The Gibson SG Standard and Custom first appeared under the Les Paul name but with a complete redesign, in late 1960 as 1961 models. Built with the now-familiar double cutaway Mahogany body with Mahogany neck and Rosewood fingerboard, the re-design offered lighter weight and complete access to the upper frets.

The earliest models used a side-to-side vibrato tailpiece, soon replaced by the Maestro Vibrola. Originally the pickguard was limited to the treble side of the top, but in 1965 it grew into the ‘Batwing’ version seen here that covers both sides of the strings and serves as the pickup mount.

The SG Standard was off the catalog from 1971 to 1972, replaced by the SG Deluxe, but its return has been permanent. Many years have offered a stop tailpiece in place of the Vibrola. It’s a great design for a rock guitar, lightweight and versatile.

Here we’re looking at a Gibson SG Standard in a Heritage Cherry nitrocellulose lacquer finish, built during 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. The body and neck are still Mahogany, with a long-tenon neck joint for strength and stability. The bound fingerboard is Indian Rosewood with acrylic trapezoidal position markers. The tuners are Gibson Deluxe Kluson style models with plastic ‘Keystone’ buttons. These work quite well and are significantly lighter than Grover Roto-Matics that have been sometimes used, and this is important as one of the side effects of the lightweight body can be a tendency towards ‘neck dive’. At the body, a standard Tune-O-Matic and stop tailpiece setup are used. The pickups are a 490R and 490T set, described below, mounted to the Batwing pickguard.

This example is in very good, clean condition with only light wear. Fretwear is light to moderate, and it would not take much effort to make them look like new.

Sold with a Gator molded hard shell case.

Here’s what the builder says about the Gibson SG Standard:

“The Gibson SG Standard rocks the classic looks and features associated with the late 60’s style SG models sought after by many. A rounded profile mahogany neck, bound rosewood fingerboard, long tenon 19th fret neck joint, and a solid mahogany body provide the backbone for singing sustain. The 490R and 490T Alnico II pickups provide the power to drive. A black, 5-ply, full-face pickguard set this SG Standard apart from others… a truly versatile classic.”

And Gibson again on the 490R and 490T pickup set:

“As rock music developed and grew in popularity, amplifiers became larger and featured higher wattage, and the music became louder and more powerful sounding as a result. This led to a call for a more versatile pickup that could split coils through a push/pull knob and prevent microphonic feedback from occurring when the volume was turned up to maximum levels.

Gibson answered this call with the introduction of the revolutionary 490T and 490R pickups (“T” for treble and “R” for rhythm), which have the traditional characteristics of the original Patent Applied For pickups, but with two key modifications. First, a four-conductor wiring scheme allows the 490s to be connected to any push/pull knob, which lets players split the coils and increase versatility. Gibson also introduced wax potting, which does away with any air space, minimizing microphonic feedback. The 490R is a humbucker with the tonal characteristics of an original Patent Applied For, with a slight increase in upper midrange response. The 490T bridge pickup is calibrated to match the 490R, with pole pieces aligned a little further apart to accommodate the spacing of the strings at the bridge, which is different than the spacing of the strings at the neck.

• • Magnet: Alnico 2
  • Wiring: 4-Conductor
  • Cover: None
  • Double Black Bobbins
  • Wax Potted
  • Average DC Resistance: 8K
  • Details: Aggressively hot neck position pickup. Perfect with a 490T in the bridge position.