1976 Gibson SG Beater Project

[DRodriguez]

Just making a home for updates on this thing, I don't expect it to progress very quickly, but I may get super inspired. I still have to figure out my full plan of what to leave beat up, and what to fix.

[kosta]

[Obulus]

Also, don't do anything to the "finish" of the headstock, that looks badass (it is functional right?). Or are you going to figure out a way to use the tele neck?

[DRodriguez]

Yeah, the headstock I was either going to leave as is, or stain it dark to leave it natural but have a dark gradient to black.

The Tele neck was for my Tele, it was just acquired the same day. The neck on the SG is actually sealed to the body.

The only bit that I really need to change is the pickguard which looks like it was drilled and routed using a soldering iron.

[Chankgeez]

You should put a Charlie Christian in the neck position.

[DRodriguez]

You should put a Charlie Christian in the neck position.

It came with the OG T top pickups and pots, so I'm going to try those first. But if I switch in probably going to go with something from my favorites, The Creamery, and take advantage of brexit. Maybe throw some P90s in there. But Lollars always sound great, I may have to take your advice.

[Chankgeez]

I bet Creamery dude could whip up a killer Charlie Christian.

[DRodriguez]

I bet Creamery dude could whip up a killer Charlie Christian.

Haha, I didn't realize Charlie Christian pickups were a style, thought they just were a Lollar model.

I'm sure he could. He makes some great rail magnet pickups, should be able to make a neat Charlie Christian.

[weed_killer]

Are the original pickups t-tops or tarbacks?

[rustywire]

Also, don't do anything to the "finish" of the headstock, that looks badass (it is functional right?).

[DRodriguez]

T-Tops. Not sure if it was what originally installed though, because this guitar has been through a few repairs over the years. All the structural stuff was repaired by a luthier, but he undid a couple "redneck repairs" and redid them all properly. At some point someone switched the tuning heads to Schallers, and then switched them back to stock. Guy gave me some vintage Schallers too in case I wanted them, complete with made in West Germany stamps.

I was playing around with it today, probably going to leave everything as is. The guitar is still finished, just faded. The only parts that are missing the nitro are the head stock and the neck joint (14th fret and up). My money is on it having been left out to bake in the sun hence the melted pickguard and faded finish. Just going to rewire it, fill in the missing bits and bobs. Maybe go for a refret if it needs it. The frets are level and no indents, they're just getting close to flat.

Best $200 bucks I've spent in a while.

[weed_killer]

uh, yeah, $200 is definitely better than best for this, haha. Can't go wrong with t-tops, imo, although I'm a big fan of tarbacks too (I picked up one earlier this year for a V project that didn't pan out, but it's going into something else soon). Probably wouldn't hurt to throw a bit of wax on it to keep the finish preserved.

[DRodriguez]

Good call on the wax.

Never really tried either pickup beyond quickly trying other people's instruments. Excited to really give them a go.

[DRodriguez]

Finished, just got it back from getting setup nicely. Had to swap in a different bridge pickup, so I put in a SD Phat Cat because p90's are the best. The other pickup had a damaged coil. Still worked, but not optimal. Apparently that zebra T-Top is somewhat rare and worth something, so I might sell that and put in another p90.

[skullservant]

This is fucking awesome.