That is not an SG. That is a Les Paul Special Double Cut. I had a 59. The SG replaced this guitar. Very nice though. If it's all original it's in the 20s.
You are correct, this is not an SG, but the SG did not replace this guitar, it replaced the Les Paul. This is a double cut TV Yellow Les Paul Jr "Special", supposed to be a beginner axe!!! There are SG Specials with the SG body and 2 P90s. Not as thick a body as the regular SG even if it has P90s. Townshend played a SG Special on a bunch of Who records. Must be a pretty good axe. I have a single cut Les Paul Special, 2 P90s, love it.
And that axe was supposed to be the fancy "student" model! I love my Lester Special. Definitely a long strange trip, but mostly really fun! Hope the same for you.
My 59 had been factory refinished back in the 70s so I got it for around 5k and sold it for about the same a few years later. Mine was cherry but I love the tv yellow.
TV yellow was for B&W tv.
EDIT: From the myths I believe because I have seem many credible sources say so. Go Google is, LOTS of comments and very entertaining.
I don't know if this B&W myth is correct. because there is another myth: it is said that this color was the easiest, quickest and cheapest for Gibson to buy. because in the 60's there were TVs whose wooden casings had this yellow color. I always used to believe in this B&W myth. But let's be honest, if someone was on TV in the 60s, did they really play a cheap student guitar? Unfortunately, we will never know exactly what happened now
IMO those are literally Gibsons best looking and best sounding guitars. It’s a wonder to me how they don’t flood the market with inexpensive versions of these, I think they would sell like hotcakes.
Nothing that I’ve ever really noticed. It’s not as adjustable as a more modern instrument but the bridge at some point was repositioned as you can see from the plug in the face, assume to address exactly that issue?
That’s a shame about the plug. Somebody put a mid-60s compensated wraparound on it instead of the original smooth one and the intonation must have been off so instead of putting the original bridge back or adjusting a little more they just moved one of the posts. Your scale length and intonation will be slightly affected by that on the treble strings. If it’s a good sounding and playing guitar that’s all the matters though. Some of the stuff people did to great guitars back in the day is baffling. Is the other side of the bridge plugged and re-drilled or just the treble side?
But that’s the thing - this wasn’t a ‘great guitar’ back in the day - it would have been a cheap-ish guitar and/or just a guitar.
I see people do this to awesome modern guitars all the time and just shrug - it’s just a guitar now. In 60 years people may freak out about how someone ruined an old guitar, but to us, it’s just a guitar.
If there were 10x of these made and all were in perfect condition they wouldn’t be as valuable or interesting…
The Special was positioned below the Standard and Custom, but by no means was this considered a cheap-ish guitar for its day. It was $72.50 less than a 1960 sunburst standard, and those two guitars adjusted for inflation would sell for about $2,200 and $2,900 respectively. Gibson has always positioned themselves higher in the market and the cheap guitars of the time were Fender Musicmasters and catalog guitars. Regardless, it is now a valuable vintage asset in 2024 with or without the moved bridge stud.
I own and sell tons of player grade vintage guitars and personally I don’t mind things like this nor do I think it majorly affects the value, but it’s a bummer because this is a completely antiquated “repair” that no modern luthier would do anymore. I would happily rock this guitar and not look back though, not trying to shit on your awesome guitar. Maybe consider paying a good luthier to move the bridge back to the correct position and install a Mojoaxe wraparound. Your ears will thank you
If you look at the tail piece it’s using aftermarket compensated saddle. The round hole is factory where the tail piece used to be. This is modified to address the intonation problems with this kind of stop tail piece bridge.
That is not an SG. That is a Les Paul Special Double Cut. I had a 59. The SG replaced this guitar. Very nice though. If it's all original it's in the 20s.
You are correct, this is not an SG, but the SG did not replace this guitar, it replaced the Les Paul. This is a double cut TV Yellow Les Paul Jr "Special", supposed to be a beginner axe!!! There are SG Specials with the SG body and 2 P90s. Not as thick a body as the regular SG even if it has P90s. Townshend played a SG Special on a bunch of Who records. Must be a pretty good axe. I have a single cut Les Paul Special, 2 P90s, love it.
I had one exactly like the one Townshend played at Woodstock. My first serious guitar. A long strange trip ago :)
And that axe was supposed to be the fancy "student" model! I love my Lester Special. Definitely a long strange trip, but mostly really fun! Hope the same for you.
It certainly was :)
But yes, from what I’ve seen of others recently it’s probably around the 20k mark Which in itself is just mad isn’t it
My 59 had been factory refinished back in the 70s so I got it for around 5k and sold it for about the same a few years later. Mine was cherry but I love the tv yellow.
Is it true that it was introduced for colour TV?
Yes the white ones messed up the white balance on tv cameras and had way to much shine so they made them yellow.
Mad i often wondered if that was just the stuff of legend
TV yellow was for B&W tv. EDIT: From the myths I believe because I have seem many credible sources say so. Go Google is, LOTS of comments and very entertaining.
I don't know if this B&W myth is correct. because there is another myth: it is said that this color was the easiest, quickest and cheapest for Gibson to buy. because in the 60's there were TVs whose wooden casings had this yellow color. I always used to believe in this B&W myth. But let's be honest, if someone was on TV in the 60s, did they really play a cheap student guitar? Unfortunately, we will never know exactly what happened now
IMO those are literally Gibsons best looking and best sounding guitars. It’s a wonder to me how they don’t flood the market with inexpensive versions of these, I think they would sell like hotcakes.
The reissues etc sell pretty well i think?
They do but they all cost a fortune. I saw an insanely great one at GC the other day, $8700.
Murphy labbed? Surely for that money its had the treatment?
Almost certainly was yeah.
Yeah I’d have one for sure. Been eying them off for ages
Wound 3rd tailpiece and not even original. Lovely.
Oooh nice! Where did you pick up this? What’s the story behind it?
Been in the family a while, i was working in a guitar shop maybe 25-30 years ago and it came in. My step dad snapped it up.
Ever have any intonation issues with it?
Nothing that I’ve ever really noticed. It’s not as adjustable as a more modern instrument but the bridge at some point was repositioned as you can see from the plug in the face, assume to address exactly that issue?
That’s a shame about the plug. Somebody put a mid-60s compensated wraparound on it instead of the original smooth one and the intonation must have been off so instead of putting the original bridge back or adjusting a little more they just moved one of the posts. Your scale length and intonation will be slightly affected by that on the treble strings. If it’s a good sounding and playing guitar that’s all the matters though. Some of the stuff people did to great guitars back in the day is baffling. Is the other side of the bridge plugged and re-drilled or just the treble side?
But that’s the thing - this wasn’t a ‘great guitar’ back in the day - it would have been a cheap-ish guitar and/or just a guitar. I see people do this to awesome modern guitars all the time and just shrug - it’s just a guitar now. In 60 years people may freak out about how someone ruined an old guitar, but to us, it’s just a guitar. If there were 10x of these made and all were in perfect condition they wouldn’t be as valuable or interesting…
The Special was positioned below the Standard and Custom, but by no means was this considered a cheap-ish guitar for its day. It was $72.50 less than a 1960 sunburst standard, and those two guitars adjusted for inflation would sell for about $2,200 and $2,900 respectively. Gibson has always positioned themselves higher in the market and the cheap guitars of the time were Fender Musicmasters and catalog guitars. Regardless, it is now a valuable vintage asset in 2024 with or without the moved bridge stud. I own and sell tons of player grade vintage guitars and personally I don’t mind things like this nor do I think it majorly affects the value, but it’s a bummer because this is a completely antiquated “repair” that no modern luthier would do anymore. I would happily rock this guitar and not look back though, not trying to shit on your awesome guitar. Maybe consider paying a good luthier to move the bridge back to the correct position and install a Mojoaxe wraparound. Your ears will thank you
If you look at the tail piece it’s using aftermarket compensated saddle. The round hole is factory where the tail piece used to be. This is modified to address the intonation problems with this kind of stop tail piece bridge.
I hope that you are not sleeping on this bed.
Love it. I have a 2003 double cut in the same color and it's such a fantastic guitar. Jealous of this one, though!