[RowdyMoon]

I have one ( red) being held for me at my local music store....I do own an SG standard as well as a Les Paul 60's tribute. altho not considered high end guitars I find the tributes do play very well..and I love the sound I can get with the p-90's...any thoughts on the s tribute good, bad or ugly?

[Rabs]

RowdyMoon, on 12 February 2012 - 11:17 AM, said:

I have one ( red) being held for me at my local music store....I do own an SG standard as well as a Les Paul 60's tribute. altho not considered high end guitars I find the tributes do play very well..and I love the sound I can get with the p-90's...any thoughts on the s tribute good, bad or ugly?

Well im not an SG person, never have been.. But the last time I was in the Guitar shop waiting I picked one up and tried it.. I was super impressed. Was actually the best SG ive ever tried GREAT neck and the P90s are cracking.. good choice id say

[Clump]

I have 1 in worn natural that I got in December. It quickly became my number 1. I absolutely love it. I made a few cosmetic changes and upgraded the caps to USA PIO. The sound was great and the cap upgrade improved it! I'm a tinkerer, but I'm out of things to mess with.

[AlanH]

Just two words from me.......


"Get it!"

[charlie brown]

Clump, on 13 February 2012 - 06:56 AM, said:

I have 1 in worn natural that I got in December. It quickly became my number 1. I absolutely love it. I made a few cosmetic changes and upgraded the caps to USA PIO. The sound was great and the cap upgrade improved it! I'm a tinkerer, but I'm out of things to mess with.

Sure looks a lot better, with that multi-ply pickguard! Gibson should do that,
on all of them...IMHO.

CB

[pfox14]

I love the SG Tribute guitars especially with the Lyre cover vibrola on it.

[pfox14]

[RowdyMoon]

charlie brown, on 14 February 2012 - 11:04 AM, said:

Sure looks a lot better, with that multi-ply pickguard! Gibson should do that,
on all of them...IMHO.

CB

Nice...where did you get the new pickguard from, I can't seem to find anyone ( including Gibson) that sells em.

[Clump]

RowdyMoon, on 20 February 2012 - 01:23 PM, said:

Nice...where did you get the new pickguard from, I can't seem to find anyone ( including Gibson) that sells em.

It's a Jeannie pickguard. My link

He sells them mostly through ebay.

Pick Guardian will do it cheaper, but I have not seen theirs.

The Jeannie fit perfectly.

[RowdyMoon]

Clump, on 21 February 2012 - 09:05 AM, said:

It's a Jeannie pickguard. My link

He sells them mostly through ebay.

Pick Guardian will do it cheaper, but I have not seen theirs.

The Jeannie fit perfectly.

Thank you sir!

[hbomb76]

While the early-to-mid 60's Standard is my favorite SG of all, I have a special place in my heart for SG's with P-90's in them. I've played a couple of these "tribute" models, and my honest opinion, as with ALL cheaped-out finished Gibsons (anything "faded"/"worn", be it USA or CS), is that it's price tag is high for what it is. It's a decent player, and sounds great thanks to the P-90 bite, but for a half-finished "finish" I can't bring myself to buy one, and instead opted for the Epiphone "1961 SG Special", which is an absolutely KILLER guitar for under $400 (with improved tuners, bound neck and the sound is definitely there...don't hate on the imports...lol), and won me over for its feel in addition to the fact that aside from the headstock, it's actually an overall much more "1960s" looking SG. That said, if you can pick up a "tribute" used for a good price, or catch a dealer who's actually willing to cut you a good deal, you'll enjoy the bite and growl of a P-90 equipped SG. If you're handy with a rattlecan of Deft lacquer, you might even consider putting the rest of the finish on there yourself...lol

H

[Clump]

My path to the 60s Tribute went through an Epi 1961 SG in TV Yellow. I thought it would be a nice cheap way into a P-90 SG. The finish is the main reason I returned it. There is a veneer top and bottom that is only on the flat surface that gave the finish an odd brown stain look. Even worse, the veneer only goes to the tip of 1 horn on the back. Check out any pictures of the transparent finishes and you'll see it. I can post pics of the 1 I sent back if you want. Mine also had a number of other finish flaws. I know the way it plays and sounds is more important than looks, but I couldn't get past it. Had I ordered a solid color I would probably still have it.

Direct comparison (all IMO):
The Gibson worn finish is far more attractive, no cheap veneer look
The Gibson plays better (after tweaking both)
The Gibson sounds better (better pups, pots, etc.)
The Epi is better appointed with a bound neck, reflectors, pointers, inlaid logo, etc.
Gibson should be ashamed of the gig bag they provide in any case, but especially compared to the Epi gig bag which is really nice.

For me personally I feel like the price difference was more than justified. When I took the Epi out of its gig bag I was immediately disappointed. When I took the Gibson out it impressed me and continues to impress. It became my #1 very quickly.

I don't want to pee in anybody's Wheaties that chooses the Epi, but I do want to relate my personal experience with both guitars.

[Rabs]

Clump, on 29 February 2012 - 07:54 AM, said:

Gibson should be ashamed of the gig bag they provide in any case, but especially compared to the Epi gig bag which is really nice.

Yeah I find the same thing. I dont understand how they can let any guitar with Gibson on the headstock out without a hardcase, I mean common, I know they are cheaper and thats one of the reasons, but surely Gibson do themselves out of a sale as id never buy a Gibson hardcase as theres so many cheaper ones out there that do the job just as well..

I use these that I get off ebay..I love the classic look

[hbomb76]

Clump, on 29 February 2012 - 07:54 AM, said:

My path to the 60s Tribute went through an Epi 1961 SG in TV Yellow. I thought it would be a nice cheap way into a P-90 SG. The finish is the main reason I returned it. There is a veneer top and bottom that is only on the flat surface that gave the finish an odd brown stain look. Even worse, the veneer only goes to the tip of 1 horn on the back. Check out any pictures of the transparent finishes and you'll see it. I can post pics of the 1 I sent back if you want. Mine also had a number of other finish flaws. I know the way it plays and sounds is more important than looks, but I couldn't get past it. Had I ordered a solid color I would probably still have it.

Direct comparison (all IMO):
The Gibson worn finish is far more attractive, no cheap veneer look
The Gibson plays better (after tweaking both)
The Gibson sounds better (better pups, pots, etc.)
The Epi is better appointed with a bound neck, reflectors, pointers, inlaid logo, etc.
Gibson should be ashamed of the gig bag they provide in any case, but especially compared to the Epi gig bag which is really nice.

For me personally I feel like the price difference was more than justified. When I took the Epi out of its gig bag I was immediately disappointed. When I took the Gibson out it impressed me and continues to impress. It became my #1 very quickly.

I don't want to pee in anybody's Wheaties that chooses the Epi, but I do want to relate my personal experience with both guitars.

See, I kinda' went the other way for the fact that the worn white Gibson (which is actually owned now by the rythm guitarist in the cover-band I sit in with occasionally) just looked half-finished (the worn/faded finishes just never have done it for me, period) and looked like a bad whitewash or something, and the fretwork on it was HORRID. Almost every Gibson "faded" I've touched has had bad fretwork (sharp edges, etc), whereas the Epi had great fretwork, and after a new set of strings (factory ones were dead and wouldn't intonate) it was better playing all around. Your point about the funky veneer look on the translucent finishes is valid, but since my Epi is black (and the next one I'm getting will be white), that's a moot point for me. As far as sound goes, I can't really tell enough of a difference back-to-back through my Marshall cranked to performance level, so that too isn't a real issue for me as both have close enough to that old P-90 "honk" I used to get with my '63 Junior to where I'm happy either way. Plus, being able to get two better-than-average guitars that are 80% or more (and in most cases MORE) of what the Gibson offers for the price of one Gibson version makes me, my wallet and my wife smile, so it was a no-brainer to me. Gibson COULD do a little better, and if they did (without charging even MORE a premium for it), I'd reconsider. As-is though, I can't justify it for anything other than the name on the headstock, and that's just not enough for me anymore. Different strokes, and all.

H

PS...I WILL say that one thing we can all agree on is for the money, ALL "GIBSONS" should come with a real case, not a cruddy gigbag (and yes, the Epi 50th bag is awesome). Also, I'm putting a short-Maestro on my Epi too, because then it will REALLY feel whole.

[John Rutherford]

I was so impressed with the 2011 SG Junior I went out and bought its big brother the 2011 60s Tribute SG.

I wasn't disappointed, great action, beautiful finish [ not shiny cherry red like the Junior, but still nice ],
and as light as a feather.

Only gripe is the wiring which has the anomaly that when the middle mixed position is selected
and one of the voume pots is at zero there is no output, this is fixed in 5 minutes back to the 1950s wiring
set-up via a soldering iron.

[charlie brown]

I just wish, if they're going to call them '60's Tributes, they'd chamfer, bevel, and
taper the horns, on them, accordingly...so they were really like the '60's versions,
they are referenced to.

CB

[John Rutherford]

I'm not a fan of people " upgrading " a Classic axe with inferior aftermarket parts.

When I buy a used Gibson I expect it to be complete with all the Gibson bits it left the
Gibson factory with, not Schallers, Floyd Roses or Di Marzios.

Small rant over.

[hbomb76]

charlie brown, on 02 March 2012 - 07:18 PM, said:

I just wish, if they're going to call them '60's Tributes, they'd chamfer, bevel, and
taper the horns, on them, accordingly...so they were really like the '60's versions,
they are referenced to.

CB

Amen, CB! False advertising has plagued SG's since the 70's, particularly with so-called "reissues" (all the "Historically Accurate" propaganda when the Historic SG/LP Std. was introduced at the beginning of this century, for instance---when you know good and well I can show you a hundred pictures of a hundred different SG's and you'll be able to tell which ones are reissues without looking hard at all...it's SAD) and let's not get into the "BS" that is "VOS" (can you hear my eyes roll??? lol). But if the "tributes" and "reissues" featured the proper cosmetic specs that the originals had, as well as REAL finishes and solid QC, I guarantee you the sales numbers would look 300% better, and if "I" were a person of importance at Gibson, I'd consider the slight tweaks to the "molds" to put out more Golden-Era-esque bodies on pretty much ALL the SG's, because if people really had an opportunity to compare what's out there now with something a little more classic (and classY) in terms of properly contouring, beveling, chamfering, scarfing and tapering (let's look at all the arguments over the depth and slope of the LP maple tops for a second before poo-pooing the idea. Thank you.), you could win back a lot of the vintage players' interest and respect (and BUSINESS), and you put out a REISSUE that really fools people so it's hard for them to justify buying a secondhand/used/vintage piece for significantly more. I've said over and over and over again, you know people would appreciate TRULY ACCURATE and honest "reissues", and I believe they CAN coexist in a world with non-reissues, special additions and gimmick models; the good thing is you can have your "traditional" style reissues along side "contemporary" versions (featuring the same bodies, etc. but with "modern" electronics or other features that appeal to the folks who want such things...such as with LP Stds/Customs/Studios/etc).

It's all about expectations due to misleading advertising (that sounds less abrasive than "false advertising" or "dishonest/misinformed marketing", right? lol), and when you slap a label or name on something that refers to something (in this case the period of the SG's heyday, before they DEvolved into slabby, weirdly shaped bodies, etc), if you fail to live up to your own hype or tagline, you disappoint. And it's not like it'd take a whole lot of work to fix some of the things we complain about. For example, instead of a step BACK from real historical accuracy with the Historic SG Std. when it was introduced (with its lack of tapered horn tips and bad finishing, etc), they could've simply used their newly-tweaked tapered-horn '61 RI body (which at the time was also available with the factory Maestro option), kept it a proper RED finish ("faded cherry" is a fine "option", but shouldn't be the "standard" finish), put the "historic" neck/headstock and hardward/electronics on it, and ever-so-slightly adjusted the "historic" beveling of the body and it would've knocked it out of the park, done deal, no more complaining. If I (or others) didn't care about Gibson in general, and especially the state of our favorite axe, we'd have given up on them years ago. It's about really, really, really wanting to get THE best product we can from the company we like the most when it comes to guitars, and KNOWING that if they really, really tried (and it's not like it's a redesign entirely or anything, we're talking TWEAKS!), they could do it and everyone's happy. Well, except my wife, because I'd probably be adding 2 or 3 new guitars to the collection...lol

H

[charlie brown]

Yep, we've commiserated over this, many times before, H-bomb. We need to get
more SG owners "on board!" Sadly though, I'm not sure there are that many
that either know those differences, or "care?" As nice/good, as the
current SG's may be, they just aren't "Right!" And, that alone, keeps me from
purchasing any, but possibly the '61? It seems to get better, more accurate,
as we go. I too, would love a "maestro" version (again), at a minimum up charge, as
they used to do, in "the good old days!" 10-15 percent, was it? Somewhere in
that neighborhood.

Well, we can always "Hope," that Gibson will (finally) see the light...

CB