SG with only 1 pickup?

[EddieDean]

I was at a show this weekend and one of the guitarists came out with an SG (definitely Gibson) and it looked like it was only fitted with one humbucker at the bridge. There were also holes and a finish discoloration where a vibrola or some other original long tailpiece had been removed and then the guitar was fitted with a stopbar tailpiece..

 

... did Gibson ever make a single-humbucker SG??

[littlekenny]

well they made the sg junior with one P90 in it.

 

 

[GKingN]

Can you like cut a P-90 hole for a humbucker? And maybe it was a mini-humbucker, you wouldnt have to mod for that.

[NeoConMan]

If it was mounted in a pickguard, it wouldn't matter.

 

Mounted directly to the body would be tougher.

P-90/Mini HB hole is narrower and taller than a humbucker hole.

 

Cut it out to fit a HB and you still have a gap top and bottom.

Now the hole is too big for either one.

 

Seems like I saw a few SG's over the years with a single humbucker, maybe I was dreaming.

[LPDEN]

well they made the sg junior with one P90 in it.

 

 

 

That's interesting. I too believe I've seen Single hum SG. But I'll have to look it up in my books tomorrow.

[EddieDean]

I've been trying to find some live pics of them playing it, but I can't find one so far....plenty of pics, but not the SG. The band was Black Stone Cherry...YEAH!!! They're opening for Def Leppard and Whitesnake this summer in the UK.

 

They had several Les Pauls and 1 Flying V (Non-Gibson) and the 1 SG....I don't know....maybe I'm crazy, but I'm 99% sure there was no neck pickup, or a hole where one was removed...

[LPDEN]

Some of those also may have been modded after production too...

[EddieDean]

Some of those also may have been modded after production too...

 

I may have worded my statement wrong..... The SG was the only one that was a single-pickup guitar..

[cvansickle]

Gibson sold something in the 90s that was called the Spirit, or something like that. It was an SG body shape, with one bridge humbucker.

[LPDEN]

Gibson sold something in the 90s that was called the Spirit' date=' or something like that. It was an SG body shape, with one bridge humbucker.[/quote']

 

Yeah, alot of that stuff for lack of a better descriptive was sub-par work. It wasnt until early last year that i liked any new non-standard series single pickup guitars when Gibson pushed in the Melody Makers. Great little Sincgle pickup guitar.

[LynyrdSkynyrd-14]

i think the sg jr a ugly but a 61 is a real sg thats just my opinion

[EddieDean]

Well, I can't find a pic of it anywhere.....maybe it WAS an SG jr. with the trem removed and modded with a humbucker.

 

I found some pics of the Spirit.....that's not the animal, but thanks!.....the guitar I saw definitely had an SG body.

 

Thanks for the input, ppl!

[Ian Martin]

From your description it sounds like it could of been a bastardized SG-X.

 

 

I believe they were made in the mid 80's.

 

You can check out EverythingSG.com for help identifying it. They're SG nerds!

 

EDIT: Here's a nice specimen on eBay.

[Surfabilly]

well they made the sg junior with one P90 in it.

Depending upon the vintage' date=' it could be a Les Paul Junior, which I've seen a few of 'em in that style on eBay. I'm currently up [b']way[/b] past my normal bedtime, so I'm a bit fuzzy in my "Gibson history department" (what I do vaguely know, to begin with), but there was the short time (1961, I think) that Gibson had been selling their new Les Paul designs - to the dismay of Les Paul - that would be renamed SG, after they managed to keep Les on board, but the rockers had already embraced the new design. That's why I say "it depends upon the vintage." It could very well be an SG Junior with a Les Trem or Vibrola added.

 

Somewhere in my future, I'll add an SG Junior and a '67 SG Special to my collection, and I'll add a vibrato tailpiece to both, the same as I'm planning for my Melody Maker and Faded Double Cut.

 

Matt

[jetiii]

We have a 1991 SG Junior and had the P-90 taken out and a Tony Iommi inserted in the single pickup slot. Some slight routing was required as a p90 is longer and narrower. This guitar is really amazing now though, check it out at on You tube lilhendrix132!

 

http://youtube.com/lilhendrix132

[Robert Jacobson]

I have two Gibson SG guitars with a single bridge position pickup. I went to Elderly instruments in Lansing Michigan when they were still a Gibson dealer and bought them. I believe they were called an SG American. They have an American flag decal on the back of the headstock. They are both wine red with black around the outer edges like a sunburst would have. One pickup, two knobs, tone and volume.  My good friend Frog, showed them to me and I bought two. I think I paid $400 each. I still have them, they play excellent. The friend that I took there also bought one. We figured that for $400 a first line Gibson was a deal. I don't remember exactly when this was but I will dig them out if someone wants to know what year they were made. It's not a dream. I found a picture of one when I googled SG with only one pickup. It was made 1995 to 1997 and was called  "SG all american."

Edited June 7, 2020 by Robert Jacobson
add information

[Johnny 6 String]

On 4/28/2008 at 5:43 PM, EddieDean said:

I was at a show this weekend and one of the guitarists came out with an SG (definitely Gibson) and it looked like it was only fitted with one humbucker at the bridge. There were also holes and a finish discoloration where a vibrola or some other original long tailpiece had been removed and then the guitar was fitted with a stopbar tailpiece..

 

... did Gibson ever make a single-humbucker SG??

Hey Eddie;

 

In the early 90s there were a few if I remember correctly. The SG-1 was 24 frets and a single Hb. There was also the SG-X (no pick guard and single HB), and the SG-Z with a HB and a single (not p90), early to mid 2000s I remember one with a HB and a p90 in the neck. 

Probably a few others along the way.

Pics of the one in question would definitely help.

 

Johnny

 

[roofarmor]

Look up 1972 Gibson SG-1. 

1 humbucker 1 Volume 1 Tone. I have one and its sick.

[Sgt. Pepper]

Good thing we solved this mystery that started 15 years ago.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Sgt. Pepper