Up for sale, a 1962 Gibson SG Special in perfect working order, featuring the original custom color Polaris White finish and complete with its case. Tonewoods include the solid Honduran mahogany body and one-piece mahogany neck capped with a dark Brazilian rosewood slab fretboard. This combination of tonewoods yields a lively, detailed and warm natural response, and the instrument is featherweight at only 6lbs 6oz.
This SG delivers a distinct sound in every pickup position, offering glassy clarity and sparkling treble detail, with an accentuated midrange and smooth bark. The bridge pickup has a distinctive bounce and muscle, and toggling towards the neck pickup yields plenty of breadth and warmth, with a thickness that doesn’t lack clarity. Professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar, we've dialed in this SG with 10-46 strings, low action, and accurate intonation.
The one-piece mahogany neck has a slender, fast-feeling C-shaped profile carve with modest shoulder and a fast feel, measuring .825" at the 1st fret and .900" at the 12th. The Brazilian rosewood fretboard is a dark cut of this hallowed tonewood, and the original medium jumbo fretwire has a surprising amount of meat and crown, showing only light wear beneath the plain strings on frets 1-4. The guitar plays cleanly up the 24 3/4" scale with a straight neck and responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. The nut has been upgraded to a hand-carved piece of bone measuring a full 1 11/16" in width. On the headstock, the set of original Kluson Deluxe single line strip tuners with stock white buttons turn smoothly and hold pitch well.
The headstock has an older, very cleanly addressed V-shaped split, and targeted color and clear lacquer coats have been added, filling in much of the (somewhat haphazardly stamped) serial number. There is additional overspray which has yellowed somewhat compared to the surrounding original Polaris White gloss, extending behind the first few frets on the profile carve. All work was executed long ago, with additional natural lacquer checking across the headstock and neck profile.
The electronics include one original P-90 and one vintage replacement, both wired to the original harness with CentraLab pots that date to the 32nd week of '62. Both P-90s have clean bobbins and stock covers, metering at 7.85k ohms in the neck position and 10.6k ohms at the bridge. The original wraparound tailpiece is included in the case, and a new lightweight aluminum nickel-plated MojoAxe tailpiece is currently installed and compensated for a plain G string (as opposed to the original wraparound's wound G compensation). The original small batwing pickguard and switch surround are present, while the quartet of black reflector cap knobs are modern replacements.
The original gloss Polaris White custom color finish exhibits prominent horizontal lacquer checking, and the back is notably free of any buckle wear. There is one repaired split extending from the rear control cavity cover to the input jack, and a much shorter split just below it, also extending from the edge of the control cavity. Cosmetic wear is otherwise limited to small nicks and dings on the body as a whole, mostly clustered on the lower bout body edge (a number of which show a small amount of targeted touch-up).
The original mid-line Gibson case is included. This case has more structure and boasts nicer materials than the base model chipboard case, closer in its resemblance to the brown Lifton hardshells of the late '50s. The case has a clean brown exterior with a subtly arched lid, leather trim, original handle, and functional latches.