Gibson SG: The Lesser Paul? | Friday Fretworks

hey guys i'm chris buck i very warm welcome to ferrari fratworks and this week we're taking a look at a guitar which i've always felt has been a little bit of a contradiction in terms criminally under-appreciated or underrated while simultaneously being its manufacturer's biggest selling model guitar of all time what is it and how can that be is of course the gibson sg and that wasn't meant to rhyme [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] boom now if you're a regular viewer friday fret works odds on you may have seen a video i posted a few weeks ago taking a closer look at a 1964 gibson es 335 that was for sale in france for a cool 22 and a half thousand euros now one of the reasons that guitar was so valuable or so expensive is it's what's considered the clapton cream spec 1964 factory stocktail and of course cherry red captain playing that guitar at creams farewell albert hall show in 1968 is one of the most enduring images of the 1960s and as someone who grew up as a massive clapton fan trying to learn that crossroad solo taken from creams wheels of fire all i wanted when i was younger was a cherry red 335 but in conducting some research for that video it very quickly became abundantly clear that the solo i'd grown up idolizing and whose tone i spent hours trying to replicate on various cs335 style guitars wasn't actually recorded on a 335 after all but his gibson sg's 1964 sg aka the fool every known photo from the show that spawned that recording taken from the winterland ballroom in san francisco in march of 1968 shows clapton not playing his 335 on guitar that he's arguably more widely associated with having played despite only having really used it at a handful of shows throughout his entire career but his psychedelic sg now 64 335 will set you back roughly about 20 000 pounds whereas an sg of the same pedigree will set you back about half of that and considering this is a guitar that has undoubtedly been used on some of the most important rock and roll recordings of all time it did get me thinking is the gibson sg the most famous yet still under appreciated guitar of all time the gibson sg has a rather interesting history to say the least and for anyone who's ever played an early example will know that it hasn't always bought the sg name now in 1959 gibson les paul sales had failed to meet the company's expectations imagine that 1959 les paul's not selling it's rather unbelievable but it was very much the case and gibson in 1960 decided to revamp the model with a thinner neck and a paint finish that wasn't going to fade in shops windows as per customer and dealer requests amazingly the revamp was met with an overwhelming meh gibson decided that after nine years of a rather turbulent ride for the les paul one neck angle reset two different pickup types three different finishes and three different types of bridges it was time for a change so circa mid-1960 ted mccarthy gibson president assembled the team led by chief designer larry alles to design the new les paul no one person has been solely credited with the sg's design although people around at the time are very quick to point out that larry alice did have a very big input but looking back it is very easy to see the influence of the fender stratocaster which at the time was more than likely one of the inspirations for redesigning the model we had the beveled contoured edges doubled cutaways giving easier access to the higher frets and a lighter thinner body than the les paul that had preceded it the guitar was also given a new set of florentine cutaways flaunting castaways essentially being any type of horn that comes to a point which is very much synonymous with the sg but can actually be traced back at least in gibson's history way back to 1957 when it appeared on the double 12 a lesser-known model that at the time was custom order only the first les pauls bearing the new design rolled off the production line in late 1960 initially it should be said alongside the old les paul designs but it is clear to see the impact the new design had pretty much overnight the guitar gibson argued had the fastest neck in the world that was a big part of their advertising sold over 6 000 guitars in its first three years compare that to only 1700 guitars between 57 and 60 for the old les paul it's very clear to see the impact this new design had the guitar bore the les paul name up until the mid point of 1963 at which point it changed over to the company's internal designation for the instrument simply sg solid guitar now the real reason for the change of name has unfortunately been lost to the animals of history not helped undoubtedly by less ponchon should we say for developing or embellishing his stories the offer account to tell is that he apparently hated the new design but given he appeared in several adverts with it it doesn't make it rather more likely that the real reason was his rather acrimonious divorce that he was going through with mary ford at the time and that les was more than likely advised to divest his name of as much equity as possible which led to him letting his contract with gibson expire in the midpoint of 1963. either way the sg has gone through a couple of subtle changes over the years from a change of pick guard change of neck joint but it is one of the few gibson guitars to have been in continuous production since its introduction [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] queens [Music] so how does the sound of an sg differ to that of a les paul of course it did replace the les paul until 1968 when thanks to his newfound popularity with the likes of mike bloomfield peter green keith richards and ironically eric clapton gibson revived the model now in terms of construction they are relatively similar solid mahogany body of course the les paul dan has a carved maple top on top of that but it is pointless to pontificate too much on any sound differences because everyone has a difference of opinion and of course it will vary greatly from guitar guitar but the general rule of thumb is that the sg has a slightly more prominent aggressive mid-range on top end whereas the less poor little bit more cultured a little bit more of a rounded low end now for the following clip i'm going to use my standard 2007 totally stock sg pin it up against a 2001 again totally stock gibson les paul [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] so why do i feel that the gibson sg is underappreciated after all it is gibson's biggest selling model and has some of the biggest names in music fighting its corner george harrison used one as his main guitar on the beatles revolver tony aiomi and his 64 sg special monkey pretty much single-handedly pioneered the sound of heavy metal while angus young recorded back in black the fourth biggest selling album of all time on 71 sg couple that with jerry garcia pete townsend derek trucks frank zappa robbie krieger jimi hendrix dwayne allman the sg undoubtedly has a fantastic pedigree but with the exception of tony aiomi and angus young you wouldn't necessarily say that any of those players are household names that are particularly synonymous with having used an sg if you compare that with players more widely associated with the les paul slash billy gibbons jimmy page paul kossoff gary moore peter green joe bonamassa not necessarily bigger names but ones that for whatever reason have been a little bit more monogamous with their choice of guitar over the years obviously the les paul along with the stratocaster is one of the most copied guitar shapes of all time thus making it one of the most instantly identifiable couple that with the fact that the sg is considerably cheaper to buy than les paul both in the upper phone and gibson ranges adds up rather to a public perception that the sg is a lesser quality instrument of course this isn't the case and the difference in price pretty much exclusively comes down to the fact there's less production or less manufacturing involved in the sg than there is the les paul with a carved maple top but the unfortunate byproduct of that is that it does seem as though an sg for many is a stepping stone to owning a les paul not so much an image problem or a pr problem for the sg so much as an unfortunate consequence of its chronological place within the company's history and its lower price point [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] whatever the case the gibson sg is undoubtedly responsible for some of the most important and iconic recordings of all time and digging mine up for this video was only really certain to remind me what a truly brilliant instrument it is okay they've not got the fastest neck in the world anymore and yeah they are a bit prone to neck dive and okay they're not as pretty as a flame top 335 or less poor but there's a workmanlike simplicity about an sg which is almost reminiscent of defender telecaster everything you do want nothing you don't really is quite addictive to play and as angus young famously once said i just go where the guitar takes me by that reckoning there's clearly plenty of miles left in the sg's tank a very happy 60th birthday we're straight up rock and roll workhorse as ever i'm chris buck thank you very much for watching friday frat works please subscribe hit the bell icon if you haven't already and i'll see you next week for another episode cheers guys take care i'll see you soon [Music] so [Music] foreign

Channel: Chris Buck

Views: 245,187

Keywords: Gibson, Gibson SG, Gibson Les Paul, Tony Iommi, Angus Young, Jimi Hendrix, Robby Krieger, That Pedal Show, Rhett Shull, Paul Davids, Mary Spender, Rabea Afro, Rabea Massaad, Andertons, Marshall, SG vs Les Paul

Id: 9E_6KVGVQYI

Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 09 2020