1970 SG Special: What are the necks like on these?

[Reinhard]

One popped up locally, faded to brown, non-original tuners, missing one original knob, but has original yellow lined case. Serial with "made in USA" on back of headstock.

What are the necks like on these? I assume it will have a volute, but are these necks very thin? Unstable? Narrow nut?

Any info is welcome

Thanks!

Reinhard

 

[Triplet]

Narrow nut for sure. My early '70s SG neck was fairly substantial. It was meaty enough to have a rounded profile.

 

[woody-89]

As I understand it, 1970 was a bit of a strange year neck-wise. My '70 LP Custom has one of the biggest necks I've ever felt (larger than an R8 for sure), and I've heard of others that are similar. In fact, I believe there is/was a '70 SG Special on the 'Bay that has a chunky neck too. At the same time, there are also some out there with a much thinner feel to them so it's by no means an exact science!

Best thing to do is ask the guy if you can't try it on person.

 

[Reinhard]

Thanks for the info guys :salude

Price is $1500 and it has a pro headstock crack repair.

 

[ZZ Not]

Agree with the others that the neck sizes are all over the place. My '70 is on the slim side, similar to the current slim taper Gibson necks. Definite but not huge volute. Would not call the neck unstable though and it is the narrow nut.

With the headstock repair, and maybe new holes added with the non-original tuners, the price seems kind of high.

Color may not be faded to brown as some, like mine, came in a walnut finish. The black yellow case sounds cool. I believe my black/red case is original.

 

[Elliot Easton]

my recollection is narrow nut but the neck gets real chunky as you get up in the higher register.

 

[Litcrit]

Nut width is 1 9/16", girth can vary..closer to '69 they can be beefy, later ones: some are thinner. Those neck joints are stable for the most part, and the neck pickup is set back, so there's no compromise in the joint.
Cool guitars, they work!

 

[Reinhard]

Thanks for all the input guys :dude:

I would like to check this one out if the seller is flexible on the price. Just seems like a really fun guitar.

 

[garywright]

a friend of mine had a '69 special that made you forget about the narrow nut once you got up a couple frets ...it played really well and had a nice beefy round neck.

 

[buddyboy]

I have a stripped 1970 SG Special:

The neck on mine is exactly as Elliot described above. It is narrow at the nut and medium depth-wise. As you move up the neck, it widens a bit but really deepens, until it is quite chunky at the 12th fret. It's actually my favorite neck shape of all my guitars. It feels great to play from about the 5th fret and up.