A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

So, I had a gig Thursday night down in Zephyrhills at the Crystal Bar. Sort of my home court, we owned our ranch and lived there for over 30 years. The Tonebenders had a stretch where we were the house band every Thursday and some weekends for almost a decade. I had the new Firefly semi hollow all ready to debut and I was pretty stoked about that. Then something happened I was expecting.

I had a dentist appointment for the semi-annual cleaning at 3pm. My dentist is in Lakeland. The gig location is about 30 miles south of here and the dentist is about 20 miles south of that so I did not want to come back home in between the appointment and the gig. As luck would have it there is a Guitar Center in Lakeland. The perfect place to kill some time. The plan was to browse, head on up to Z-hills for some dinner then go set up and play.

I had been in GC for about half hour of so looking at new amps, used amps, Gretsch guitars, PA speaker and acoustic guitars. I was just about to wander on out when I noticed an SG hanging over in the Gibson corner. I caught my eye because it has a single batwing P90. I love Gibson guitars and I love P90's so I went over to check it out. There was no tag, sticker of anything so suggest a price so out of curiosity I inquired. The dude had no idea and when he browsed the store inventory in the computer it did not show up. So he unlocked it and took it down to get the serial number. Of course he handed it to me while he punched in the numbers and commence to play it and look it over. The neck was perfect to my hand and it played so "soft". The action required little effort and it was very very light. Even being light it still did not have the neck dive some SG models have.

Eventually he told me that he found it in the data base and it was $1200 even. By this time I had already googled and found the SG Jr sold for $1399 at most sites. I asked if it came with a HSC or a bag. He had no idea and went into the back to check. He came out and said there was no case for the guitar. He also said he thought another GC location had sent that guitar to their store for some reason and that is why there was no case and no info in their inventory. That is also why it was discounted to $1200. At that point I had lost my mind and believed I could not live without it. He hooked me up with a nicely padded TKL for $50 and I was out the door like a kid at Christmas.

As much as I love my Les Paul with P90's I may have just found a new #1 with this guitar. I have always admired Charlie Starr for using a single P90 Gibson on a lot of songs.

Buying that guitar was in no way an act of madness. Fate had you cross paths with that guitar; you had the presence of mind to recognize it for what it was; and you had the guts to act upon your instinct and pull the trigger.

The SG Jr guitar is just about the ultimate expression of the K.I.S.S. principle (keep it simple stupid).

I've wanted a Gibson SG Special, which is like the big brother of the Jr, ever since seeing the video for California Breed's song "Sweet Tea."

Oh YEAAAAHHH!!
NIce score!

I had a Special back in the day but for some reason it did not bond with me and I was so into LP's that I let it go. I had always liked and GAS'ed over a Les Paul Jr with the P90 but the neck on those is a 50's. I had not realized the SG was more 60's. They are rare in the wild and this one was the first I had in my hands. It was sort of kismet. I had no need for another guitar at all. It has prompted me to get them all out tomorrow, take some pics and decide what can go in the second big sell off.

That type of thing is precisely why I have my gear fund: you never know when something like this will happen, and you NEED to be ready.

Congrats on nabbing a guitar that speaks to you. It's rare, and it's amazing when it happens.

"Buying that guitar was in no way an act of madness. Fate had you cross paths with that guitar; you had the presence of mind to recognize it for what it was; and you had the guts to act upon your instinct and pull the trigger. " - TMC

Religions have sprung forth, and hordes moved, from much lesser revelations.

Awesome score Jeff. I think most things that are good in life end up showing up when you least expect them too - whether it be a guitar, a new job, a new house or even meeting lifelong friends May it be all you want it to be and then some.

So that's the guitar you used with the C30 and a tube screamer? How did it sound with each?

uwmcscott wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 5:40 pm I think most things that are good in life end up showing up when you least expect them too - whether it be a guitar, a new job, a new house or even meeting lifelong friends...

It has happened to me, and I´m still hoping - and working - for some of them to happen. Great words.

tlarson58 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 08, 2023 10:06 am So that's the guitar you used with the C30 and a tube screamer? How did it sound with each?

It was amazing. I have to rethink everything. I always play 98% of the time with the neck pup but I certainly have an appreciation for the bridge pup now.
Much more articulate in the mix. It only having a bridge pup was my only apprehension when I made the purchase but it was just so cool and played so soft and nice that I had to get it. I think I will try using the drive channel instead of the tubescreamer next time. My board only has four pedals, a boss tuner, a handwired TS, a Hotone Blues and a mini TC Electronics reverb. Basically I have three tones, clean for rhythm, I step on the Hotone for crunch rhythm and the TS for leads. I only use the reverb with my Ampeg, the C30 has a nice tank reverb.

So that's the sg you told me bout. Nice gibby dude.
I'm jealous. My friend Pete had one similar back in the late 70s.and then you could get them for 150,to 250.
That being said we buchterd it not realizing how much they would increase in value.
I know shame on us.