A Fine and Original 1964 SG Standard

This 13-inch-wide SG Standard weighs just 7.10 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid Honduras mahogany body with bevelled edges, one-piece mahogany neck with a wonderful medium profile. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl trapezoid (crown) position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Three-layer (black/white/black) plastic bell-shaped truss-rod cover with two screws. Individual single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners (stamped on the inside "D-169400") with double-ring tulip-shaped Keystone plastic buttons. Serial number "147518" impressed into the back of the headstock. Two original Gibson patent-number humbucking pickups (the rectangular black labels on the undersides have disintegrated) with outputs of 7.77k and 8.23k. Original "MR 491" and "MR 490" black pickup rings. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard with six screws. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch, all on lower treble bout. The potentiometers are stamped "137 6338" (CTS September 1963). Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with nylon saddles and Gibson "Maestro" Deluxe Vibrola tailpiece with 'walrus-tooth' handle on tubular arm. All hardware nickel-plated. All of the solder joints including those on the pickup covers are totally original. The deep cherry finish on the body is rich and unfaded. The back of the neck is very slightly faded and there is one small surface chip just behind the seventh fret. There is a miniscule amount of belt-buckle rash on the back (nothing through the surface), some very slight finish checking on the top of the body and a few small surface marks on the edges. There are a few very small 'cigarette' burns on the bass top-edge of the headstock. The vibrola tailpiece (not the cover) shows some light tarnishing to the nickel plating as do the two pickup covers. Otherwise this totally original example is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. Housed in its original Gibson five-latch "Faultless" black hardshell case with orange plush lining (8.50).

This example is from arguably the best year of the "original style" SG Standards and has the great advantage of the far superior Gibson "Deluxe Vibrola" as opposed to the clumsy and cumbersome "side-to-side" vibrola that is found on the earlier Standards. It also has the stronger neck joint that was introduced in early 1963.

"Considering all the Les Paul models as a whole, sales declined in 1960 after a peak in 1959...[and] by 1961 Gibson had decided on a complete re-design of the line in an effort to reactivate this faltering model. The company had started a $400,000 expansion of the factory in Kalamazoo during 1960 which more than doubled the size of the plant by the time it was completed in 1961...One of the first series of new models to benefit from the company's newly expanded production facilities was the completely revised line of Les Paul models. Gibson redesigned the Junior, Standard and Custom models, adopting a new, distinctly modern, sculpted double-cutaway design. The 'Les Paul' name was still used at first, but during 1963 Gibson began to call these new models the SG Junior, the SG Standard and the SG Custom...The transition models -- those produced between 1961 and 1963 -- had the new SG design but the old Les Paul names, and these are now known to collectors and players as SG/Les Paul models...SG-style solidbodies have attracted a number of players over the years, including John Cipollina, Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi, Robbie Krieger, Tony McPhee, Pete Townshend, Angus Young and Frank Zappa" (Tony Bacon, Electric Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, pp. 134-136).