Gibson SG Special Solid Body Electric Guitar (1964)
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Gibson SG Special Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1964), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 244136, cherry lacquer finish, mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, original black chipboard case.
This cherry-finished SG Special was built in 1964, for most afficionados the last full year of Gibson's most classic electric era. The C-profile neck is slightly slimmer at the nut than the classic 1 11/16" style generally used until mid 1965 but not as narrow as the 1 5/8" nut adopted after that. The neck shades wider towards the body with a fairly flat "C" profile and a great solid feel. Many other features -- the old-style neck joint, pickups mounted directly to the body with the small pickguard, and nickel plated hardware -- would all be changed by the turn of 1965-66. This guitar mounts two very hot P-90 pickups, the older-60's style "capped" plastic knobs and a Gibson short Vibrola with the "spoon" handle still intact.
This was the last great run for the original SG series as by 1966 the design was heavily modified to speed production with a large "swimming pool" route to the face of the body and pickups mounted directly to the top-spanning pickguard. This example has the same features as the earlier SG Specials back to 1961, and has no modifications with an untouched wiring rig with one fully legible code indicating the 21st week of 1964; the rest are obscured by solder joints.
The SG Special was and remains a very popular guitar, with good reason. Exactly 1704 of these slim cherry beauties were shipped in 1964, but only a fraction have survived the 55+ years since as cleanly as this one. Anyone who has seen live footage of the Who or Santana in the late '60s knows what these ultra light and responsive SG Specials are capable of! One of the classic rock guitars of that or any era, more versatile than many think with a "special" sound unto themselves!
Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 13 1/4 in. (33.6 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.).
Overall this guitar is nicely clean and all original, with some typical light checking, dings, scrapes, some small curly-cord marks on the back and some light fade to the back of the neck. The color is otherwise still a fairly deep cherry with some minor fading on the top. The instrument is completely solid with no cracks or repairs and the neck angle is better than many, with good break off the vibrato.
The treble side of the neck has some wear into the wood under the binding line in the 3rd to 19th fret area. There are some spots where the finish has flaked to the undercoat on the headstock face, and a small chip filled on the top rear headstock edge. The nickel plating has some light corrosion, but overall this is simply a lovely example of this featherweight Gibson classic, sounding and playing great 60+ years along complete in the original red-lined chipboard case. Overall Excellent Condition.
This cherry-finished SG Special was built in 1964, for most afficionados the last full year of Gibson's most classic electric era. The C-profile neck is slightly slimmer at the nut than the classic 1 11/16" style generally used until mid 1965 but not as narrow as the 1 5/8" nut adopted after that. The neck shades wider towards the body with a fairly flat "C" profile and a great solid feel. Many other features -- the old-style neck joint, pickups mounted directly to the body with the small pickguard, and nickel plated hardware -- would all be changed by the turn of 1965-66. This guitar mounts two very hot P-90 pickups, the older-60's style "capped" plastic knobs and a Gibson short Vibrola with the "spoon" handle still intact.
This was the last great run for the original SG series as by 1966 the design was heavily modified to speed production with a large "swimming pool" route to the face of the body and pickups mounted directly to the top-spanning pickguard. This example has the same features as the earlier SG Specials back to 1961, and has no modifications with an untouched wiring rig with one fully legible code indicating the 21st week of 1964; the rest are obscured by solder joints.
The SG Special was and remains a very popular guitar, with good reason. Exactly 1704 of these slim cherry beauties were shipped in 1964, but only a fraction have survived the 55+ years since as cleanly as this one. Anyone who has seen live footage of the Who or Santana in the late '60s knows what these ultra light and responsive SG Specials are capable of! One of the classic rock guitars of that or any era, more versatile than many think with a "special" sound unto themselves!
Overall length is 40 in. (101.6 cm.), 13 1/4 in. (33.6 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.).
Overall this guitar is nicely clean and all original, with some typical light checking, dings, scrapes, some small curly-cord marks on the back and some light fade to the back of the neck. The color is otherwise still a fairly deep cherry with some minor fading on the top. The instrument is completely solid with no cracks or repairs and the neck angle is better than many, with good break off the vibrato.
The treble side of the neck has some wear into the wood under the binding line in the 3rd to 19th fret area. There are some spots where the finish has flaked to the undercoat on the headstock face, and a small chip filled on the top rear headstock edge. The nickel plating has some light corrosion, but overall this is simply a lovely example of this featherweight Gibson classic, sounding and playing great 60+ years along complete in the original red-lined chipboard case. Overall Excellent Condition.