Alleykat959 Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Hey guys, I'm new to the Gibson world. On Saturday I bought an SG-3 Fireburst off Musicians Friend for 800 bucks. Up till now the only other electric I own is an Epiphone Alleykat. I love it, still do. But I had to upgrade partially due to the kind of music my band plays and because I've been borrowing a Rickenbacker 350 (late 80's) as my main guitar for the last 3 months. I might have to give it back soon and I needed a potential replacement. I fell in love with the Rickenbacker hot single coil sound. We play classic punk like The Clash and The Jam mixed with country roots stuff Gram Parsons style and the Epi wasn't cutting it. The SG-3 comes in tomorrow. I've never bought online and I'm scared and excited at the same time. I'm hoping its got the bark of a Tele without the twang. But with MF you get 45 days to play with it. I love the specs and in the pictures it's gorgeous imo. Any thoughts or opinions? Does anyone know if the neck+bridge setting on the 6 position selector means they are in phase or out of phase. One gives a more humbuckerish sound from what I've read, so I'm curious which it is. Thanks guys. I'll post again with pics when I get it tomorrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Post some pics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingarmadillo Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 I've flirted with getting one. They are a limited addition "Guitar of the Week" so only 400 were made. Week 21 I think. Sort of strat sounding with single coil pups and a swamp ash body according to the reviews. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alleykat959 Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 Here's a few pics I took today on my "lunch break" Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 She is gorgeous. And she also needs a name. The setup was good out of the box. A little high for my taste which I will get taken care of when I change the strings. Definitely a nitrocellulose finish. Beautiful. Didn't notice many cosmetic flaws. She'll get a closer look tonight. Tuned her up and strummed her acoustic for a few minutes. I was surprised at how snappy it was... kinda loud unplugged. Can't wait to plug her in tonight! First new guitar in 4 years.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plank_Spanker Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I'm interested in what you think of the sound. I've never heard or played one, but I think it's an interesting idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1999nbmZ Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 That guitar is BEAUTIFUL! Nice Axe!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alleykat959 Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 I got to rock out with it last night. It was not as smooth of a start I had hoped. I think the shipping and humidity change combined with new strings unstretched to make it absolutely not stay in tune for the half hour. But damn, it reallllly settled down after that. Kinda like that awkward first date with a girl you know you like. You're worried about doing anything dumb, and you're trying to get to know her, but you know in the end it will work out awesome for you. Okay off track here a little.... The sound: It's not a strat, it's not a tele, it's a not a Rick, it's not a P-90 casino. So it's hard to describe. Overall it's much thicker sounding than a Tele. Not as Byrdsy jangly as my Rickenbacker 350. But The blade pickups are hot and very responsive. Not as hot as the high gains on the Rick (which can sometimes be way too hot). It is louder and dirtier than my buddies American Deluxe Strat on certain settings. With the correcct neck pickup combination dialed in and the tone rolled off a a notch or two it jumps into country clean rhythm mode very smoothly without the Tele's twang. There is one pickup setting that is very humbuckerish in tone when overdriven. I think when its running the neck and bridge together it acts like a humbucker. The setting that I believe solely uses the bridge pickup approaches the nasty sound I like for classic british punk. But it's not quite as good at that as the Rickenbacker. I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe without any pedals. I use my amp's channels and my guitar to vary the sound I get. Actually I do use one pedal. A Boss AC-3 acoustic simulator, which I've already decided gets along great with my SG-3 All around it's much more versatile than the Rick I'm playing now. It's more rich sounding and bassy while maintaining single coil clarity. But at the same time it loves to be overdriven. I couldn't find a muddy sound out of it. While my Epiphone Alleykats Epi 57 humbucker would get lost sometimes in the bands mix, this SG doesn't ever disappear. I play mostly rhythm in my band and our sounds varies from roots country to Clash like punk. So I think I made a pretty damn good blind choice. I might miss the high gain Rick sound on a few of our songs that border "The Jam"s sound but I'll live cuz the SG does more overall. Of course my opinion might change over time! But that's the best I can sum it up now. For 800 bucks it was a steal in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AS90 Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Nice axe! Feel GAS coming on, must.......look.......away.........must...... Screw it! I want one! I think I would fit a black pickguard with black pup covers. Have you thought about adding a hot rails in one of the positions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alleykat959 Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 They're already out at Musicians Friend, I think they only made 400 of these total? I think some of the big internet sellers might have a few left. Good luck. She and I are only in the dating stage... but so far she's a knockout. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingarmadillo Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 This guitar was also done in Black as a different GOW (week 6 maybe??) and MF still had some when I looked last night. Yeah, only 400 were made since it was part of the Guitar of the Week program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxter Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 GC has it is stock. http://www.guitarcenter.com/Gibson-SG-3-Fireburst-Electric-Guitar-514173-i1320142.gc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarJunkie Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 Now why did you have to go and post that?!?!? The last thing I need right now is another SG. Nice guitar. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingarmadillo Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 CG has them because they're asking $150 more than what MF was selling them for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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