Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Talk about guitars, amplifiers, effects and other gear
Post Reply
User avatar
vancouverois
Posts: 922
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:55 pm

Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by vancouverois »

Long time no see, I've been quite busy lately. :roll:
A colleague took a sick leave since February and she's still ill, in the meantime I do her tasks at work.

A while ago at lunch time, I found this little Epi on sale, tried it and... GAS did the rest :shy:
The neck is really nice, it seems it is close to the Gibson '60s slim neck.
The neck joint is almost at the 22nd fret, going to the higher frets is very easy.
I can feel the strings vibrations in the neck and the body while playing.
It sounded very well stock but I had some unused Lollar P90 in my drawer so I replaced the pickups.

Image

The treble pickup is not exactely at the same location as a Gibson. Both pickups combined have a Fenderish quack.
The wraparound bridge is ok, intonation is spot on and it sustains well.

Image

Very well built regardless of the name on the headstock.

Image

A few sound samples

download/file.php?id=2472

download/file.php?id=2471

download/file.php?id=2470

download/file.php?id=2469

download/file.php?id=2468
Attachments


Bridge Crunch - Vox Tonelab ST (JTM45) + OCD
SG_Bridge-Crunch.mp3 - (728.57 KiB)


Bridge Clean - Vox Tonelab ST (JTM45)
SG_Bridge-Clean.mp3 - (528.37 KiB)


Neck & Bridge - Vox Tonelab ST (JTM45) + Light Compression
SG_Both-PU.mp3 - (351.43 KiB)


Neck - Vox Tonelab ST (JTM45) + OCD Clean Boost
SG_Neck.mp3 - (1.1 MiB)


Clean - Vox Tonelab ST (JTM45)
SG_Clean.mp3 - (768.98 KiB)

Jan 15th 2007
User avatar
VikingBlues
Posts: 4466
Joined: Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:44 pm

Re: Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by VikingBlues »

That sounds really good. :thumbsup:

The feel of the vibrations is often a very good sign - a guitar alive with vibration usually seems to be one that sounds really good when plugged in too. :dance:

The Loller upgrade will have helped .... out of interest was it conventional wiring in the control cavity?

Much better SG choice than I made I think!

The work thing sounds familiar - you spend extra time and effort covering for someone being absent and instead of that being appreciated it's assumed you must have had too little workload before and you can just keep doing the cover for ever. :wall:
An improv a day keeps the demons at bay!
User avatar
12bar
Site Admin
Posts: 3273
Joined: Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:05 pm

Re: Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by 12bar »

vancouverois wrote:A while ago at lunch time, I found this little Epi on sale, tried it and... GAS did the rest :shy:
Congrats! Looks and sounds great. Lucky one!
User avatar
vancouverois
Posts: 922
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:55 pm

Re: Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by vancouverois »

Thanks guys! :beer:
VikingBlues wrote:The Loller upgrade will have helped .... out of interest was it conventional wiring in the control cavity?
The replacement PUs are nice and of course brought an improvement, mostly clarity and some "air".
The original PUs were good sounding and had some kind of rock grit/attack.
The wiring is conventionnal but it's not the so called '50s wiring, four full size 500K pots and 3 way switch.
No fancy PCB like the recent Gibson production.
VikingBlues wrote:The work thing sounds familiar - you spend extra time and effort covering for someone being absent and instead of that being appreciated it's assumed you must have had too little workload before and you can just keep doing the cover for ever. :wall:
I hear you, it's so common nowadays that it became a rule of thumb.
Jan 15th 2007
User avatar
ratfinkdan
Posts: 255
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2011 7:02 pm

Re: Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by ratfinkdan »

Nice SG, looks really good and really liked the sound clips! Can't go wrong with Lollar P90s, I have two p90 guitars and have lollar p90s in both, 50s wind in one and an underwound in the other and they both sound really good noticeably better than the pick ups they replaced, much clearer and more balanced sounding. Sweet looking guitar!! Dan
User avatar
HalfBlindLefty
Admin
Posts: 2015
Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 1:23 pm

Re: Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by HalfBlindLefty »

Great sounds and looks. Sounds like a keeper !
A long time ago, in the old forum : Registered: Mon, 27 Nov 2006. Wonder were the other old members all went....
MichaelRobinson
Posts: 2172
Joined: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:20 pm

Re: Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by MichaelRobinson »

Sounds good to my ears. Hope you will enjoy your purchase
User avatar
vancouverois
Posts: 922
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 5:55 pm

Re: Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by vancouverois »

Thanks a lot ! :D
Jan 15th 2007
User avatar
tytlblues
Posts: 1303
Joined: Thu Jul 07, 2011 3:34 am

Re: Epiphone '61 SG Special P90 50th Anniversary

Post by tytlblues »

She's a beaut!!!! any guitar that feels good in your hands, and makes you want to play is a great axe!!!!! have fun with her, and lets hear a song!!!
Tytlblues

"Notes are expensive... spend them wisely”
BB King
Post Reply