In 2023 what are the best Non-Gibson SG guitars at the American Standard and Custom Shop price levels?

[WelhavenT]

No, I looked at Mayback's website actually. EU 2200 was the price I remember seeing for what looked like an SG made from PINE.......it looked real good too ! BUT, that would be $2400+/- for the PINE Wood SG I saw, that's a real lot to pay for PINE wood. Ridic actually.

Please show us the link. Every Maybach Albatroz (their «SG») I’ve seen is mahogny.

From Maybach’s websine 5 minutes ago: «The Maybach Albatroz 65 Series instruments are blessed with specific ingredients to rock in a sophisticated way. These are classic ingredients like the lightweight mahogany for body and neck».

I know they make T-style (Teleman) guitars made from pine, though.

 

[MR D]

Mayback-guitars.DE...... I did not look at every spec of every guitar. To me Mayback are the imitators and I'll take the real McCoy every time. Kinda like fake ****, they look nice, but...... once u get a hold of them, WTF ?

AND if they pre-date GIBSON, well then......I FUCKED UP......and I wish it was the 1st time. I will say this though, Gernans do tend to make great products. Every thing I ever bought that was produced in Germany was frikkin outstanding (Except that C class Beemer, POS). I've never touched a Mayback guitar though.

 

[WelhavenT]

Mayback-guitars.DE...... I did not look at every spec of every guitar. To me Mayback are the imitators and I'll take the real McCoy every time. Kinda like fake ****, they look nice, but...... once u get a hold of them, WTF ?

AND if they pre-date GIBSON, well then......I FUCKED UP......and I wish it was the 1st time. I will say this though, Gernans do tend to make great products. Every thing I ever bought that was produced in Germany was frikkin outstanding (Except that C class Beemer, POS). I've never touched a Mayback guitar though.

Well, you can stop saying their «SG’s» are made out of pine then, cause they are not. I have owned two. Still have one. Perfect guitar.

I’ve owned seven Gibson SGs, three custom shop Gibson LPs, Collings 290, a few Haar’s, a few EBMMs, two custom shop ESPs and several other high end guitars. I like good guitars, and Maybach are among my favourite brands.

 

[Kirk Dahnke]

Well it seems like we've made the decision (for the OP who doesn't want a Gibson) that there are few options. Personally If I had the kind of money to spend on a custom shop quality I'd go ahead and get the real thing. But buy it from Wildwood Guitars. They have them built to excellent specifications and you can get them on the phone to personally pick out what you want. Gibson makes guitars specifically for them. And you can return an instrument if it's not what you want. And a Gibson is going to hold its value better than anything else. If I knew I had a salesman that was going to hand pick a magical one then I wouldn't worry about anything.

Gibson Custom Shop Historic Wildwood Spec SG Guitars | Electrics - Gibson Custom Shop | Wildwood Guitars

View the large selection of Gibson Custom Shop Historic Wildwood Spec SG guitars currently available online at Wildwood Guitars

wildwoodguitars.com

 

[MR D]

Well, you can stop saying their «SG’s» are made out of pine then, cause they are not. I have owned two. Still have one. Perfect guitar.

I’ve owned seven Gibson SGs, three custom shop Gibson LPs, Collings 290, a few Haar’s, a few EBMMs, two custom shop ESPs and several other high end guitars. I like good guitars, and Maybach are among my favourite brands.

OOPS, MY BAD...and CONGRATULATIONS ! I've never heard of MAYBACK guitars and I will be forgetting all IDK about them right after I put a period at the end of this sentence.

 

[PermissionToLand]

KAUER guitars

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Is that one of those small builders Gibson licensed to build some of their designs? I was wondering what ever came of that.

 

[PermissionToLand]

Well, you can stop saying their «SG’s» are made out of pine then, cause they are not. I have owned two. Still have one. Perfect guitar.

I’ve owned seven Gibson SGs, three custom shop Gibson LPs, Collings 290, a few Haar’s, a few EBMMs, two custom shop ESPs and several other high end guitars. I like good guitars, and Maybach are among my favourite brands.

I recommend going to the village idiot's profile and clicking the "ignore" button as I have.

 

[PermissionToLand]

Well it seems like we've made the decision (for the OP who doesn't want a Gibson) that there are few options. Personally If I had the kind of money to spend on a custom shop quality I'd go ahead and get the real thing. But buy it from Wildwood Guitars. They have them built to excellent specifications and you can get them on the phone to personally pick out what you want. Gibson makes guitars specifically for them. And you can return an instrument if it's not what you want. And a Gibson is going to hold its value better than anything else. If I knew I had a salesman that was going to hand pick a magical one then I wouldn't worry about anything.

Gibson Custom Shop Historic Wildwood Spec SG Guitars | Electrics - Gibson Custom Shop | Wildwood Guitars

View the large selection of Gibson Custom Shop Historic Wildwood Spec SG guitars currently available online at Wildwood Guitars

wildwoodguitars.com

I get where you're coming from, but if you want a truly custom spec'd Gibson, you're looking north of $7,500. A luthier would build you a personalized guitar for the price of a standard production Custom Shop (or maybe even less).

 

[Decadent Dan]

I did not, no ! The thing about PINE wood is that it is cheap, compared to Mahogany.AND it is not considered a HardWood as Mahogany is....My only points ! IDC how it sounds. I do not ! Paying more $$$/Euro's/YEN for a Guitar made out of PINE rather than Mahogany is not something that interests me !

According to the American Hardwood information center PINE is not a HARDWOOD. But they say that POPLAR is , go figure ? I have played Guitars made from Poplar and they were dreadful.

Now, I am not saying MAYBACK Guitars sound dreadful, NO (I hav never even seen one in person) what I am saying is that paying HARDWOOD prices for PINE wood Guitars just doesn't cut it for moi ! NO WAY ! Sorry I repeated myself.

Have you seen the pine US Fender Strats and Teles? Or the pine US Fender Custom Shop stuff?

 

[MR D]

Have you seen the pine US Fender Strats and Teles? Or the pine US Fender Custom Shop stuff?

NO D.D., I have not.....TTYTT, For my entire life I have only played GIBSON Standard or CUSTOM Shop Guitars....w/an Electric Spanish thrown in there every once in a while !......Currently I think I hav 10 Guitars, 7 Standards, an Electric Spanish (335), a CUSTOM (LESTER BLACK BEAUTY)....and an SG 'ORIGINAL' w/Maestro on it but its really a Standard !

I actually did have one Strat, 20 years ago, that I went around Europe with for about 2 years and I hated that guitar, OMG DID I !!! I sold it on 42 ST,the PAWN Shop right across the street from Port Authority on 7th ave...

 

[Kirk Dahnke]

I get where you're coming from, but if you want a truly custom spec'd Gibson, you're looking north of $7,500. A luthier would build you a personalized guitar for the price of a standard production Custom Shop (or maybe even less).

Agreed. Looks like the non-murphy aged are going for cheaper and they also have the option of just a regular American series. I think all the guitars sent to Wildwood are personally selected to be of very high quality and you can get a salesman on the phone to help pick out a guitar for you. Gibson isn't going to ship a bad Gibson to wildwood. Theres magic in many price points. Much better than ordering blind or going to a GC. It's just a thought and personally I would go the Wildwood route. They have a reputation for only selling high quality Gibsons so you can have someone open a box and play it to get an opinion. They aren't going to blow their reputation to just sell a guitar.

 

[Decadent Dan]

Agreed. Looks like the non-murphy aged are going for cheaper and they also have the option of just a regular American series. I think all the guitars sent to Wildwood are personally selected to be of very high quality and you can get a salesman on the phone to help pick out a guitar for you. Gibson isn't going to ship a bad Gibson to wildwood. Theres magic in many price points. Much better than ordering blind or going to a GC. It's just a thought and personally I would go the Wildwood route. They have a reputation for only selling high quality Gibsons so you can have someone open a box and play it to get an opinion. They aren't going to blow their reputation to just sell a guitar.

The non-aged CS Wildwood spec 61 is 20% more than the non-Wildwood spec CS 61. What do you really get for that other than different spec pickups? I thought Custombuckers were already under wound anyway? $800 because it was selected to cost $800 more?

 

[PermissionToLand]

The non-aged CS Wildwood spec 61 is 20% more than the non-Wildwood spec CS 61. What do you really get for that other than different spec pickups? I thought Custombuckers were already under wound anyway? $800 because it was selected to cost $800 more?

Yeah, I've never been able to tell what is supposed to make a Wildwood Spec SG different besides that they select the pieces of wood (woo-hoo) and the pickups are different in some unspecified way.

 

[Kirk Dahnke]

Yeah, I've never been able to tell what is supposed to make a Wildwood Spec SG different besides that they select the pieces of wood (woo-hoo) and the pickups are different in some unspecified way.

Yeah? I'm not really up on CS prices. Sounds like they ensure the guitars are built to exact vintage specs? (hide glue, pickups, wood selection, etc) Its a good question for the store. Personally I love my 1990 Burny SG Standard MIJ. Wouldn't dream of spending the money for a Gibson. But I think people with deep pockets want the best that Gibson could possibly produce. Again I think it's a luck of the draw when you just blindly order from an online dealer. Some people dont want to deal with QC problems etc. Many people will just fork over the money because it's a guaranteed classic. I think the Wildwood guitars are the best Gibsons you can get. If I was to buy one from them I would negotiate and make them prove its worth the upgrade. I think it's a tad overpriced but extra care is done for their retail guitars. I wouldn't buy one of theirs unless I could get at least 10% off. But I'd wait until they selected the guitar before I started beating them up on price. Lol. Or you can just order from Sweetwater or Reverb and take your chances. My understanding is you usually have to go through a few to find "the one". Deep pockets folk ain't got time for that mess. A rep from Wildwood personally selects the guitars from the factory that they sell and probably there is a bit of a premium for their relationship. Take using hide glue and selected woods. That means they have to stop normal production and make special Wildwood guitars. As overpriced as Gibson is they probably cost Widwood more than another retailer. Wildwood doesn't have that many guitars for sale so it's costly for Gibson to make special guitars for them. I'm sure the Wildwood guitars go for more on the used market. It's a status symbol. Like purchasing the premium version of a car. There's no difference between say an Escalade and a totally loaded Suburban but tons of people pay for the Escalade name.

 

[PermissionToLand]

Yeah? I'm not really up on CS prices. Sounds like they ensure the guitars are built to exact vintage specs? (hide glue, pickups, wood selection, etc) Its a good question for the store. Personally I love my 1990 Burny SG Standard MIJ. Wouldn't dream of spending the money for a Gibson. But I think people with deep pockets want the best that Gibson could possibly produce. Again I think it's a luck of the draw when you just blindly order from an online dealer. Some people dont want to deal with QC problems etc. Many people will just fork over the money because it's a guaranteed classic. I think the Wildwood guitars are the best Gibsons you can get. If I was to buy one from them I would negotiate and make them prove its worth the upgrade. I think it's a tad overpriced but extra care is done for their retail guitars. I wouldn't buy one of theirs unless I could get at least 10% off. But I'd wait until they selected the guitar before I started beating them up on price. Lol. Or you can just order from Sweetwater or Reverb and take your chances. My understanding is you usually have to go through a few to find "the one". Deep pockets folk ain't got time for that mess. A rep from Wildwood personally selects the guitars from the factory that they sell and probably there is a bit of a premium for their relationship. Take using hide glue and selected woods. That means they have to stop normal production and make special Wildwood guitars. As overpriced as Gibson is they probably cost Widwood more than another retailer. Wildwood doesn't have that many guitars for sale so it's costly for Gibson to make special guitars for them.

All of the things they describe are just standard features of the Historic SGs. Hot Hide Glue is used on all Historics.

There are lots of other shops that do QC and set up the instruments before selling them, without an upcharge.

There's no "stopping production" because there is no assembly line for Custom Shop models. What it likely entails is simply having the Wildwood guys come by the shop, pick the pieces of wood they like from Gibson's warehouse and having a 2nd setting for the pickup winder with a few less winds on a Custombucker. That costs Gibson practically nothing.

I'm sure the Wildwood guitars go for more on the used market. It's a status symbol. Like purchasing the premium version of a car. There's no difference between say an Escalade and a totally loaded Suburban but tons of people pay for the Escalade name.

Do you work for Wildwood?

I promise you that a retailer does not have the same cache as a luxury car brand. And the only reason they would is because they offer something special, rare and/or desirable. But nobody even knows what is supposed to make the Wildwood guitars different to begin with. These aren't Yenko Camaros. They're Camaros from Bill Henderson Chevrolet with colors selected by Bill and slightly different tires. I'm sure they do a good 20-point inspection but frankly, nobody cares and that ain't worth $700 more, especially on the used market where the setup it got from the factory is long gone anyway.

 

[Kirk Dahnke]

All of the things they describe are just standard features of the Historic SGs. Hot Hide Glue is used on all Historics.

There are lots of other shops that do QC and set up the instruments before selling them, without an upcharge.

There's no "stopping production" because there is no assembly line for Custom Shop models. What it likely entails is simply having the Wildwood guys come by the shop, pick the pieces of wood they like from Gibson's warehouse and having a 2nd setting for the pickup winder with a few less winds on a Custombucker. That costs Gibson practically nothing.



Do you work for Wildwood?

I promise you that a retailer does not have the same cache as a luxury car brand. And the only reason they would is because they offer something special, rare and/or desirable. But nobody even knows what is supposed to make the Wildwood guitars different to begin with. These aren't Yenko Camaros. They're Camaros from Bill Henderson Chevrolet with colors selected by Bill and slightly different tires. I'm sure they do a good 20-point inspection but frankly, nobody cares and that ain't worth $700 more, especially on the used market where the setup it got from the factory is long gone anyway.

No, I dont work for Wildwood. Just seemed like the way to go. I dont know anything about prices. It's not something I'm interested in. I just like that Greg Koch guy. I guess I bought into the hype. I would be interested in hearing what makes their guitars so special. I just assumed they took the time and effort to pick the "good ones". I have zero interest in Gibsons anymore although I love Black LPCs. My 1990 MIJ Burny LPC and SG Standard have got me covered. The one Gibson I have had terrible QC but I got it on sale for $550. Dropped some p90s in it and had someone sort it out and I'm good. It's one of those 2016 SG Special Ts.

 

[jlee]

Tokai and Navigator are still making SG copies. Tokai offers different models at various price points, but the higher end models feature nitro.

Momose has also offered SG models. Don’t know if they are still in production.

 

[aaronlowther]

I will admit I am somewhat disappointed at the seeming lack of options, but I'm not surprised. Thanks for all the help lads!

 

[TDA1966]

There WAS a guy in Ohio who made SG's that were much nicer than these Woodbines at a lower price and he offered them in Black Walnut, Black Cherry, and some other natives. They were of the small pickguard variety with the more substantial 19th fret joint. I will try and find his name.

 

[MR D]

Yeah, I've never been able to tell what is supposed to make a Wildwood Spec SG different besides that they select the pieces of wood (woo-hoo) and the pickups are different in some unspecified way.

U callin me the 'Village Idiot'? LMAO, You really think who the **** you are don't you ? IDGAS that you are the Pooprietor of this website, no I don't. I only give a **** that you apparently seem to stink you never made a mistake in your POOP-BUTT life, Piss Off !!!

IGNORE THAT !