NGD-Gibson SG 70's Tribute (I did a bad thing)

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tony1852
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Location: Chester, VA

I had a Epi Prophecy SG with Dirty Fingers I sold a few months ago when I was in trying to cut down on my guitars. I really liked it, but it was crazy neck heavy and just felt, somehow, 'cheap'. But the neck and sound was great!

Then I saw these Gibson SG 70's tributes with Dirty Fingers and thought, that might be cool. A real Gibson with less flash than the Prophecy, but the same pickups. The Gibson SG standard that I had was probably my least favorite guitar I've ever had. The neck just didn't feel good to me, and it had terrible dive as well.

I put a bid on one at Reverb in Vintage Burst at $600 and was rejected. It was pretty, but definitely didn't need one as I just got my Agile Valkyrie. Then another one came up that was black. Late one night I put in a ridiculously low bid of $375 that I knew would be rejected. Woke up the next morning to find it was accepted!

Just arrived yesterday afternoon. It's probably the lightest of my guitars, and besides my strats I think the only one with an unbound board. The fingerboard was probably going to be one of the thickets I have, so I was very apprehensive on the guitar. I thought I'd hate the feel of the board and it would have terrible neck dive.

To my utter surprise, it's awesome! Well balanced, and I like the feel of the neck as much as any of my other guitars. And the Dirty Fingers, yes!

My first guitar was an black Epi SG in maybe 1988. It was fun, but I couldn't wait to get a Superstrat, and a few years later I got an Ibanez HSH with a Floyd that I put EMGs in. Now I'm back to a stripped down black SG. Funny how the circle turns...

I'm thinking of finding a straight black bat-wing pick guard on it. What's your thoughts, add pick guard or not??
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HEADSTOCK SG 70s TRIBUTE.jpg
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MattFireblade
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I say keep it with no guard. Open coil pickups = no guard to me.
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toomanycats
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Beautiful Gibby!

How are the fret ends? Myself and others here have Gibson SG Tributes with very sharp fret ends. Mine is a 60s tribute and I like it very much, though only after I got the fret ends smoothed.

Regarding the pickguard, I say none. I like the stripped down look.

HNGD!
“There are only two means of refuge from the miseries of life: Music and Cats!” Albert Schweitzer
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honyock
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keep it black, it looks great. congrats.

I really enjoyed my 70s SG Special Tribute, but I ened up finding a 70s Firebird Tribute and decided to sell the SG since I have 2 other SGs already plus an Agile Valkyrie.

The neck profile is one of my favorite from Gibson.
10 years, 2 months, and 8 days of blissful ignorance ruined by that snake in the grass Major Tom.
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honyock
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toomanycats wrote:Beautiful Gibby!

How are the fret ends? Myself and others here have Gibson SG Tributes with very sharp fret ends. Mine is a 60s tribute and I like it very much, though only after I got the fret ends smoothed.

Regarding the pickguard, I say none. I like the stripped down look.

HNGD!
Must be they do better work on the lefties. across the 3 tributes I've owned that were new, not one had an issue with the frets...
10 years, 2 months, and 8 days of blissful ignorance ruined by that snake in the grass Major Tom.
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tonebender
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Location: Wheremyhathangs, FL
Gearlist: Fav: Gibson LP and Gibson Goldtone Amp. Other gear: Gretsch, Peavey, Taylor and more.

That's a real player. I had a black SG that I used exclusively when I played with a singer songwriter for a couple of years as a side project in the early 2000's. I ran it through an old Univox tube head into a really old 1x12 Yamaha PA speaker cab that was converted to a 1x12 guitar cab. That was one ratty looking rig but the tone was to die for. This was a roots rock sounding group and it worked nicely. It became the sound for that group. SG's are great, I think if I ever do another "electric band" project I will break out my SG because they are lighter than an LP.
"Will follow through with a transaction when the terms are agreed upon" almightybunghole
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jtcnj
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Great Score!!
Congrats!
I say leave it stock.
Old AGF since Feb. 2015; refugee of the Great MOMO Purge of May 2020.
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Kerry Brown
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+1 for leave it stock. These are lean, mean rock machines and need to look the part.
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jhull54
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Yeah, that's a looker, and doesn't need anything extra. Rock it! HNGD!
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toomanycats
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honyock wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2020 9:09 am
toomanycats wrote:Beautiful Gibby!

How are the fret ends? Myself and others here have Gibson SG Tributes with very sharp fret ends. Mine is a 60s tribute and I like it very much, though only after I got the fret ends smoothed.

Regarding the pickguard, I say none. I like the stripped down look.

HNGD!
Must be they do better work on the lefties. across the 3 tributes I've owned that were new, not one had an issue with the frets...
If I remember correctly, I could swear [mention]tobijohn[/mention] was one of the others on the old forum that commented about the sharp fret ends.
“There are only two means of refuge from the miseries of life: Music and Cats!” Albert Schweitzer
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honyock
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toomanycats wrote:
honyock wrote: Fri Jun 12, 2020 9:09 am
toomanycats wrote:Beautiful Gibby!

How are the fret ends? Myself and others here have Gibson SG Tributes with very sharp fret ends. Mine is a 60s tribute and I like it very much, though only after I got the fret ends smoothed.

Regarding the pickguard, I say none. I like the stripped down look.

HNGD!
Must be they do better work on the lefties. across the 3 tributes I've owned that were new, not one had an issue with the frets...
If I remember correctly, I could swear [mention]tobijohn[/mention] was one of the others on the old forum that commented about the sharp fret ends.
maybe I have just got the luck, it is not like I get the pick of the litter...

The only place I've seen more than 1 of any left handed Gibson was at Manchester Music Mill. Though the Firebird I got there was the only one I tried (love at first sight?), they had at least 3 in storage that they posted for sale about 6 months after I bought mine.
10 years, 2 months, and 8 days of blissful ignorance ruined by that snake in the grass Major Tom.
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zisme
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nothing but sexiness there! I wouldn't change a thing on it (except maybe the tuners).

dirty fingers scream in an SG

HNGD!
frogs love to eat flies,
the devil's name, Beelzebub, lord of the flies
evil spirits love to spiritually feed upon those whom Beelzebub rules

joined AGF March 20, 2013
tony1852
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Location: Chester, VA

I was thinking of getting some locking tuners, maybe something to keep the head stock light, like gotoh stealth locking tuners. Thoughts?
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aullucci
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What a steal, man. Congrats! I was just thinking ‘wouldn’t it be nice if I knew someone with an SG and Dirty Fingers who could share some clips.’ What are the odds?
Believer
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Gearlist: Too many amps; Too many guitars; Too little time...

Very nice, really doesn't need anything. If you decide to add a pickguard, you might want to consider the "small" 3-layer (BWB) SG guard. I think that would look good, too!
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Spike
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Great score, congrats. I guess I’ll be ‘that guy’ and vote for a pick guard. While some guitars look ok w/o pick guards, I have always felt that a guitar just looks “normal” to me with a guard.

Either way, looks good!
To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift
Steve Prefontaine
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nomadh
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Gearlist: My Gear:Electric
Gibson '13 studio dlx hsb
Gibson '79 flying V
Gibson '06 sg faded
Gibson '15 LP CM w gforce
Epiphone Casino coupe
Epiphone dot studio
Fender USA strat w mjt body _w Original body 81
Fender lead II
Firefly spalted 338
Squier affinity tele bsb
Squier strat std relic
Squier subsonic baritone
Agile al2500 albino
Agile al3001 hsb
Sx ash Ltd strat
Sx ash strat short scale
Sx ash tele
Sx callisto jr
Dean vendetta
Washburn firebird. Ps10
Johnson trans red strat
Johnson jazz box Vegas
Seville explorer
Inlaid tele
flametop bigsby tele wood inlaid neck
23

Acoustics
new Eastman acoustic
Sigma dm3 dread x2 (his and hers)
Fender 12 str
Ibanez exotic wood
Silvercreek rosewood 00
Ovation steel str
martin backpacker acoustic
Johnson dobro

I hate the batwing guard. The small guard is nice but on a black guitar just leave it alone.
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PsychoCid
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It's beautiful, and what a score!! Enjoy it :)

No pickguard needed, but it sure would look mean if only the neck pup had a cover..

SGs are simply amazing when done right. The cheap ones don't balance well, or can often use the wrong neck joint (more like an LP). But when you get one that's balanced, man they are rock and roll machines
Jaymo
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Gearlist: SX Liquid. SX Hawk. Sawtooth Tele. Ibanez GAX70L. SX Callisto STD+. Ibanez miKro bass. Jay Turser Pbass. Carvin LB70L.

I tend to like an SG better without a pick guard.
I also tend to like black guitars better without a pick guard.
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