Happy happy

[pickdropper]

I convinced the wife to let me move part of the workshop down into the house proper for the remainder of the winter. Not only will this increase my productivity immeasurably, I will no longer have to freeze my nuts off to build something.

That's great, I can't imagine having to work outside in the winter.  I have to workout in the garage and that is bad enough.

[pickdropper]

And more good news for me: my new SG will be here on Jan 2nd! I gotta plug Sweetwater here. They actually sent me a pic of the guitar they are shipping. I think that is pretty great CS.

Gibson has offered the MIA faded series in the past.  They have been pretty nice guitars.  The main compromise is the finish, which bothers some people and other people don't care at all (or even dig it).  It should be a very nice guitar.

I just noticed that yours appears to be a 2-piece body, which is even nicer.  Some of the recent LP Jrs I've seen (which are more expensive than this) have had 3+ pieces.

[madbean]

Mini-review:
The SGJ arrived yesterday. It is actually a 3 piece body, not 2. But, that doesn't bother me; the joints are flawless and barely even noticeable. Considering how resonant the body is unplugged I don't see that it is a drawback, either. Out of the box, Sweetwater has it set up better than any of my current guitars. The action is low and consistent. There are a couple of "plingy" spots on the fretted B string, but that could be a matter of needing a small fret dress or it just wanting a slightly higher action. It's not bad enough to bother me since there are no fret-outs with string bending.

This is my first humbucking guitar in about 10 years and I have been missing out. The pickups are full and rich through my Vox AC4 (haven't tried it on the AC15 or plugged it through any dirt boxes yet) and even across the strings. As time goes on I will probably try another bridge pickup...not because the stock one is lacking but that's how I am. I did find myself rolling the tone control down a bit, and I'm pretty happy with the range of tones available with the two pickups. One HUGE plus: quiet as a mouse. Since I moved my gear down into the house from the workshop I've been having a major noise problem on my single coils. The wiring in the house is older and the hum is just about unbearable. But, the SG is just dead quiet.

Craftsmanship on the guitar is very good. No flaws of any kind in terms of the finish. The neck and body joint are not perfectly level, and I don't know if that is by design or not. Surely it must be since these bodies are probably CNC'd. But, it is not in a position where your hand will ever notice the 1mm or so ridge b/w body and neck.

Speaking of the neck: it is wide and a bit thicker than my Strats. Very playable and I'm sure it will break in nicely over the next couple of years. The nibs on the edge of the frets are not terribly smooth. That is not surprising...I would not expect a $2000 fret job on a $500 guitar. Smooth enough for me, and they could be filed a bit smoother if I want.

The only flaw I found so far is that the bridge humbucker was not taped properly. Rather than folding under, the tape jutted slightly over the top of the pickup which lead to a "paper scratching" sound whenever my palm contacts it. I was able to push the tape under the bobbin to fix that.

Overall, I am very pleased with what I got in line with what I spent. Not perfect, but pretty close. And, it sounds great and plays great which is what I'm worried about. I want a player's guitar, not a museum piece!

[BuGG]

Sounds like an awesome guitar!   I've never had an SG, maybe this is the year for one! 

The nibs on the edge of the frets are not terribly smooth. That is not surprising...I would not expect a $2000 fret job on a $500 guitar.

Hate to say, the nibs aren't terribly smooth on all of the $2000 models either.   My '08 Standard had obvious file marks and flashing around the nibs.   It wasn't particularly uncomfortable, but it wasn't what you'd call perfect out of the box either.

[RobA]

And more good news for me: my new SG will be here on Jan 2nd! I gotta plug Sweetwater here. They actually sent me a pic of the guitar they are shipping. I think that is pretty great CS.

I've been waiting for the (almost) local shop here to get one of the SGJ's in to try out. They had an SGM which is similar and I really liked it. They were supposed to get them in near the first of the year. After your report, I'll have to go see if they're in yet.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Sadly... there are no places around my neck of the woods to go check out any Fender, Gibson, etc. products. I guess when a shop owner wants to carry them in their place, they demand HUGE amounts of floor space and most of the shops around me are mom and pop. When I go into a place around here, the only time you see a Fender or Gibson product is on consignment and usually VERY overpriced!

Gotta drive about 50 miles to go to a shop that carries higher end gear. It strikes me as funny too because PRS is MADE in this state and there are no shops closer to me than the bloddy factory that carries them?? 

[madbean]

One more thing: the electronics are circuit board mounted with Molex type connectors for the pickups. I'm okay with this because the CB and connectors are good quality and it means changing pickups will be a snap. Plus the ground wire can be removed with desoldering (something I hate doing in Strats). However, if I want to replace the two ceramic 22n caps with mojo caps, it means the entire apparatus has to be removed, then the caps desoldered from the board. Not such a big deal since I would likely only do this once, but a bit of a PITA. Also, the input/sleeve of the jack are connected by two thin bare wires that could break if the jack becomes loose. I believe the thinking behind this is that better to have the wires break than put stress on the PCB from overly stiff connections. Still, I might replace these with more flexible 22AWG.

[RobA]

That'll be a bit of a pain. I was looking to get it to put a set of the SD Blackouts in. I guess it won't really be that much different though as I would have needed to replace all the pots and jack anyway. Is the pickup selector PCB mounted too?

[madbean]

No, selector is not mounted. Just the pots/caps and jack. Having the selector mounted would be pretty bad stress-wise.

[BuGG]

I still think there would be a (small) market for drop-in PCB replacements for alternate wiring configurations.

[RobA]

No, selector is not mounted. Just the pots/caps and jack. Having the selector mounted would be pretty bad stress-wise.

Yeah, it would. I'm glad to hear that they've kept it off the board. Thanks for the info.

I still think there would be a (small) market for drop-in PCB replacements for alternate wiring configurations.

Or some on board effects  .

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I still think there would be a (small) market for drop-in PCB replacements for alternate wiring configurations.

I think this would be a FANTASTIC addition to your inventory Brian!

Make some drop in PCBs for the more common (Fender strat, Fender Tele, Gibson LP-type, SG, Etc.) electronics cavities with options to install stand-off pots, off board wiring, additional small-ish circuits. No more "caps soldered to the pots" issues!

Just mount your selected stand off pots and caps to the PCB and the only off board would be pickup wiring, selector switch, and jack. Brilliant. Maybe allow some flexibility for off board switches for the tone caps. You could even add extra pads for push-pull pots.

Am I going too far here? Or are there HUGE flaws with this idea? 

[m-Kresol]

You guys wanna talk cold?

Don't mess with the guy living in Saskatchewan. It was -47 Celcius with Windchill yesterday.

Jacob

I'm in the foothills of the alps snowboarding atm. Or better: damaging my board and swimming down the slopes especially in the afternoons. It's +4 celsius and was +13 on christmas eve. Hopefully, we'll get some powder soon. Send some cold over, will ya?!

And yes, drop-in pcbs for common guitars would be nice.

[jubal81]

Mini-review:
The SGJ arrived yesterday. It is actually a 3 piece body, not 2. But, that doesn't bother me; the joints are flawless and barely even noticeable. Considering how resonant the body is unplugged I don't see that it is a drawback, either. Out of the box, Sweetwater has it set up better than any of my current guitars. The action is low and consistent. There are a couple of "plingy" spots on the fretted B string, but that could be a matter of needing a small fret dress or it just wanting a slightly higher action. It's not bad enough to bother me since there are no fret-outs with string bending.

This is my first humbucking guitar in about 10 years and I have been missing out. The pickups are full and rich through my Vox AC4 (haven't tried it on the AC15 or plugged it through any dirt boxes yet) and even across the strings. As time goes on I will probably try another bridge pickup...not because the stock one is lacking but that's how I am. I did find myself rolling the tone control down a bit, and I'm pretty happy with the range of tones available with the two pickups. One HUGE plus: quiet as a mouse. Since I moved my gear down into the house from the workshop I've been having a major noise problem on my single coils. The wiring in the house is older and the hum is just about unbearable. But, the SG is just dead quiet.

Craftsmanship on the guitar is very good. No flaws of any kind in terms of the finish. The neck and body joint are not perfectly level, and I don't know if that is by design or not. Surely it must be since these bodies are probably CNC'd. But, it is not in a position where your hand will ever notice the 1mm or so ridge b/w body and neck.

Speaking of the neck: it is wide and a bit thicker than my Strats. Very playable and I'm sure it will break in nicely over the next couple of years. The nibs on the edge of the frets are not terribly smooth. That is not surprising...I would not expect a $2000 fret job on a $500 guitar. Smooth enough for me, and they could be filed a bit smoother if I want.

The only flaw I found so far is that the bridge humbucker was not taped properly. Rather than folding under, the tape jutted slightly over the top of the pickup which lead to a "paper scratching" sound whenever my palm contacts it. I was able to push the tape under the bobbin to fix that.

Overall, I am very pleased with what I got in line with what I spent. Not perfect, but pretty close. And, it sounds great and plays great which is what I'm worried about. I want a player's guitar, not a museum piece!

Sounds really sweet. Makes me wonder if they'd put it through the Plek machine.

[RobA]

[...]
Sounds really sweet. Makes me wonder if they'd put it through the Plek machine.

I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that Gibson is running everything through plek now. It was either on their website or the Gibson rep was talking about it when I was at the shop.