NBD: Gibson SG

[grayn]

This is my first Gibson bass in 47 years.  My first and only other Gibbo bass, was an EB2 semi.  It was my first "name" bass.  All I can remember was is was nice and easy to play, sounded great on it's own but didn't really cut it with the rock band I was in at the time.  About 3 years before the EB2 , I had a Columbus EB3 copy, shown in the very dodgy pic below.  Taken 50 years ago, so fair enough.  One of my very early bass heroes, other than Macca, was Jimmy Lea, from Slade.  This was before I had discovered what is now called, Classic Rock.  He was a very decent player and I remember taking ages to work out the bass to Slade's version of Move Over.
Anyway, now a lot older and not much wiser, I drove down to Birmingham, to do a trade for this SG Bass, with Dave808 from this forum.  Dave is a very aimiable chap and we had a good chat as we checked each other's basses out.  The SG was all it had been described as and to my delight, did not neck dive.  Hooray!
Why Gibson stopped calling them EB3s I do not know.  Perhaps they thought it confused folk.  The body is mahogany and as the name suggests, is SG shaped.  It has a replacement Hipshot Supertine bridge, although I have the rather awful, original, Gibson 3-point bridge, as well.  The neck pickup is a wopping humbucker, the bridge's is a mini humbucker.  These are controlled by 2 volumes and a single tone knob, that are black tophat style with silver inserts.  The mahogany neck has a corian nut, rosewood fingerboard and acrylic dot markers.  It has a scale of 30.5 inches and 20 frets.  This Bass has a satin, nitrocellulose finish.
Starting it's life in 2011, this 12 year old bass is in very good order.  I had tried a brand new Gibson Standard SG last year.  The one with the gloss finish and block markers.  It was a real looker and had some gorgeous tones but the killer was the neck dive.  I play with the bass in a more diagonal position, standing.  That new SG bass didn't just want to slide to a horizontal  position, it slid very rapidly toward the floor.  I know there are a million and one ways to try to sort this but I didn't feel inclined.  Anyway, when I was talking with the Dave808, he said it did not neck dive, though he took the precaution of using a wide, suede strap.  That was a big deal to me.  TBH I do prefer the more glamourous look of the glossy SG Standard bass but that pales compared to a bass with little or no inclination to neck dive and has already had the god awful 3-point bridge replaced by a far more useable and better quality Hipshot.
I also like the way the bass's finish has aged.  With use, it is a lot glossier than it would have been new. The back of the neck and fretboard are nice and smooth  and very pleasant to play.  The action is low and solid, just how I like it.  It came with LaBella flats on.  Heaven to many but I'll be replacing them with Elixirs.  
On plugging in, I was very pleasantly surprised by the pickups.  Yes, they are a bit edgy and growly when pushed but the tone character is really good, with enough focus and bite to cut through, yet plenty of vintage body and warmth.  Like with many 2 pickup basses I have owned, that have individual volume controls, rather than volume and pan (my preferred controls), my favourite tones came by having one pickup on ten (full) and the other on nine.  Changing around, depending on whether you are going for deep and full or want a bit more bite.
Overall then, a classic bass, with plenty of vintage appeal, in looks, sound and feel.  Quite different from Fenders or many contemporary basses, it never the less is very useable in a band situation.  Especially as I intend to use it in my 60s band.  I'll now be using my Guild Starfire in my R&B Soul band.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

2 hours ago, grayn said:

This is my first Gibson bass in 47 years.  My first and only other Gibbo bass, was an EB2 semi.  It was my first "name" bass.  All I can remember was is was nice and easy to play, sounded great on it's own but didn't really cut it with the rock band I was in at the time.  About 3 years before the EB2 , I had a Columbus EB3 copy, shown in the very dodgy pic below.  Taken 50 years ago, so fair enough.  One of my very early bass heroes, other than Macca, was Jimmy Lea, from Slade.  This was before I had discovered what is now called, Classic Rock.  He was a very decent player and I remember taking ages to work out the bass to Slade's version of Move Over.
Anyway, now a lot older and not much wiser, I drove down to Birmingham, to do a trade for this SG Bass, with Dave808 from this forum.  Dave is a very aimiable chap and we had a good chat as we checked each other's basses out.  The SG was all it had been described as and to my delight, did not neck dive.  Hooray!
Why Gibson stopped calling them EB3s I do not know.  Perhaps they thought it confused folk.  The body is mahogany and as the name suggests, is SG shaped.  It has a replacement Hipshot Supertine bridge, although I have the rather awful, original, Gibson 3-point bridge, as well.  The neck pickup is a wopping humbucker, the bridge's is a mini humbucker.  These are controlled by 2 volumes and a single tone knob, that are black tophat style with silver inserts.  The mahogany neck has a corian nut, rosewood fingerboard and acrylic dot markers.  It has a scale of 30.5 inches and 20 frets.  This Bass has a satin, nitrocellulose finish.
Starting it's life in 2011, this 12 year old bass is in very good order.  I had tried a brand new Gibson Standard SG last year.  The one with the gloss finish and block markers.  It was a real looker and had some gorgeous tones but the killer was the neck dive.  I play with the bass in a more diagonal position, standing.  That new SG bass didn't just want to slide to a horizontal  position, it slid very rapidly toward the floor.  I know there are a million and one ways to try to sort this but I didn't feel inclined.  Anyway, when I was talking with the Dave808, he said it did not neck dive, though he took the precaution of using a wide, suede strap.  That was a big deal to me.  TBH I do prefer the more glamourous look of the glossy SG Standard bass but that pales compared to a bass with little or no inclination to neck dive and has already had the god awful 3-point bridge replaced by a far more useable and better quality Hipshot.
I also like the way the bass's finish has aged.  With use, it is a lot glossier than it would have been new. The back of the neck and fretboard are nice and smooth  and very pleasant to play.  The action is low and solid, just how I like it.  It came with LaBella flats on.  Heaven to many but I'll be replacing them with Elixirs.  
On plugging in, I was very pleasantly surprised by the pickups.  Yes, they are a bit edgy and growly when pushed but the tone character is really good, with enough focus and bite to cut through, yet plenty of vintage body and warmth.  Like with many 2 pickup basses I have owned, that have individual volume controls, rather than volume and pan (my preferred controls), my favourite tones came by having one pickup on ten (full) and the other on nine.  Changing around, depending on whether you are going for deep and full or want a bit more bite.
Overall then, a classic bass, with plenty of vintage appeal, in looks, sound and feel.  Quite different from Fenders or many contemporary basses, it never the less is very useable in a band situation.  Especially as I intend to use it in my 60s band.  I'll now be using my Guild Starfire in my R&B Soul band.

Beautiful! Big Jim Lea fan here as well - crank that bridge pickup through some overdrive and you're laughing!

 

I might be mistaken, but I don't think there's a traditional mudbucker under that neck pickup cover, but something a bit more refined.

[grayn]

23 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Beautiful! Big Jim Lea fan here as well - crank that bridge pickup through some overdrive and you're laughing!

 

I might be mistaken, but I don't think there's a traditional mudbucker under that neck pickup cover, but something a bit more refined.

Quite right and I am very pleased about that.

[Clarky]

Lovely, I recently picked up a satin black 2009 SG bass as a stand-in while my custom Serek shortie is being made (a year wait) and I MUCH prefer it to the several gloss nitro finished SG basses I had previously cycled through (loved the looks, didn't like the fat glossy neck). In particular, the satin nitro neck finish feels worn in and hugely more comfortable than the more upmarket version and - dare I say - quite similar to my existing Serek Midwestern. Great score, grayn!

[markoire]

That’s a really beautiful bass and love the old pic 👍🔥

[3below]

@grayn  Great bass , but I am biased.  Your account is like reading my own SG  bass experience (even down to having an EB2 as first name bass about 50 years ago).  Mine had slight neck dive so  I fitted Hipshot ultralight tuners which has totally sorted the neck dive.  I have also arrived at the one pickup on ten (full) and the other on nine approach.  Mine now has additional mojo, the finish (brown) is wearing off at various points from use.  One of the big pluses is the light weight which makes long gigs a pleasure.

[grayn]

Thanks guys and Clarky, it certainly was a great score.

3below, it's spooky how our SG/Gibson experiences have been so similar.

I took this rather fuzzy mirror shot, to show how the bass stays put, hands free.

I'm using a a Lekato memory foam strap with it, at the moment, that has a matching leather stripe on it.  Cool.

Yeah, that mirror really needs straightening.

[neepheid]

34 minutes ago, grayn said:

Thanks guys and Clarky, it certainly was a great score.

3below, it's spooky how our SG/Gibson experiences have been so similar.

I took this rather fuzzy mirror shot, to show how the bass stays put, hands free.

I'm using a a Lekato memory foam strap with it, at the moment, that has a matching leather stripe on it.  Cool.

Yeah, that mirror really needs straightening.

 

That mirror has some terrible neck dive...

[Cosmo Valdemar]

1 hour ago, neepheid said:

 

That mirror has some terrible neck dive...

That old cliché... only someone with no experience of mirrors would say that.

[grayn]

I put some Elixir Nanoweb Nickel Roundwounds on the SG, this morning.

So it's gone from La Bella Deep Talking Bass flats (39 to 96) to Elixir Nanoweb Rounds (45 to 105).

They've been on just over 4 hours and been played for about 45 minutes.

I'm impressed that the action has stayed put and the intonation is still very well set.

It's very much a matter of taste but I think the new strings have brought the bass more to life.

It's still a vintage tone but with these more contemporary pickups and roundwound strings, there seems to be more tones, that are very useable.

Yeah, I think this newbie will be seeing some action, very soon.

Here's my present trio: