What I found out today about multi-piece SG Standards.

[Burstbucker]

I bought myself a pretty nice used SG Standard about five or six weeks ago and while it plays and sounds great and also looks good, and despite getting it at a bargain-basement price to boot, I later noticed that the body was actually made from three pieces of mahogany. I had read a lot of comments saying that it was weird for an SG Standard to have that many pieces, so I was kind of bummed a little bit over that.

Well, today I was in our biggest music store here in town and they had five SGs there, I looked them all over carefully and here's what I found. All three of the SG Standards hanging on the wall had three, count 'em, three piece bodies, there was another SG Standard behind the "rentals" counter which I couldn't get at but I could see that there was a splice perfectly in the center of the body, so that one might have been a two-piece body but I couldn't really tell from where I was standing.

Then there was a Robot SG that they were blowing out and that one had a FOUR-piece body! Funny thing was that the only two-piece bodied SG there was an SG Faded.

I also seen a lefty SG Standard at a pawn-shop and that too had a three-piece body.

So, I guess it ain't all that unusual to get a multi-piece SG Standard after all, in fact it looks like it's very common. Just an observation that I thought that I'd pass along if anyone is interested.

 

[NortheastHick]

Geez, I bought a used epi sg that is 3-piece mahogany. Upgraded pups and its a real player for $225 total. I own 3 "real" gibsons and this plays as well as any of them. My LP with the antiquities is a tad better i guess but not $2000.00 better to me.

 

[ChmpgnSupernover]

Yeah! make sure you buy guitars that sound good, not guitars that might look good if you stripped all the paint off.

 

[MikeMcK]

I wonder if we make too much out of this, though. I once stumbled on a guitar store in someone's home (driving down a street in Long Branch, NJ and saw a sign in front of the house that said "GUITARS", pointing to the side door of the house and it was a real vintage guitar store).

One of the guitars he had for sale was 50's gold-top Les Paul with a 3-piece top. It had been refinished in sunburst, and two of the three pieces were wild flamed maple while the other was fairly plain.

I'd always thought 3-piece tops came about in the Norlin years, but when I got home did a little checking and found out that yes, they'd done some in the '50s (opaque finishes only).

 

[Whiskeyrebel]

There was an episode of How It's Made or something like that where they went to the Gibson factory in Gashville. They showed them gluing up the Les Paul body blanks for the mahogany backs and they ALL were three piece.

SFW?? I think people are taking experiences - in some case secondhand - with badly made plywood catalog guitars and extrapolating it to say

d'uh-awwww, more glue=more worsest, least glue = most bestest.

 

[whitehall]

If you play with enough distortion they all sound the same. My zillion piece chinese LP sounds a lot like my R8 if I use enough gain.

 

[Rob Sharer]

Why does everyone think one piece bodies are better? More resonant somehow? I don't think that's so.

Look at how many pieces a D'Angelico New Yorker body is made of - at least eight. Aren't those resonant enough? Why would solid bodies be any different?


Rob

 

[enharmonic]

getting tough to get 1-piece bodies in Honduran mahogany.

 

[Tim Plains]

I've seen a few SG Standards AND '61RIs with 2-piece bodies. I think what Gibson is trying to do is ensure the only SGs guaranteed to have 1-piece bodies are the Custom Shop SGs and that the rest may have more. That way, they can justify the huge price difference between a '61RI and '62RI. '62 being the VOS.

Why does everyone think one piece bodies are better? More resonant somehow? I don't think that's so.

There's also the placebo effect. I wouldn't even consider buying an expensive guitar with 2 or 3-piece bodies. At some price point, 1-piece bodies are expected.

I'd always thought 3-piece tops came about in the Norlin years, but when I got home did a little checking and found out that yes, they'd done some in the '50s (opaque finishes only).

I read that '50s gold tops and Black beauties had up to 4-piece maple tops.

 

[musicofanatic5]

Why does everyone think one piece bodies are better? More resonant somehow? I don't think that's so.

Look at how many pieces a D'Angelico New Yorker body is made of - at least eight. Aren't those resonant enough? Why would solid bodies be any different?


Rob

Answer: because SG's ain't D'Angelico's. They operate differently, physics-wise (but you knew that!)

Every sixties SG I have ever seen has had a one-piece body. Every custom shop SG I have ever seen has had a one-piece body. I like pre-1970 Gbsns and custom shop Gbsns, and have never messed much with modern day "Made in USA" Gbsns. I invite anyone with a buncha multi-piece body SG's to bring 'em on over and we'll do a blindfold test and find out!

Additionally, I have seen multi-piece tops on LP's, but I have never seen multi-piece mahogany backs on LP's (other than the '70's "pancakes"). Do they do this on the modern Made in USA models?

 

[redroos]

FWIW, I went to guy's house yesterday to look at some pickups and he had an '80s Gibson built Epiphone SG - (BTW, was this called a Spirit?) It weighed 6 lbs, had a 1 piece mahogany neck and a 3 piece POPLAR body. First off, I was amazed that such a guitar was made, new to me, second, that Gibson would use poplar for a guitar, and third, that the guitar had great ring and great tone, as well. It had a great voice, snappy like a lightweight ash Tele but loaded with HBs to deliver some grind. It had a 1 piece intonatable stop tailpiece that the guy said was factory.

Any, to see and hear this particular guitar, well, agreed, its a bastard child, but it works. You say 3 piece mahogany? Hm, OK, how's it sound?

 

[Artur_I_Tis]

Alembics are made of more then three pieces. Through bodies are at least three peices if you count the neck running throught he body as a body piece. Every neck with a truss rod is at least two pieces if you count the finger board as part of the neck. All the big head stocks are at least three pieces. Laminate = plywood................

 

[musicofanatic5]

Alembics are made of more then three pieces. Through bodies are at least three peices if you count the neck running throught he body as a body piece. Every neck with a truss rod is at least two pieces if you count the finger board as part of the neck. All the big head stocks are at least three pieces. Laminate = plywood................

Okay, I'll go ya one better (or worse) and state "every neck with a truss rod is" three pieces if it is a Fndr "one-piece" maple neck AND you count the walnut rear filler strip and plug by the nut as "pieces". If you were attempting to make a point, I didn't get it.

 

[cherrick]

Why does everyone think one piece bodies are better? More resonant somehow? I don't think that's so....

+1

What's so funny is that the OONE PIECE BODY BOYS will in the next breath tell you how those early Telecaster tones can not be beat, not realizing that those early Teles were 2 piece and the seams were not even center seams.

LOL

 

[NortheastHick]

Ya but they have Mojo maaaaaaan.




.

 

[Artur_I_Tis]

Ya but they have Mojo maaaaaaan.




.

I have mojo in my wallet and they can't have it! BWAHAHAHAHAHHAHA.......

 

[Artur_I_Tis]

Okay, I'll go ya one better (or worse) and state "every neck with a truss rod is" three pieces if it is a Fndr "one-piece" maple neck AND you count the walnut rear filler strip and plug by the nut as "pieces". If you were attempting to make a point, I didn't get it.

You just made my point. All guitars are made of more than one piece including the most sought after, including that "one piece" that Mr. Mojo is trying to sell you. "One piece" is just hype.

 

[socalscott]

I had a 70's Coronet Cherry SG copy, bolt-on.
This plywood git served me for 15 years. The neck had to be almost 20 piece! The body maybe 10. Quite handsome with Bigsby and 3pc bound fretboard/head stock.

Sound wise, it never lacked. Sounded better with a Marauder neck pup and M22 Carvin in the bridge. Real gits only seemed to play and stay in tune better.