Think Auctions Bid On New And Used Gibson SG Electric Guitars

Out of all the guitars in history Gibson�s SG is one of the more desirable electric guitars. Over the years a lot of guitarist have fallen in love with the Gibson SG and have continued to stay loyal to the Gibson brand. Below is a brief history of the Gibson SG Electric Guitar.

In the early sixties the Gibson Company was going through a decline in sales. Although Gibson�s Les Paul was doing well, music was changing and guitarists were searching for a sound that was different from the Les Paul. In 1961 Gibson made some radical changes by designing a guitar that had a whole new shape to its body. The new design was thinner, and lighter in weight. The new guitar had a double cutaway that allowed easier access to the higher frets. The new neck was muck sturdier, and the neck was joined to the guitar three frets higher then on the Les Paul. All of this was done to compete with Fender's Stratocaster that was becoming popular. This new guitar was advertised as having the fastest neck in the entire world, which in fact was true. The new neck was thinner and with its higher neck joint the heel on this new guitar was no longer an obstacle like on the Les Paul. Gibson had to come up with a new name for this guitar, because it no longer looked like a Les Paul. Les Paul the creator of the Gibson Les Paul Guitar requested that his name be removed from the new guitar. Gibson came up with the name �SG� which is short for solid guitar. Gibson had a large supply of "Les Paul" nameplates on hand, so even though Les Paul's asked that his name be removed from the SG in 1961, Gibson continued to produce SG's with the "Les Paul" nameplate sandwiched between the neck pickup and the fret board up until the beginning of 1964. An SG that has a Les Paul nameplate on it is a valuable collector's guitar.

Since the introduction of the SG in the early sixties there have been a number of variations of the SG available. These included the SG Standard Model, SG Junior Model, and the Gibson SG Custom. For some reason the SG Custom Guitars that were produced between 1961 and 1963 didn�t bare the name SG on them, but the SG did come with a Les Paul signature plate beneath the fret board, like all Les Paul's Guitars have.

Standard SG�s that were manufactured between 1961 and 1963 have a truss rod cover with "Les Paul" engraved on them. Models that were manufactured between 1961 and 1965 featured a small pick guard.

In 1966 another redesigning took place in the form of an altered type of neck joint and in 1967 a batwing-shaped pick guard appeared.

In 1971 a different style of the SG was introduced to the public. The new SG had a floating pick guard similar to the Les Paul, and the control plate was mounted from the front of the SG to reduce the cost of construction. Many alternative tailpieces were available as well. Noteworthy tailpieces included the "Lyre Vibrola", the "Maestro", and the Bigsby vibrato tremolo arm. A couple of new designs were introduced along with the new tailpieces. A couple of these new designs were the SG 200 and the SG 100.
High end models included the SG Deluxe models, the SG Pro, and the SG spectrum.

In 1973 Gibson went back to the initial design of the SG. By the beginning of the 80s all the SG models went back to the initial design. Present day models are designed the way they were from 1967 to1969 with the bigger LP style pick guard, which encloses the pickups on the guitars body of the SG. You can still get a Gibson SG with the small pick guard.

Gibson continues to manufacture Re-issues of the SG that are very well liked amongst guitarists. These guitars are replicas of 1960's SG�s except that the stop tailpiece is now stock. If you want a Gibson SG Electric Guitar with a vibrato tailpiece you would have to special order it.

Some popular guitarists that play Gibson SGs include: Hank Williams Jr, Marilyn Manson, Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), Nic Cester (Jet), Shakira and Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath), Pete Townshend (The Who), Angus Young (AC/DC).

Other electric guitars that you will find at our online auction include: BC Rich, Cort, Danelectro, Dean, Epiphone, ESP, Fender, Gibson, Guild, Gretsch,
Hamer, Ibanez, Jackson, Jay Turser, Kramer, Washburn, Paul Reed Smith, Peavey, Rickenbacker, Samick, Schecter, Yamaha