Is My Gibson SG legit or counterfeit

[TJB123]

Recently acquired a Gibson SG in a trade. It is black with a white pickguard and can only be described as the Worlds Ugliest SG lol

I can only assume from the serial number and the look that it's a 1998 Gibson SG Special Faded.

Serial number is 91568441. I have removed the cavity cover and all pots are engraved on the back with the Gibson logo, and all the machine heads are identical to my LP Studio and appear to be of the same quality. I'd have to jump on this thing to make it go out of tune I think.

 

I've never even held an SG before but this thing feels rough...even rough to the touch especially towards the top of the head stock. Hoping someone can shed some light as to exactly what I have here.

 

For some reason I can't seem to be able to upload photos but if someone could please contact me at "trevorjamesbrown@gmail.com" and I will gladly forward them whatever photos they would need to see of it to hopefully help out and shed some light on if I have a legit Gibson here, and which model it may be.

[capmaster]

Hello TJB, welcome to this nice place!

 

Looking at this picture http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=20574 taken from your topic http://forum.gibson.com/index.php?/topic/117410-show-us-your-sgs/page__view__findpost__p__1735564 shows no red flags.

 

The Nashville bridge seems to have been modded using some ABR-1 conversion set, but to me string alignment seems to be affected by that in a bad sense. I think I would go back to the Nashville.

 

It is a good idea to upload hi-res pics to a cloud account and link them here. Wanna see some more :)

[Col Mustard]

From the looks of the photos above, I'd say your SG looks genuine, and a very cool black beauty it is.

 

I am the proud owner of a 2007 Gibson SG faded special, and mine's the best guitar of any kind

that I have ever played. Faded owners are a loyal bunch in my experience. This model has the

tendency to get under your skin and become your favorite. If you're used to Chinese made guitars

with polyurethane finish, the Gibson lacquer may seem odd, but it's actually very cool. If you're used to

expensive Les Pauls with high gloss lacquer finish, the faded special may seem like the poor relation.

But they give up nothing in tone and playability and they have a unique style of their own. Gibson sold these

about $500 cheaper than the SG Standard, and maybe $1500 cheaper than a Les Paul Standard,

and the finish is not intended to be as beautiful as those have.

 

The guys who can't appreciate a faded SG special are the ones who prefer lots of bling and shine

and decorations on a guitar. Les Paul owners turn their noses up at faded SGs because they

aren't fancy enough or expensive enough. Even though Gibson made a faded special version of

the Les Paul too. *grins

 

The faded is the working man's SG... it's got all the rawk and kerang but none of the gloss and

inlays and binding and all that. The faded finish is thinner and softer than a regular Gibson deep

gloss, and it dents easier, but the dents don't seem out of place. I really like my faded, mine's

the brown. Mine rings like a bell unamplified, which is one of the things that attracted me. The neck

is fast and very comfortable, that's another thing I liked immediately. And mine weighs just under

seven pounds and balances perfectly. Hard to beat.

 

The stock pickups are Gibson's 490R and 490T. I've upgraded mine to a set of '57 Classic and Classic +

and am very happy with the tone. I thought the 490s were quite useful, but the bridge pickup seemed

a little wimpy. The '57 Classic + solves that problem and gives excellent balance now and sounds great.

You can use an SG to play any style you are capable of IMHO.

 

You can get another bridge without spending an arm and a leg. But I'd play what you have for a while and

see if it gives you any problems. Get it setup first and get a good case. Faded SGs make a great mod platform.

Gibson sold them by the train car load during the first decade of this century, and stupidly discontinued them

in like 2014. I think they've realized their mistake and re-issued them or something like them for 2016.

Anyway there's lots of them out there, and you can buy a used one for about $450 to $500 any time.

 

If you don't like the white pickguard, you can get another one easily. I think that black faded would look great

with a black pickguard, black bridge and tail, black covers on the pickups, knobs that go to 11, very gothic.

I did that with a Black Squier P-Bass that was given to me in really bad condition.

 

I took it to a luthier and asked if he could get the neck straight. He did. Given that, I stripped off all the Chinese parts

and replaced everything in black. This bass now can take its place onstage beside other much better instruments,

and she more than holds her own. It's no longer a Squier bass, so I sanded off the decal and replaced it with a

hand carved Raven made of ebony headstock veneer. and that's her name... Raven.

 

I polished my faded special with Music Nomad's Guitar One, and treated the fretboards with Fret Doctor.

Try a bit of that after you get it set up for the strings you prefer, and you may quit calling your SG ugly.

Congratulations... I hope you end up liking yours as well as I like mine.

[darling67]

Recently acquired a Gibson SG in a trade. It is black with a white pickguard and can only be described as the Worlds Ugliest SG lol

 

I don't know about "World's Ugliest SG". I think it looks pretty cool, actually.

 

I'd reserve that moniker for some of those SG Deluxe models from a few years ago. Some hideous finishes on those things!

[capmaster]

I don't know about "World's Ugliest SG". I think it looks pretty cool, actually.

 

I'd reserve that moniker for some of those SG Deluxe models from a few years ago. Some hideous finishes on those things!

I guess you are talking these - quite debatable looks IMHO. They should have called them SG Neon Series :)

 

 

;)

[darling67]

I guess you are talking these - quite debatable looks IMHO. They should have called them SG Neon Series :)

 

 

;)

 

Those are the very ones I was referring to.

 

That would have been a good series name..... "Available in four eye-squinting finishes! Cherry Pie Filling, Orange Soda, Antifreeze Spill, and Blueberry Nightmare"

[capmaster]

... "Available in four eye-squinting finishes! Cherry Pie Filling, Orange Soda, Antifreeze Spill, and Blueberry Nightmare"