Garcia's SG

[tigerstrat]

As far as the modded v not SGs, my vote would be no major mods. Never seemed like those guitars stuck around for long enough to become experiments. It seems like if he didn't like something he would change guitar.

Also the guitar people aren't mentioning is the sunburst strat that made many an appearance in 1970.

I suspect that mods frequently were applied before instruments graduated to stage use.

Sunburst = the "early-60's Strat" I refer to as first in the 70-71 chain (actually beginning in Sept '69). That's your 2/13/70 guitar! (also the undermentioned 1/2/70)

[Tony6Strings]

The SG Faded is a great guitar, both the Gibson and the Epi. I've played a few Gibbys SG faded we had at our shop and they were great. Real no frills, just straight up players guitar, and I love the satin finish. I've got an Epi SG-400 faded that I scored for $90, and it gets a lot of playing time. My main axe will always be a Strat, but I can definately see the appeal for these things. Another perk is that they're great for slide. For some reason, playing slide on single coils just never sounded quite right to me, like there was something missing. I'm thinking some of those Pearly Gates would really make this guitar shine, prolly gonna try em out. That's the one thing, the pickups in the Epi's aren't that great. So, during Jerry's time with the SG, what's the word on his pickup position of choice? It sounds to me like neck. So funny, that Gibson labeled the neck position "Rhythm", when IMHO the best lead tones in the LP's/SG's are from the neck pup.

[mijknahs]

Definitely the majority of the time on the neck but sometimes you can hear him playing the bridge. Very cutting and raw sounding. He uses the tone control quite a bit when using the bridge.

[Smolder]

Not exactly Jerry like, but sweetwater is blowing out the 70's tribute SG's for 499. Not a big mini hum fan, but they'd be excellent with P90's dropped in. (like the old SG special from the 60's).

[Mosfed]

It seems like just about everyone is having a Gibson blowout before the lines get shuffled around in the new year. There are some great deals to be had.

To my ear it sounds like Garcia is definitely more frequently using the neck pups in the SG - it's a sweeter sound with less bite. When he switches during some of those fierce other ones you can hear the treble of the bridge just shine through. I could obviously be wrong...

[ccw3432]

SG neck pickup with a little bit of tube screamer and let it sing. Some songs just sound a whole lot better with the dirt (in a good way) and depth an SG can produce.

[Smolder]

To my ear it sounds like Garcia is definitely more frequently using the neck pups in the SG - it's a sweeter sound with less bite. When he switches during some of those fierce other ones you can hear the treble of the bridge just shine through. I could obviously be wrong...

Agreed... the bridge pickup on an SG gets raspy very quickly and then turns to chainsaw with a pedal... but in the 70's that's certainly what a lot of guys were doing with them.

[Tony6Strings]

SG neck pickup with a little bit of tube screamer and let it sing. Some songs just sound a whole lot better with the dirt (in a good way) and depth an SG can produce.

Totally! Great combo there. Tubescreamer seems to work really well with a PAF style neck bucker. Gives you that Warren Haynes/Derek Trucks type of tone. Not really Jerry per se but very tasty regardless. You know, with all the gear Jerry cycled through, it surprises me that he never warmed up to the Tubescreamer. Perhaps it was a bit too muddy/midrangey for his tastes. I bet he could have pulled some great sounds out of it though if he had given it a shot...

[Smolder]

the tone and volume on the guitar turned down really helps that bridge pickup. You can get a 69/70 Jerry lead there but the signal from the guitar can't be full out.

[mijknahs]

the tone and volume on the guitar turned down really helps that bridge pickup. You can get a 69/70 Jerry lead there but the signal from the guitar can't be full out.

Yeah, I think Jerry played around with the tone and volume knobs going way back. In the 69-70 era he definitely gets a cleaner sound and a more distorted sound depending. Probably just messing with the volume knob.

[Jerry1996x]

Not exactly Jerry like, but sweetwater is blowing out the 70's tribute SG's for 499. Not a big mini hum fan, but they'd be excellent with P90's dropped in. (like the old SG special from the 60's).

I think if you dropped some P90s in, you could absolutely get a killer 67-69 Les Paul sound, which seemed to be pretty similar to the SG tone

[tigerstrat]

This is a prime example of the '61 Les Paul-SG. A mere $14k!

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/3398598266.html

[easytoslip]

$14k, sweet! found my next guitar! naw, not really. did I miss what makes the $14k guitar that much nicer than the $1k SG, or was it not mentioned yet

[ccw3432]

This one looks interesting. The SG3 with a factory middle pickup.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.vi ... ID=EBAY-US

[Jerry1996x]

So i was at a music srtore in Carlisle PA called the Woodshop (excelent place and owner if anyone is in the Harrisburg area, he does repair/mods) and i played an Epi SG Custom (cream with 3 pups) i was a bit surprised at how UNversatile it was. Not much of a tone difference between all 3 pups. I was using the neck pup to try and get a Garcia sg tone, and it just wasnt there. Maybe it was the pickups. But i was playing through a Super Reverb so that was a treat.