Gibson SG Les Paul Junior Solid Body Electric Guitar (1961)
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Item # 12870
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Gibson SG Les Paul Junior Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1961), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 14225, cherry lacquer finish, mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, original brown alligator chipboard case.
This beautiful cherry Junior was built during the first year of the "Les Paul" mutating into the sleekly sculpted SG, marking a radical change in Gibson's premier solidbody series. It still carries Les' silkscreened signature on the headstock; by mid-'63 that was deleted and the entire series became simply "SGs". This guitar is a very early example of the new design, likely shipped in the summer or early fall of 1961. A total of 2151 Juniors left Kalamazoo in 1961, with an unknown number being the older slab-bodied design; by 1964-5 the numbers went up dramatically.
The bottom-of-the-line Junior distills the essence of Gibson's 1960's wicked solidbody aesthetic down to the minimum. Fittings on the cherry-finished mahogany body and neck are no frills in the extreme, with a single P-90 pickup, solid bar bridge and endless unadorned fingerboard to play on. While originally marketed as a student instrument SG Juniors have been a prime choice for professional players for decades, especially in the hard rock zone.
The superbly comfortable neck has the round-backed but comparatively flat profile Gibson introduced in 1960 with a perfect "not to skinny, not too fat" feel. The neck is a set into the older style squared heel joint; since there is no neck pickup rout Juniors do not generally suffer the heel issues that often plague vintage twin-pickup SGs. Showing a better neck angle than some this solid stoptail guitar really rings even not plugged in.
With one very hot "dogear" plastic covered P-90 pickup close in to the strings and a nickel-plated early style non-compensated stop tailpiece this is a very lively tone package indeed. The knobs are still the 1950s style black back-painted plastic without metal caps, the tone cap is the older black Sprague. There is no vibrato, which became increasingly rare in the mid-60s; You needed a whammy to play many hits of the day so "stoptail" Gibsons became less popular in this surf & twang period than they would be later on. 1961 was a great year for these; they may have built decent numbers of this model but not that many have survived this nicely. This "very cherry" Junior is a real little screamer of a guitar, a super handy rock machine but also more versatile in operation than many think (Just ask Chris Spedding!).
Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 13 in. (33 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm.) deep. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is just a superb, clean and original example of an early Les Paul/SG Junior showing no serious wear or damage. It has been neatly refertted with wire just a bit taller than the original style and is a superb player. The all-original cherry finish has only slight fading and checking with scattered small dings, scuffs and dents but no major wear; the back of the neck has bleached out somewhat from hand contact as usual, with some light checking but hardly anything in the way of dings or dents. The headstock edges have a few typical dings.
The hardware and fittings remain original, again showing only light wear and tear. The pickguard is still intact with some scuffing but no broken or cracked corners, only light shrinkage. The newer frets have little subsequent wear. Overall this is simply a lovely guitar and a fine player with the expected ripping P-90 sound. It includes the original alligator-grain SSC in better than usual condition, with a period hang tag booklet included. Overall Excellent Condition.
This beautiful cherry Junior was built during the first year of the "Les Paul" mutating into the sleekly sculpted SG, marking a radical change in Gibson's premier solidbody series. It still carries Les' silkscreened signature on the headstock; by mid-'63 that was deleted and the entire series became simply "SGs". This guitar is a very early example of the new design, likely shipped in the summer or early fall of 1961. A total of 2151 Juniors left Kalamazoo in 1961, with an unknown number being the older slab-bodied design; by 1964-5 the numbers went up dramatically.
The bottom-of-the-line Junior distills the essence of Gibson's 1960's wicked solidbody aesthetic down to the minimum. Fittings on the cherry-finished mahogany body and neck are no frills in the extreme, with a single P-90 pickup, solid bar bridge and endless unadorned fingerboard to play on. While originally marketed as a student instrument SG Juniors have been a prime choice for professional players for decades, especially in the hard rock zone.
The superbly comfortable neck has the round-backed but comparatively flat profile Gibson introduced in 1960 with a perfect "not to skinny, not too fat" feel. The neck is a set into the older style squared heel joint; since there is no neck pickup rout Juniors do not generally suffer the heel issues that often plague vintage twin-pickup SGs. Showing a better neck angle than some this solid stoptail guitar really rings even not plugged in.
With one very hot "dogear" plastic covered P-90 pickup close in to the strings and a nickel-plated early style non-compensated stop tailpiece this is a very lively tone package indeed. The knobs are still the 1950s style black back-painted plastic without metal caps, the tone cap is the older black Sprague. There is no vibrato, which became increasingly rare in the mid-60s; You needed a whammy to play many hits of the day so "stoptail" Gibsons became less popular in this surf & twang period than they would be later on. 1961 was a great year for these; they may have built decent numbers of this model but not that many have survived this nicely. This "very cherry" Junior is a real little screamer of a guitar, a super handy rock machine but also more versatile in operation than many think (Just ask Chris Spedding!).
Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 13 in. (33 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm.) deep. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This is just a superb, clean and original example of an early Les Paul/SG Junior showing no serious wear or damage. It has been neatly refertted with wire just a bit taller than the original style and is a superb player. The all-original cherry finish has only slight fading and checking with scattered small dings, scuffs and dents but no major wear; the back of the neck has bleached out somewhat from hand contact as usual, with some light checking but hardly anything in the way of dings or dents. The headstock edges have a few typical dings.
The hardware and fittings remain original, again showing only light wear and tear. The pickguard is still intact with some scuffing but no broken or cracked corners, only light shrinkage. The newer frets have little subsequent wear. Overall this is simply a lovely guitar and a fine player with the expected ripping P-90 sound. It includes the original alligator-grain SSC in better than usual condition, with a period hang tag booklet included. Overall Excellent Condition.