gringopig's guitars
2021 Gibson Murphy Lab
1964 SG Heavy Aged
A first year of the Murphy Lab: 2021 and this model is released which duplicates the era of George Harrison's SG with a chunkier neck than previously and the new fangled Maestro Vibrola. Gibson were shaken by the Stratocaster with its thin body and curvy double cutaway design with tremolo and they wanted in!
The SG was first known as the Les Paul model and replaced that old fuddy duddy design of the single cutaway model which wasn't selling. Players were snapping up the Stratocaster as it was futuristic and sleek with moulded contours and the fancy tremolo system. Gibson realised they had to do something or lose the market entirely, so in 1960/61 they swept the old out and brought in the new Les Paul model.
With its double cutaway, sleek slimline body and tremolo it was going to go head to toe with that upstart Strat. Still retaining the model designation of the previous Les Paul model it was only renamed the SG a few years later after Les Paul decided to end the relationship at that time and the SG was born.
This SG is a re-issue by Gibson of the 1964 variant with thicker neck than previous years but still being the Standard of the line up. Interestingly, the SG has never gone out of production; unlike the previous model which took a break from 1961 to 1968 and then from 1970 to about 1976 in the Standard form. Deluxes were available but with mini humbuckers.
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This was purchased from Squealing Pig Guitars in Nottingham and many thanks to Jack for quick shipping.
At first I thought they had sent me an actual 1964 SG as it is so realistically aged. It is 'heavy Aged' and really looks amazing.
I had to tweak the truss rod and at first I was quite worried but the rod was a bit loose and tightened up fine and brought the neck straight. I gave it my usual set up, oiled the neck and polished the frets and it is sounding ace!
It has my favourite pickups in it: Alnico III unpotted Custombuckers and they have all the airy bite I like.
I would describe the sound as unlike a Les Paul in as much as it has less 'heft' in the midrange but gains a funky attack that is sort of unique. Very nice indeed.
The Maestro works perfectly and since I owned a Robbie Krieger USA SG with this same contraption on, I was worried but here's the secret.
Look at the height of the bridge and the bar under tension. The neck angle needs to be steep enough to have the bridge at a decent height and the Maestro bar that the arm is attached to needs to point down or at least level with a good break angle over the saddles. If this isn't true then it won't sound good even with the bar tucked away plus it won't stay in tune.
I lube the nut slots with Big Ben's Nut Sauce too. When it works it is only second to the Jaguar tremolo for tone and stability. They can be really great if the guitar is made to have one. I suspect my previous one was just a production model with a Maestro slapped on. I was sold quickly.
I now have the big three in Heavy Aged form from the Custom Shop at Gibson: a 1959 Les Paul 60th anniversary, a 1958 limited edition ES-335 and this 1964 SG.
Demo video below!
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