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White Light / White Heat - The SG/LP Custom Thread

zhivago

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 29, 2004
Messages
1,417
Here are some great photos of a '61...

Gibson61SGCstWht18827_13_zpsuxlc1dcv.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_1_zpspk6hzikd.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_2_zpsmi4ckcwk.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_4_zpsg6fv7bt1.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_11_zpsffbxaaqo.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_18_zps6npfzbuv.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_18_zps6npfzbuv.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_12_zpsdnkeeimb.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_5_zpsyiyn9rqs.jpg


Gibson61SGCstWht18827_6_zpszvbw6lkt.jpg
 

sinner

Active member
Joined
Jul 23, 2004
Messages
3,704
I always loved the look of the White SG Custom played by Glen Buxton of Alice Cooper Band:

16.jpg


13.png
 

blueline

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Mar 31, 2005
Messages
186
I have not paid much attention to these early LP Customs. But after seeing your 63 and these 61 pictures my interest is peaked. Your 63 is a thing of beauty. I noticed 2 of the 61 customs have the longer pick guard like the LP standards. I like that. The picture of the Custom from Guitar Point shows the TRC has been replaced with some cheap looking replacement... and what is with that strange brown case? Looks like some kind of modified LP standard case for some other guitar.
Anyway, I can look these pictures of Customs all day....That chart show that the LP Custom was not produced in large numbers. Does any one know if any Customs were made in 1960?
 

VamboRool

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Nov 25, 2015
Messages
424
Hey Z-Here's something else for you to look into. The early 61 LP/SG Customs have the pick guard attached with three screws, at some point in the year they added the fourth screw. Looks like the change occurred when they went from the large guard (3 screws) to the small guard (4 screws). The sunburst has five. My Custom is S/N 223** and has three. Only 512 more entries and we will have them all accounted for!
 

zhivago

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Sep 29, 2004
Messages
1,417
Hey Z-Here's something else for you to look into. The early 61 LP/SG Customs have the pick guard attached with three screws, at some point in the year they added the fourth screw. Looks like the change occurred when they went from the large guard (3 screws) to the small guard (4 screws). The sunburst has five. My Custom is S/N 223** and has three. Only 512 more entries and we will have them all accounted for!

Sounds like a cool mission!

it is a bummer that serial #s are so hard to read on these unless you have great closeups of each guitar...but I guess all we have to do is persist! :salude
 

Jack Mayer

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May 7, 2019
Messages
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I just got ahold of a 62’ Custom which was sent back to Gibson sometime in the mid sixties to be refinished cherry, like the SGs at the time. It also has a snapped headstock repair. Nicely done though. The thing sounds monstrous, never played real PAFs before, now I get it. Taking some time to get used to the narrow nut, it’s 1 9/16”.
 

marshall1987

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Jan 30, 2005
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3,278
Unless I'm mistaken, a 1962 SG/LP Custom would still have the normal 1 11/16" nut width. Gibson didn't change over to the 1 9/16" nut until early 1965.
 

Jack Mayer

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May 7, 2019
Messages
4
I wish it were a ‘normal’ width. The serial number puts it ‘62 and it feels like a banjo at the nut.
 

marshall1987

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I wish it were a ‘normal’ width. The serial number puts it ‘62 and it feels like a banjo at the nut.

Gibson serial numbers can duplicate across the decade of the '60s. The preferred way to date a '60s Gibson electric guitar is based on the features and specs, and pot codes. And a 1962 Les Paul/SG Custom would probably have PAF pickups originally installed.

Can you post a photo?
 

Jack Mayer

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May 7, 2019
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4
I would like to but I don’t know how. I just got this Apple IPad thing and know how to take pictures but I don’t know how to get them from there to here. I’m computer illiterate to a very large degree. How is it done? It does have unmolested PAFs, pots are corroded, ( they work good and quiet ) can’t see the numbers, has a horseshoe bigsby. Completely stock ‘cept the finish and the pickup switch.
 

Cream Fan

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May 1, 2003
Messages
2,695
I would like to but I don’t know how. I just got this Apple IPad thing and know how to take pictures but I don’t know how to get them from there to here. I’m computer illiterate to a very large degree. How is it done? It does have unmolested PAFs, pots are corroded, ( they work good and quiet ) can’t see the numbers, has a horseshoe bigsby. Completely stock ‘cept the finish and the pickup switch.

One thing I've heard is that when a guitar came into Gibson for a repair, refinish, etc., the guitar would leave the factory with all new electronics. Thus, if an '62 SG Custom with PAFs was sent in for repair in the late Sixties, it very likely was returned with Patent Number pickups and new CTS pots. '62 would more than likely have had Centralab pots. Gibson changed over to CTS around '65 or '66.
 

Jack Mayer

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May 7, 2019
Messages
4
Two of the pickups have PAF stickers. The neck pickup has no decal at all. Will try to figure out how to take pictures and start a new thread, don’t want to Shang hi Zhivago’s great story.
 
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