Tony Iommi - "Monkey" SG

This is the original SG that was used on the majority of the original Black Sabbath albums and tours. It has been identified by Gibson as a 1965 SG Special. It has a Gibson P90 pick up in the bridge position that was fitted into a metal case by John Birch.

The neck pick up is a John Birch custom P90 type single coil. The finger board is finished with clear polyurethane.

Adorned with the cartoon monkey sticker, this guitar became the main instrument when the bridge pick up on Tony’s white Stratocaster failed after the band recorded ‘Wicked World’ on the ‘Black Sabbath’ album.

It was not, however, without its problems. Due to the thin neck profile at the heel, there were always tuning stability problems and the single coil pick ups were always susceptible to picking up interference.

1965 Gibson SG - Cherry

Derek Trucks - Gibson SG

Derek Trucks of The Allman Brothers Band, the Derek Trucks Band and other projects plays a Gibson Custom Shop reissue '61 cherry SG with classic '57 humbuckers, a Vibrola cover with stopbar tailpiece and with the pick guard removed for "better tone".

Trucks plays other guitars, but is clearly a Gibson SG fan:

"Early on I loved the sound of the Gibson Les Paul, but it was just too heavy for a nine-year-old. The SG gave me a similar sound without all the weight. I also saw a picture of Duane Allman with an SG and that look has always stuck with me."

"I have seven Gibsons right now, including a 1960's 335, a 1950's ES-250, and a few SGs. I play a Gibson Custom reissue on stage, and that’s what I feel most comfortable traveling with, but my prized possession is an original 1961 Les Paul SG. If anyone has any extra ’61s lying around let me know!"

2007 Gibson SG - Cherry

Mick Taylor - Gibson SG

Taylor got his SG in 1968 and played it during his last year with the John Mayall band and throughout the 1969 tour with The Rolling Stones, including the "Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out!" live album and his debut at the legendary Hyde Park concert after Brian Jones death.

Said Mick in an interview with Gibson in 2010...

"I just remember loving that guitar – I must have loved it a lot, otherwise I wouldn’t have forsaken a Les Paul to play that. I played both, but I think I preferred that SG because it had a very wide neck, and a very flat neck, and the action was absolutely superb."

"The sound was good, too. And it had a Bigsby arm on it, which I didn’t use a great deal in those days, but I like that kind of effect as well."

Mid 1960's Gibson SG with Bigsby - Cherry

John Cipollina - Gibson SG

Cipollina, best known as a founder and lead guitarist of Quicksilver Messenger Service bought the Gibson SG that was his principal guitar in 1967.

The SG reflected John's long preoccupation with electric guitar design and construction and was extensively modified for structural, acoustical, and decorative purposes.

The entire instrument was bound, the back striped, and the peghead and heel of the neck inlaid with slabs of ebony which John claimed helped keep the guitar in tune.

Both sides of the peghead and the top were laminated. The ebony fingerboard was inlaid with ivory and the control knobs embellished with pearl, and inset with San Francisco Mint mercury dimes. The pickguard and ornamentation on the top were cut from laminated plastic into a bat-like design. The pickups are the original Gibson humbuckers, and the guitar had a Bigsby added and was wired for stereo.

Gibson SG - Cherry

Robby Krieger - SG

Mash up From Premier Guitar and Music Radar:

"Before I played electric guitars, I knew nothing about them. But then I saw Chuck Berry and had to get one. I went to a pawnshop (Ace Loans in Santa Monica). It was the SG Special with P90s, this was 1964 and all I could afford—it cost me $180. That was the guitar I used in the Doors."

"I played ES-335s and ES-355s also, but I always went back to the SG. It’s the most comfortable guitar for me. It does what I need it to do and always has."

Apparently, the original was stolen during The Doors period, so Krieger bought a 1967 SG Standard which became the basis for Gibson's Robby Krieger SG reissue.

"They copied the ’67 SG I have now. I didn’t like that guitar’s original neck, so the neck on it is actually a copy of a friend’s ’61 SG Junior that I preferred. Gibson wired the front and rear pickups out of phase like a wah. It was a mistake, but a good one."

1967 Gibson SG - Cherry

Frank Zappa - "Baby Snakes" SG

While playing a show in Phoenix in the 70’s, “some guy” sneaked backstage and sold Frank a “Gibson” SG for $500. Though the guitar wasn’t a Gibson, it had the Gibson name on the headstock and from a distance, it looked like a normal SG.

Closer inspection shows some non-standard Gibson features. The most visible and obvious would be the numerous knobs and switches put on the guitar. Other features included ornamental woodwork and special inlays. The inlays consisted of smaller than usual Gibson dot inlays, including a Star inlay at the fifth fret and what appears to be eyes or something of similar design on the twelfth. The guitar also featured 23 frets, instead of 22, which the Gibson is known for. The addition of this fret pushed the neck pickup back a bit, giving it a more unique sound.

The pickups were special made, but not much more is known. The guitar seems to have employed a vibrola-style tremolo at one point, but it was removed and a stop-bar tailpiece was put in its place.

Some features of the electronics of the guitar include a Dan Armstrong Green Ringer circuit, phase switching, an onboard preamp for 18db boost on output, and maybe even coil-tapping switches. This guitar, along with the “inoffensive” Pignose amp, was the rig used to record Over-nite Sensation and Apostrophe(‘) and also makes an appearance on the film “Baby Snakes”, hence the name “Baby Snakes SG”.

1970's Gibson SG - Brown

Elliott Easton - SG Special

“By the late ’60s, the guitar of choice for suburban rockers like me was the SG Standard or Special,” says former Cars and current New Cars guitarist Elliot Easton.

He finally got a ’69 or ’70 SG Special around ’74, and played it right up through the early days of The Cars. In 1980, he found a mint ’63 SG Special at Strings and Things in Memphis, and, two years later, he got a ’65 SG Standard with the horseshoe Bigsby.

1963 Gibson SG Special - White

Angus Young - Gibson SG

Angus Young has used Gibson SGs in various forms throughout his career.

He is rarely seen with another guitar, though he also owns Fender Telecasters, Gibson Firebirds and ES335s.

Young's 1968 SG has high output Alnico II pickups with matched coils. Angus uses Ernie Ball RPS-9 Slinky Nickel Wound guitar strings (RPS-9 being gauges .009-.042)

1968 Gibson SG - Cherry