Гибсон SG: История и особенности модели электрогитары.

Solid body electric guitar model

The Gibson SG is a solid body electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1961, following on from the 1952 Gibson Les Paul. It remains in production today in many variations of the initial design. The SG Standard is Gibson's best selling model of all time. SG stands for "solid guitar".

The SG design was given a thinner, more contoured body than the Les Paul, and a double cutaway. Not only did this make the upper frets more accessible, it was further eased by moving the neck joint outwards by three frets. The simpler body construction significantly reduced production costs, and the SG, with its slender neck profile and small heel where it joined the body, was advertised as having the "fastest neck in the world". Although the new guitar was popular, Les Paul strongly disliked it. Problems with the strength of the body and neck made Paul dissatisfied with the new guitar. At the same time, Paul was going through a public divorce from wife and vocalist partner Mary Ford, and his popularity was dwindling as music tastes had changed in the early 1960s. Paul asked lifelong friend and former President of Gibson Ted McCarty to withhold his $1 royalty per guitar, and Gibson mutually agreed to end the contract. Gibson also honored Les Paul's request to remove his name from the guitar. In the early to mid 1960s Gibson's parent corporation, Chicago Musical Instruments, revived the Kalamazoo brand name for a short time. Later models of the KG 1 and KG 2 featured a body style similar to the Gibson SG, effectively creating a budget line model until the brand was dropped in the late 1960s. Gibson currently makes lower cost, internationally sourced versions of the SG at their subsidiary Epiphone. Because of its ease of play, comfort to hold, popularity, and vintage heritage, the body style of the SG is often copied by other manufacturers, although much less frequently than the Les Paul and the Fender Stratocaster.

The SG generally has a solid mahogany body, with a black pickguard. The 24.75" scale mahogany neck joins the body at the 19th or 22nd fret. Early models had a smaller neck joint with a longer tenon. This neck design provided access above the 16th fret. Epiphone made bolt on neck models still use a 16th fret neck joint. The SG's set neck is shallower than the Gibson Les Paul's. The SG features the traditional Gibson combination of two or three humbucker pickups or P90 pickups and a Tune o matic bridge assembly, wraparound bridge, or vibrato tailpiece, depending on the model. The SG Standard features pearloid trapezoid fretboard inlays, as well as fretboard binding and inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and crown; the mid level SG Special features pearloid dot inlays and an inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo, without a crown. The Standard has a volume and a tone control for each individual pickup, and a three way switch that allows the player to select either the bridge pickup, the neck pickup, or both together. The SG does not include switching to coil split the humbuckers in stock form. Some models use body woods other than mahogany; examples include the swamp ash SG Special, the SG Zoot Suit, made using multiple birch wood laminate, and the SG Voodoo, the 2009 Raw Power, and some walnut bodied 1970s models. High end models, including the Diablo, occasionally sport decorative maple caps, carved tops, and gold hardware.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe played a white Gibson Les Paul SG with three humbucking pickups, customized with an old style maestro vibrato. Angus Young of AC/DC occasionally uses a custom made SG with lightning bolt inlays, based on a custom model originally produced by luthier John Diggins. Since then, Young has collaborated with Gibson to make the Angus Young SG which features a custom designed Humbucker in the bridge position, a '57 Classic in the neck position and the lightning bolt inlays. Robby Krieger of The Doors used a Gibson SG Standard starting in 1965. Gibson produced a limited run of 150 SG's which incorporate many of Krieger's favorite components of various SG's. Eric Clapton used a 1964 Gibson SG Standard starting in 1967 while in Cream. This guitar was known as the "Fool" guitar, as it was painted by the Dutch artists known collectively as The Fool. In spring 1968, the SG was loaned to Jackie Lomax, an associate of George Harrison. The "Fool" was later sold to Todd Rundgren for $500 before eventually being sold to a private collector for about $500,000. Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath owns several custom made black left handed Gibson SGs with white cross shaped fretboard inlays. Epiphone produces a similar guitar as the Tony Iommi G 400. Iommi's original SG (used on the early Sabbath albums) was a modified cherry red, left handed 1964 SG Special with P 90 pickups which he nicknamed "Monkey" after he added a sticker of a monkey playing a fiddle to the guitar. John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service used a custom Gibson SG with custom pickguards in the shape of bat like figures, as well as the fret board being customized with unique patterns. Mike Oldfield used a modified 1963 SG with a guitar synthesizer pickup to control a Roland GR300 Module for some of his guitar sounds on his 1980s albums such as 1983's Crises (including "Shadow on the Wall"), 1984's Discovery (including the title track) and 1987's Islands (including "The Wind Chimes") as well as single only tracks from this period such as 1984's "In The Pool" and 1986's "Shine". In 1992, the Gibson Custom Shop introduced a "premium plus" reissue of the '67 SG. There was an estimated run of 100 of these instruments. It included three '57 humbuckers, ABR 1 bridge, ebony fingerboard, slim tapered neck and a mother of pearl block. There were no certificates issued from Gibson on this particular run. In 1998 Gibson introduced a rarer, higher specification version of the SG Special—The SG Special Limited Edition. It came with an ebony fingerboard, factory gold hardware, and two gold array Humbuckers. The 2015 Eden of Coronet guitar which earned the title of most valuable guitar in the world.