greglawrence

Ever since Frank Zappa's Roxy & Elsewhere album, I always wanted one and the "faded" price put it within reach. First of all, blues is HOW and WHAT you play, not necessarily a tone. If you are interested in a certain tone or player's style, you would need to describe that for anybody to make a comparison or opinion. Duane Allman, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan...all different tone & styles. A lot can be said about amps, speakers, etc., so asking if it is good for playing blues is nefarious at best. Yes - Ebony fretboard and limited edition crescent moon inlays. I got mine for $579 new, but had sent the first two back and kept the third one. (Made in 2002) There were various flaws and fast production boo-boos like finish, scratches, electrical on the first two, but the third one passed the hurdles for what I deemed an affordable 'beat-em-up' jam night axe. Same specs as any other SG without the fine finish, appointments, binding or inlays. It did come with a pickguard as the newer model faded guitars no longer do, but without covers on the pickups. A very bright and 'ringy' guitar when played without an amp. Some people say the frets can stick out from the edge of the unbound neck and rub against your hand but I have found no problem with this. If your guitar has dried out in low humidity or desert dry conditions, the fretwires might protrude out from the neck/fretboard any guitar if the wood dries and shrinks. Really dig the crescent moon inlays...did I mention that? (lol) It was a nice surprise to find out it was a limited run. Since then I have acquired a proper Gibson SG case, replaced the tuners with heavy Grovers, added a TP-6 fine tuning tailpiece and most recently swapped the pups out for '57 Classic and a Classic Plus at the bridge. Before, the sound of the stock 498's were a little hollow and ratty. The only amp I found it to be really compatible with was a Tweed Blues Junior. It really liked that amp, but was seemingly a one-trick pony. Now, with the 57' Classics in it, I find I can take it onstage and it will do more styles with a fuller, meatier tone especially on that neck pickup. Now, a workhorse of many colors! Nice & light, and even though it is the same scale length, the guitar seems "neck-heavy" or feels like it is "sticking out" more because of where it joins to the body. One must be mindful not to slide up a couple of frets when getting acclimated to the ergonomics of an SG -lol. The neck is somewhat wider than most Gibson electric guitars. This is good for some things, and a little more challenging for others. Plenty of room between the strings for clean fingering as well as digging in quite hard while remaining articulate tonally. I still find the 'jack-on-the-front' design really weird if not awkward & cheap, but using a cable with an angled plug will only rub wear spots, and sometimes wonder what it would be like to have an SG with a carved maple top like a Les Paul. I remember Sigma made an SG copy that seemed to be more molded & thicker, not to give the impression I don't dig the flat-top slab or the reduced weight! Compared to the CS-356 or the Les Paul Custom, it's quite light and fun playing. These were some of the last series where the faded finish actually looks kind of nice, cheap albeit, but nice. The newer model faded finishes look as though horrid white-wash or watery-stain was applied by a blind chimpanzee. The new faded finish looks more 'cheap' than 'faded.' As of January 2014 I have seen "The Crescent Moon SG's" on eBay selling for $550-$585 -some with a hard case. I expect the price of them to rise significantly in the future adding at least an extra two hundred dollars for the collector's appeal of ebony fretboard and crescent moon inlays limited run...probably ten years down the road. I just found out the Tim Shaw pickups in my '82 LP are selling for $400 on eBay...yeah, hard to believe it myself.

Actually...historically speaking...This guitar should be called "The Woody."

I bought "Esmerelda" - the "poster child" for the Emerald Tiger AAAA Heavy-Quilted Model. They used this exact guitar for marketing promo shots. I even kept the MF Catalog from Spring 2006 that had it featured full page in the middle like a naked playboy centerfold with sticky pages. It's all true...everything they say. Deeper, fuller low end -clear and clean. No mush. Jingly-jangly rockin' and resonant. No feedback problems. Everything from Johnny Cash to Alice In Chains. I ordered this guitar from Private Reserve Guitars (Musicians Friend) in Jan 2006. List: $7200 - Paid: $4250.00 and they threw in a TP-6 Fine tuning Tailpiece and a quality strap + Strap Locks. Had a real problem with the factory setup. The frets were overly high and caused playing a simple D chord to feel like you were on a trampoline. After replacing the stock machine heads with chrome Grovers, I took it to a pro luthier in St. Louis (Rich Worthington) and had him shave down the frets and since then haven't looked back once. Absolutely perfect. ??? The case Gibson Custom Shop supplied was cheap, and I don't care. I dropped this guitar from waist-height onto a hard concrete floor and caused a small crack about 1/2 inch long near the input jack on the bottom edge. No finish damage whatsoever! (weird) I have been playing this guitar every weekend for almost 3 years and should I feel guilty if I don't miss my LP Custom, DC Plus, or SG?