull out a large representative chunk of the Gibson/Epiphone SG range. There they are lying on your carpet, your amp's warmed up and ready to go – so which one are you going to pick up...the Korean one or the '61 Standard? It's obvious, really, so let's start with 'the best' and work out what we lose as we slide down the wonga scale.

The early 1960s-style '61 SG Standard (£1730) is a real beauty, right down to the superfluous piece of plastic between the neck pickup surround and the end of the finger board. It has the small pickguard with covered 57 Classic humbuckers and a wide headstock. This is top-of‑the-line stuff with a one-piece mahogany neck and a sumptuous nitro-cellulose cherry lacquer finish. Other period-correct features include the Kluson-style plastic tuners and the black speed knobs.