What Is a Gibson SG Guitar?
In the 1960s rock music got a makeover with Gibson's SG model guitar. This easily recognizable solid mahogany body guitar complete with double cutaways, or "devil horns", soon became favored by rock icons like The Who's Pete Townshend, and Cream's Eric Clapton. You can hear its unique sound in classic rock tunes such as "Sunshine of Your Love." On this instrument Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi gave birth to the heavy metal genre. As of 2010, the SG Standard is the best selling Gibson of all time.
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The Birth of the Electric Guitar
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The Gibson Guitar Manufacturing Company, LTD began in 1902 thanks to a patent on mandolin design. The original owner was bought out, and within decades the need for a louder guitar grew as the Big Band era faded. In 1936, a "pickup" was added to a Gibson model and introduced to the growing electric guitar market. The pickup usually has a magnet at its core, and transfers the vibrations of the metal strings into an electric current that is sent to an amplifier. This innovation would usher Gibson into its golden era through the 1940s.
The SG Standard
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The sales of the Les Paul Standard started lagging in the late 1950s, and in 1961, Gibson introduced the SG model to boost its sales. They renamed it the "SG Standard" in 1963. Though it shared the same two humbucker pickups as the Les Paul Standard as well as Gibson's "tune-o-matic" bridge, players seemed to prefer the SG's more contoured edges and slimmer body. In the first three years of production it sold more than 6,000 guitars, which solidly trumped the 1,700 Les Paul Standards that were sold between 1958 and 1960.
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Types
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Today there are several types of SG guitars, including the still popular SG Standard. The 2010 Gibson website offers some of the following:
SG Special
SG Special Faded
SG Special Raw Power
SG Zoot Suit
SG Custom
SG Carved Top
SG '61 Reissue
Angus Young SG
SG Elegant Quilt Top
Famous Players
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From 1968 to 1972 Pete Townshend of the Who made his guitar of choice the cherry red Gibson SG Special. Other players have included the following:
Angus Young - AC/DC
Tony Iommi - Black Sabbath
Robbie Krieger - The Doors
Jerry Garcia - The Grateful Dead
Billie Joe Armstrong - Green Day
Carlos Santana - Woodstock era Santana
Duane Allman - The Allman Brothers Band
Eddie Vedder - Pearl Jam
Frank Zappa
Jimmy Page - Led Zeppelin
Lenny Kravitz
Michael Nesmith - The Monkees
Nancy Wilson - Heart
The Edge - U2
Tommy Shaw - Styx
The Sound
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Some popular songs that utilized the SG sound:
"White Room" - Cream
"Sunshine of Your Love" - Cream
"Light My Fire" - The Doors
"Love Me Two Times" - The Doors
"Red House" - Jimmi Hendrix
"Just What I Needed" - The Cars
"Bodysnatchers" - Radioslave
“You Shook Me All Night Long” - AC/DC
“Strange Dreams” - Mahogany Rush
“Sweet Lorraine” - Uriah Heep
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
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Comments
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you write about the Gibson SG but show an image of a Fender Stratocaster, why?
