Gibson SG Standard 2018 Ebony

What we say:

With its slim, devil-horned mahogany body and Ebony finish, the Gibson SG Standard is possibly the most iconic and enduring example of ROCK in electric guitar history. If you love rock music then you love Angus Young, you love Tony Iommi and by proxy, you love the Gibson SG.

Originally meant as a successor to the Les Paul, the SG has always been its own proposition. Despite sharing relatively similar features like necks and pickups, the thinner body and redesigned neck joint (the neck joins the body at the 20th fret with the scooped out horns providing easy access compared with the Les Paul's 17th fret join with the upper bout inhibiting upper fret excursions) lend the SG an altogether meaner sound. In effect, clean sounds are more chimey and slinky whereas distortions are rich and sustaining with a little more cut and less body than a Les Paul.

The thick rosewood fretboard has trapezoid fret markers and is a flat 12" radius for easy riffing and soloing. One of the SG's main selling points is it's ease of use: it's very light on the shoulder and you can quite literally whizz around on the fretboard. It's a great lead guitar: just check out Frank Zappa! This 2018 model was a pair of 61 pickups, a 61T & 61R. These have a vintage output and take to overdrive exceptionally well.

Of course, the SG is actually an extremely versatile instrument which can hold its own in a vast variety of musical situations. It just happens to be very, very good at rocking out.