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unknown Gibson.....as in WTF is this??


jakatone

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It's a Gibson "Sonex". If memory serves correctly, they were made in the 80's and the body was made from some type of composite wood or resen with a bolt on neck. Hopefully someone else can shed more light on the details. My memories from the 80's aren't very clear.

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They sure do need to learn how to crop and resize.

 

It's an early 80s Sonex.

The bodies were compressed sawdust and plastic shavings and parts of a goat I'd rather not talk about. The headstock logos say "The Gibson Guitar Company" as opposed to just "Gibson". Didn't mean anything, it was just the style of whoever designed the logo for the American Series (Sonex, Invader, Challenger) which were all bolt-on LP shaped things. I personally like them and if they can be had for under $300 they're great. Unfortunately bidder fever on ebay has driven the price up on these to where it's downright stupid.

 

There was some speculation that the necks were made in Japan but I only heard it a couple times and never heard any more after that.

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that, gentelmen, is an 80s gibson sonex... i think it was gibsons answer (starting at $300 i believe) to the ever growing popularity of cheaper strats (fender and non fender) so gibson came out with this idea, a guitar with a bolt on scratchplate like the ones on the strats, and a bolt on neck and flat top. It is an ok sounding guitar, the shape obviously reminds of a lester but it had a bolt on neck, and the sound was very different. It also was supposed to be a replacement for the gibson marauder and s-1 ("3 s/c pickup version" of the marauder that was 1 sc - 1 hb), but i guess unlike the sonex, the marauder made it to the history books and colectors rooms.

 

Body material: "resonowood" or something like that, and i dont know what "resonowood" means.

Models: standard, custom and deluxe, im shure there was another but i dont remember right now.

 

A friend of mine found one very cheap in "mercadolibre.com" a few years back ($150 for a gibson in ecuador is very cheap... even if it was an entry level gibson and not a current production/famous model). It sounded ok, but the epi i had at the moment beat the **** out of it.

 

Where did you fin it anyway?

 

I found another of these gibson bolt on marvels on ebay the other day, it was a Gibson INVADER, the one Brett Michaels used to play onstage when Poison was a big thing and toured like hell. Nice guitar, but a little expensive...

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Where did you fin it anyway?

 

 

on a Croatian web page where people sell second hand instruments,it says that the guitar is 1981.doesn´t say the price,but it shouldn´t be expensive.although,Gibsons are somewhat rare in these parts,so for example,a used LP standard can reach the price of 3-4k easily....

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I've never seen one on a Sonex but I have seen legitimate 3 screw covers on a few Gibsons from the 70s.

 

This Sonex is obviously not original so God only knows about the truss rod cover. The finish is suspect, as I've never seen a white one (which doesn't mean much by itself by the way) and it almost looks like a poor tape masking job on the side of the headstock. Also the pickups aren't right. The front one looks like it came out of a 70s Electra and the back one is either a Dimarzio or a Dimarzio wannabe.

 

Most (probably 3 out of 4) Sonexes were black with the occasional red one. I'm sure there were exceptions as anything is possible. I think I recall seeing a light tan one on ebay, but never a snow white one like this.

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sonex had 3 screws, i dont know for certain if marauders,invaders and s-1 had 3 screws too, but im sure a rapid image search on google will give us the answer...

 

ok just looked it... invader, marauder and s-1= 2 screws.

 

Sonex: i found the "normal" sonex with the "gibson guitar company" logo had 3 screws, and the sonex with "Sonex - by Gibson" logohad 2 screws, both are ok just different models (dont know which one is standard, custom or deluxe).

 

I edit: yes man the pickups look kind of weird, but he could have had them changed (dont know why)

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The neck pickup is original. It's the same pickup as the Marauder...

Gibson-Marauder.jpg

 

They were designed by Bill Lawrence and they're encased in epoxy. I used to have a Marauder and it was a cool sounding guitar. Of course, unlike the Sonex, the Marauders were actually made out of wood.

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My mate has a Sonex. We giggled when he got it cos' its so nastily built, but he got if for next to nothing about 18 years ago, before ebay fever set in.

 

The resonwood is probably chipboard and epoxy resin mixed and the neck pocket is the worst fit I ever saw!

 

The original pickups on his are Velvet Bricks, and these alone make it worth the entrance fee. They'll kick any amp into submission and your ears will bleed.

 

So yeah, fun for the right price, but a piece of excrement thats best forgotten! One other thing, its indestructible!

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  • 1 month later...

LOL! I used to have one of those! The TRC did indeed have 3 screws. Looks like the neck pickup has been replaced, as both were zebra types.

 

Man, that brings back memories. Compared to what i have today, it was a very mediocre guitar. But it was my first real electric and I dug it.

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Most (probably 3 out of 4) Sonexes were black with the occasional red one. I'm sure there were exceptions as anything is possible. I think I recall seeing a light tan one on ebay' date=' but never a snow white one like this.

 

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I've seen a TON of white ones, so I know it was a standard color.

 

I actually didn't think they were that bad of guitars. Kind of a poor man's LP. I would much rather own one of these than a Strat (with our without humbuckers) or an Epi LP.

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Hey some are like first and second and well like good loves, you never forget. I used to have one, a long time ago and ran It thru an old sunn 100watt tube head with 2 fender 6-10 cabs and a bigmuff (the same 6-10 cabs that were at the I THINK, The gimmie shelter rolling stones concert when the hell angles killed a dude then put a contract out on mick jagger because he wanted noth-in to do with them after that, anyways they used about 100 of them at that concert) and It sounded real good and as a matter of fact that bolt on gibby as I remember, (now I'am getting old) Intoneated vary-well, and every chord open and barred were always perfect and It was vary playable, more so than a lot of my newer gibsons

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Your right Cudo the first ones are the ones we remember I had a black and the tan/yellow nice guitar like the L6-s a good guitar for the price before they started going up the whole pickguard came loose with the pickups like a strat the

 

A new Black Sonex-180 was a going away gift from a girlfriend leaving for my first year of college in 1980 the sonex lasted longer than the girlfriend =P~

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