Garcia's SG

[TI4-1009]

I just sold a Les Paul I wasn't using and turned around and bought a "faded" brown SG from a neighbor via Craigslist. It is well setup and plays great.

I took it home and plugged it into my vintage blackface Fender Twin (with Waldo mods and KT66 power tubes) into a 2x12 cab with K120s. The thing NAILS the '68-'71 tone especially with the neck pickup on full blast. With the amp anywhere past 3 the speakers cones are trying to jump out of the basket. Very much a vintage Garcia tone. I was surprised how well it nailed it. Love it!

The SG thread approaches critical mass.....

[Mosfed]

Re the faded series - I have one of the SG basses in faded cherry and I am pretty happy with it. In the case of the bass the differences are the finish and no binding on the fingerboard. In the case of the guitar, I am not a huge fan on the 490 pickups that Gibson puts in the faded vs the 498 in the Standard but the biggest downer is the baked maple or granadillo fingerboard.

I think the 1961 reissue is probably the winner in the modern series. And with GC's huge Gibson blowout and current coupons you can get one new for $1300 which is just amazing.

Show me where you see "baked maple or granadillo" fingerboard. I've never heard of that. From Gibson's website, they say the faded SG comes with a "rosewood fingerboard" as the original SG Standard did:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electri ... stock.aspx

Look at "specs" not features. Both special fadeds have baked maple and the rest of the line - say the Classic Faded or the SG Bass faded - are the same.

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electri ... Specs.aspx

[Smolder]

the baked maple is a result of the government's raid and seizure of much of the rosewood gibson had in stock.

[mijknahs]

Re the faded series - I have one of the SG basses in faded cherry and I am pretty happy with it. In the case of the bass the differences are the finish and no binding on the fingerboard. In the case of the guitar, I am not a huge fan on the 490 pickups that Gibson puts in the faded vs the 498 in the Standard but the biggest downer is the baked maple or granadillo fingerboard.

I think the 1961 reissue is probably the winner in the modern series. And with GC's huge Gibson blowout and current coupons you can get one new for $1300 which is just amazing.

Show me where you see "baked maple or granadillo" fingerboard. I've never heard of that. From Gibson's website, they say the faded SG comes with a "rosewood fingerboard" as the original SG Standard did:

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electri ... stock.aspx

Look at "specs" not features. Both special fadeds have baked maple and the rest of the line - say the Classic Faded or the SG Bass faded - are the same.

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electri ... Specs.aspx

Ok. I see that under "specs". I wonder why they say rosewood under "features". Maybe they forgot to update that part of the website.

[Mr.Burns]

Speaking of random Strats, is Danko holding a pre-mods Alligator during what sounds like "Sunshine of Your Love", around the 52:00 mark?

Jerry received Gator from Graham Nash, I believe Nash stated he picked it up in a pawn shop in the southwest a year or two before he gave it to Jerry.

I don't see the metal pickguard section over the volume and tone pots that I think was on the Alligator strat.

No physical mods were made until after June 71 I think?

Correct, the first batch of mods occured between March and June of '71, the pickguard and black knobs being the most obvious.


Back to SG's... all this talk about Jerry's has made me want to throw some lighter strings on my Epiphone.

[/quote]

To clarify, I wasn't asking when the mods occurred, I know when. The time frame could be correct, per the info on Waldo's site. I was asking if anyone thinks it could be Alligator in the shot I posted. I'm only posting the question here because Festival Express was referenced.

[jenkins]

So what's the consensus on the SG?
Do you guys think it was stock or modded?

Seems like back then, well i guess his whole career really, everything was modded and improved in one way or another.
I almost find it hard to believe he was playing just a stock SG

And what about Jerry's les Paul jr.? the double cutaway that he was playing in that same time period?
Anyone have any info on that guitar, any mods or anything special he did to that one?
The les Paul junior I hear referenced on here is the double cutaway les Paul right?
Does anyone know exactly what tours he used it on? I know it was like 70-71 but I don't think he used it that many times.
I'm just wondering bc I have a LP DC and the thing fucking kicks ass. Thing was nice stock but after if turned it into a 'tiger Paul' lol the thing is my favorite guitar that I've ever played by a long shot.

[Rusty the Scoob]

I wouldn't say there's conclusive proof that it was stock, but we know they didn't rewire pickups, and all the other instrument mods were pretty obvious aesthetically.

[tigerstrat]

So what's the consensus on the SG?
Do you guys think it was stock or modded?

Seems like back then, well i guess his whole career really, everything was modded and improved in one way or another.
I almost find it hard to believe he was playing just a stock SG

And what about Jerry's les Paul jr.? the double cutaway that he was playing in that same time period?
Anyone have any info on that guitar, any mods or anything special he did to that one?
The les Paul junior I hear referenced on here is the double cutaway les Paul right?
Does anyone know exactly what tours he used it on? I know it was like 70-71 but I don't think he used it that many times.
I'm just wondering bc I have a LP DC and the thing fucking kicks ass. Thing was nice stock but after if turned it into a 'tiger Paul' lol the thing is my favorite guitar that I've ever played by a long shot.

It's a Les Paul Special (2 pups vs the Junior's 1), and yes it's double cut. I believe there is a pic from '68 where he plays a Jr., but the one you are referring to is likely the Special.

There are a number of guitars tightly packed into the period of 70-71, including the LP Special, the LP Deluxe, the Guild S-100, the Turner Peanut, the LP-SG, and a couple of strats and there isn't much word that circulates about modding done to any of them. I guess that would go for all the preceding LP's... the Starfire was apparently converted to low impedance, as were all the instruments during the Acid Test era, but there seems to be not much information about the period from there until about '69-70 when Alembic begins, and even then its foggy for the first couple of years.

[mijknahs]

It's amazing that he played so many guitars in that era but overall he has pretty much the same tone (at least to my limited listening).

[jenkins]

Great point, his tone is very similar all through that era.

And yes, I was talking abou the LP special, the double cut.

[Free Jazz]

Great point, his tone is very similar all through that era.

And yes, I was talking abou the LP special, the double cut.

Apologies for derailing from things SG... We know the closing of Fillmore West featured the LP Special double cut ... and to my ear, I would also speculate he used it at Winterland back on 10/4/70. I've never seen photos from that gig. Anybody?

[mijknahs]

Great point, his tone is very similar all through that era.

And yes, I was talking abou the LP special, the double cut.

Apologies for derailing from things SG... We know the closing of Fillmore West featured the LP Special double cut ... and to my ear, I would also speculate he used it at Winterland back on 10/4/70. I've never seen photos from that gig. Anybody?

I found this from just a quick search on that date with "grateful dead"

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/grateful- ... -1970.html

I can't really tell what guitar Garcia is playing though.

[Free Jazz]

I found this from just a quick search on that date with "grateful dead"

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/grateful- ... -1970.html

I can't really tell what guitar Garcia is playing though.

That's funny ... the temptation to assume "SG" is there, but I just don't hear it. Maybe someday a trove of photos will surface, equal to the Guild revelation shots from Duke 4/24/71.

[mijknahs]

I found this from just a quick search on that date with "grateful dead"

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/grateful- ... -1970.html

I can't really tell what guitar Garcia is playing though.

That's funny ... the temptation to assume "SG" is there, but I just don't hear it. Maybe someday a trove of photos will surface, equal to the Guild revelation shots from Duke 4/24/71.

You can almost "see" the rear of a dark, thin guitar (SG?) in the picture. If they've got that pic, you'd think there should be more...

[tigerstrat]

I found this from just a quick search on that date with "grateful dead"

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/grateful- ... -1970.html

I can't really tell what guitar Garcia is playing though.

That's funny ... the temptation to assume "SG" is there, but I just don't hear it. Maybe someday a trove of photos will surface, equal to the Guild revelation shots from Duke 4/24/71.

You can almost "see" the rear of a dark, thin guitar (SG?) in the picture. If they've got that pic, you'd think there should be more...

This is my most recent photographic "discovery": http://www.gdao.org/items/show/833921 it doesn't allow access to the photo URL but if you go to theis page you can zoom. The first thing I noticed was the wah pedal (earliest known photo AFAICT); the next thing I saw was that he appears to be playing the Rick Turner "Peanut". I think the most likely scenario is that he played the Turner creation from Nov 70 (or a bit earlier?) clear up til the end of the Feb 71 tour.