What does the "SG" in Gibson SG mean?

[cavedog101]

Solid Guitar as well as Standard Guitar is correct as the last post explains so clearly.The Original LesPauls were made with a solid body and a two piece top which was carved and occasionally book matched.The neck is a dovetail joint glued in place and is the same construction in the SG though the dovetail is more of a Vee due to the thinness of the guitar.The 70's LesPauls were a laminated body and as many as three pieces on the top.The laminations were horizontal rather than vertical..more like a sandwich.The SG's were a one piece body in the 'Standard'(humbuckers) and in the Customs, some of the cheaper models could be laminated but the center section was always solid.Its pretty easy to hide laminations on Mahogany as the grain all goes the same direction.

 

[Light]

The neck is a dovetail joint glued in place and is the same construction in the SG though the dovetail is more of a Vee due to the thinness of the guitar.

It is not actually a dovetail, it is just a tenon. There is enough gluing surface in there, so a dovetail would be overkill anyway.

The 70's LesPauls were a laminated body and as many as three pieces on the top.The laminations were horizontal rather than vertical..more like a sandwich.The SG's were a one piece body in the 'Standard'(humbuckers) and in the Customs, some of the cheaper models could be laminated but the center section was always solid.Its pretty easy to hide laminations on Mahogany as the grain all goes the same direction.

Also not quite right. Many of the early Gold Top Les Pauls had three piece tops, and even some of the very early sunbursts, which were Gold Tops which were not finished before the change. Then they started bookmatching them all, although you will occasionally see some odd tops, like the one I once saw with the glue joint about a third of the way into the bass bout.

Some of the models in the seventies, and the '71 or'72 Deluxe I just refinished is one of them, had laminated BODIES, but the tops are still bookmatched. It would be impossible to make a laminated top like you are suggesting look good with a transparent finish.

And trust me, any half way observant eye can see laminations in mahogany. The grain is frequently very straight, but it is still interrupted when you laminate pieces together. It is, occasionally, possible to make that joint ALMOST disappear, but it takes an inhuman feat of woodworking.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[cavedog101]

Light...I realize I wasnt very clear in my description of the 70's laminates...the tops were done as the old ones except some of the gold tops...these are the ones I meant as having three pieces.I know this because I've owned two refinished gold tops ..One a 72 and the other a possible 74...both had three pieces in the top.One like you said with the glue line in the bass side of the bout and a little section just over the control cavity. The other had distinct 'wings' on either side of the pickup cavitys and these were the flamiest pieces I've ever seen!...The bodies were indeed the 'sandwich lams' as i sorta said. I've owned a 55 Black Beauty refinish that was an offcenter top but was two pieces and as far as the term for the joint on the SG I couldnt recall that it is actually a tenon and not a dovetail.Thanks for the reminder.I know several master builders and you are certainly knowledgeable ...This site is lucky to have someone as attentive to detail and know the realities of guitar construction as well as history.My hats off to ya mon.

In another of your posts you commented on seeing so many guitars that you tend to become a bit jaded and the real rarities for you are those pieces that are just simply odd or a little out of whack...I know you would have appreciated my 61 Les Paul I picked up years ago...everything said Standard with the Vibrola system on it and the Les Paul decal except the P90s!and Binding on the neck like a Custom...Really an odd piece.