Gibson SG Les Paul Standard

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Gibson Sg Les Paul Standard (1961-1963)

In 1960 to 1963 gibson changed the body of the gibson les paul standard to an SG type body with 2 symetrical pointed horns (cutaways) , they had thinner necks and were called the gibson SG les paul standard models .

Some prototypes were made in late 1960 with "les paul model" on the peghead, but they were officially produced and sold in 1961 at a list price of $310 with crown peghead inlays,

the guitar had 2 humbuckers (PAF) , had a les paul logo on the truss rod cover , side -pull vibrato , mahogany body , cherry red finish , pickguards was small and black ( covering about 1/5 of the body ) , and had trapezoid inlay blocks on the fingerboard. In 1962 some models had inlaid ebony blocks on the tailpiece .

In Late 1963 they had gibson maestro vibrolas ( lyre-style covers) , gibson took out the les paul logo on the truss rod , made the necks a little larger ( better built ) and renamed the guitar the :

Gibson SG Standard ( 1963-present )

Basically the gibson sg standard guitars stayed the same except for some minor feature changes. In 1966 gibson started manufacturing the sg standard with larger pickguards surrounding the pickups .

In 1973 they had black plastic covers covering the humbucking pickups , in 1975 gibson added a tun o matic bridge , during the late 70s bigsby vibratos and stop tailpieces along with more color variations were added such as walnut , tobacco and white .

During the eighties metal covered humbuckers were installed and they went from small pickguards to large to small again in the early 90s , more colors were added and basically until today the bulk of the guitar stayed the same .

The gibson sg was fairly popular but really hit it mainstream when rockstars and guitar players such as george harrison from the beatles ,and eric clapton from cream started exploring its capabilities .

Angus Young from ac/dc took the sg standard to a new level when he plugged this guitar in his old marshall amp and created one of the most influential guitar sound in the rock n roll and hard rock business , the sound was simple ,BIG , bluesy , Phat , raw and powerful .

In 1986 gibson also made an SG reissue model , these gibson guitars had 60s style pickguards (small), trapezoid inlays , crown pegheads , cherry finishes , nickel plated hardware , and plastic tuner buttons , they were renamed Sg '62 reissue in 1988 , discontinued in 1991 and were reintroduced as the gibson Sg '61 Reissue in 1993 to present.

In 1988 they also introduced the gibson sg '62 reissue showcase edition with emg pickups . ( only 200 were made )

Vintage Price Value For 2007 :
1961 - 1963 > $19 000 to $25 000 ( SG les paul standard )
1963 - 1965 > $18 000 to $25 000 ( SG Standard )
1966 - 1967 > $5 500 to $7 500
1968 - 1969 > $4 000 to $5 000
1970 - 1975 > $2 000 to $3 500
1976 - 2000> $9 00 to $1 400

1986 - 1991 > $9 00 to $1 300 ( sg reissue /'62 sg reissue )
1988 - 1989 > $1 200 to $1 500 ( Sg '62 reissue edition /200 made )
1993 - 2000> $9 00 to $1 500 ( SG '61 Reissue )

1961-1963 > Avg Upward Trend of 36% a year since 2000
1963-1965> 33% 1966-1967> 22% 1968-1970>16% 1971-1975>11%

This is just a brief review of the gibson sg standard guitars but there are also many factors that can determine the value of the guitar such as colors , factory bigsbies , pickups ( PAF or not ) ...etc.

Always verify first with someone who knows his vintage guitars for consulting before buying or selling ....

If you want to buy used or vintage sg standard guitars , you can find gibson sg standard guitars for sale on ebay , however they don't have them all the time ...