SG cravings

[hubberjub***]

I'm also in the middle of a serious SG GAS attack. Currently my tastes are steering me more in the direction of a late 60s early 70s SG jr. or Special. Something with P90s.

[mapka]

I'm also in the middle of a serious SG GAS attack. Currently my tastes are steering me more in the direction of a late 60s early 70s SG jr. or Special. Something with P90s.

As I said in my post above, I have a '08 SG Classic with P-90s in it. It is suppose to be a copy of a late 60's SG. Not sure how accurate it is but it does sound good and play good.

[ZMAN]

LIke this?

I have owned it since 1969.

[mapka]

LIke this?

I have owned it since 1969.

Yes very simiiar to this. Mine does not have the vibrato but is the same color. You can see it in the video in my first post to this thread. BTW very nice guitar!

[hubberjub***]

LIke this?

I have owned it since 1969.

Holy crap. That is beautiful.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

I had two SGs when I was a kid (late 60s/early 70s), a Standard and a Special. Since I got back into electrics in the past 4 years, I've noticed the claims of neck-heaviness on the forums I joined, yet I have no recollection whatsoever of that phenomenon. Strange....

[ZMAN]

Holy crap. That is beautiful.

It is a 1968 SG special with the P90s. It is a very basic guitar. It has the compensated bridge, without saddles, and the vibrolo tail piece. The Standards had the Chrome piece that went to the bottom strap button. chicklet type truners and dot neck. Completely stock.
A true baseball bat neck, and probably the lowest buzzless action I have ever seen. I have sold a lot of SGs from guys trying this one and then going directly to the shop to buy one!

[mapka]

I had two SGs when I was a kid (late 60s/early 70s), a Standard and a Special. Since I got back into electrics in the past 4 years, I've noticed the claims of neck-heaviness on the forums I joined, yet I have no recollection whatsoever of that phenomenon. Strange....

From what I have told the older SG used a different wood then mine does. My body is lighter and therefore the guitar is a little neck heavy. Not uncomfortably though.

[ZMAN]

I had two SGs when I was a kid (late 60s/early 70s), a Standard and a Special. Since I got back into electrics in the past 4 years, I've noticed the claims of neck-heaviness on the forums I joined, yet I have no recollection whatsoever of that phenomenon. Strange....

Both my 1968 and my 2007 Gibson SGs are perfectly balanced. My G400 is a neck diver. I think the reason is the Grover tuners on the G400. A lot of guys will say that there is no difference but I found a site that actually measured the Grovers VS the Keystone orginal style and the Grovers were heavier. On a well balance guitar that would be an issue.

[Bookkeeper's Son]

Both my 1968 and my 2007 Gibson SGs are perfectly balanced. My G400 is a neck diver. I think the reason is the Grover tuners on the G400. A lot of guys will say that there is no difference but I found a site that actually measured the Grovers VS the Keystone orginal style and the Grovers were heavier. On a well balance guitar that would be an issue.

I know that Grover Rotos are indeed heavy, because I noticed the difference when I installed a set on my A & L dread, which already had full sized cast tuners. The Grovers were heavier, the neck tended to fall more, which was something I didn't anticipate..

[Commodore 64***]

If I can do some appropriate financial planning, I'm going to get an ESP Viper 256.

[Duffy]

I have played a few Viper Deluxe's with the Seymour Duncan pickups; most with the JB/59 combination, but one especially nice one in antique white with covered alnico II pros and another super nice one with the Custom 5 and 59. These were some of the nicest feeling guitars I've ever played and I expect the 256 would feel the same. The above humbucker guitars sounded really really good, I don't know how the P90 would compare.

I have a cheap Viper 50 that feels and plays great and surprisingly has a good sound, but it doesn't begin to compare to those Deluxes's. The new Deluxe Viper with the heritage cherry transparent finish is really nice looking.

Those LTD's are half way decent guitars. I saw one of the best guitar players I've ever seen in the shop the other day playing a like 300 dollar LTD explorer type and it sounded really great - I don't know if it had ESP or EMG pickups, but it sounded great and most of that was in his hands I'm sure. He was playing thru a Peavey 6505 halfstack and then a top of the line Marshall halfstack, so that didn't hurt his tone either.

I think you'd love that Viper, if you like P90 sound. I have two P90 guitars that I don't play much, but they do sound good, especially when turned up a little, if not cranked.

Good luck with making that happen. The color of that is nice and I can just imagine how well it feels in the hands.

Have you played this 256 C64?

[Commodore 64***]

I haven't played that particular model of Viper. I've only played whatever Vipers are at Guitar Center...which are the low enders (50) or the high enders with the EMGs. I like them a lot. I don't want active PUPs and I'm looking ot spend about $400, and I like the SG body style. Nothing wrong with the Epi 400 series, I just think the ESPs are better for the money. Actually, I'm in the process of refinishing a jagmaster type Samick which has P90s so i'm not dead set on the P90s, as I think one P-90 guitar will be enough.

As of now, I want the ~400$ Viper 256 series and I'm leaning towards a guitar with 2 humbuckers. The ones with regular 'buckers are "distressed" finish. I actually like the black one, but I'm not enamored of the gold hardware.



http://www.espguitars.com/guitars/lt...r-256_avb.html

And I do have to admit, that the ESP Strat clone is looking pretty good too.





Less than glowing reviews for the ESP-256 back in 2009 here: http://bbs.espguitars.com/showthread.php?t=45883

[Eric***]

I haven't played that particular model of Viper. I've only played whatever Vipers are at Guitar Center...which are the low enders (50) or the high enders with the EMGs. I like them a lot. I don't want active PUPs and I'm looking ot spend about $400, and I like the SG body style.

Here's your friendly question: you like 24.75" now? I've seen you go through a number of perfectly nice G-scale guitars on here, so before you plop down money I figure it's worth a quick review.

[Commodore 64***]

I can deal with both. My Ibanez hollow body is 24.75 and I've had that for over a year (amazing, I know).

Off the top of my head, I've had, and subsequently offloaded, the following 24.75 scale guitars since I started playing guitar ~2 years ago:

Michael Kelly LP Style (Shoulda kept that one)
Samick Artist Series LP Style
Epiphone LP Special
PRS Custom SE (Probably shoulda kept that one too)
Epiphone Dot (Good Riddance)

[Eric***]

I can deal with both. My Ibanez hollow body is 24.75 and I've had that for over a year (amazing, I know).

Well in that case, the Viper looks pretty cool. Sorry -- I wasn't trying to bust on you; just making sure you're not going to regret buying one later.

[Duffy]

I had heard that the LTD EC 256 distressed LP style was a great guitar for the money. I played one that they had used at a shop near me and it was really nice. They wanted like 175 for it and it was brand new, the guy just bought it and returned it on consignment. I would have bought it but I had to make a decision: the beautiful flammed tobacco burst very lightly distressed 256 or the mint used tobacco burst flammed PRS SE Singlecut Tremolo that I got for 250 out the door, perfectly mint. That PRS SE Singlecut tremolo is an awesome guitar. The LTD EC 256 was sold within a week of it being on the used stand.

I would think that the Viper would have the same quality construction and great feel with the really good sounding ESP pickups. That 256 looks a lot better than the bolt on Viper 50, stock, that I have. I got my Viper fifty for half price used, but I don't think they are worth the price they ask for buying new. I think the 256 is worth it, probably, but the Rondo Valkyrie III is about the same price I think and I wouldn't be surprised if it is even a better value. Admittedly I don't know much about the Valkyrie, but you could check it out on the Agile forum.

http://www.agileguitarforum.com/showthread.php?tid=9445 A Valkyrie thread.

This Valkyrie is cool:

http://www.rondomusic.com/product4430.html

I don't know about the ceramic pickups though, but they might be just fine and are probably pretty hot.

I would probably go with the LTD but I don't know much about these Valkyries. They have ebony boards and if they are anything like the LP copy Agiles they should be good values.

[Duffy]

Here is a Valkyrie III review from a guy that had just received his new one.

http://www.agileguitarforum.com/show...light=valkyrie

I hope you find it interesting. I kind of like the flammed maple burst top one or the black one though.

[deeaa*]

Guys,

Those guitars are *NOT* ESP's...they're LTD by ESP and it's a whole different story. A real ESP Viper costs around $2300 here while the same looking LTD Viper can be bought for $230...any ESP owner would be very pissed if someone called their LTD's ESPs...it's kinda like you'd call an Audi a Skoda because they're both made by VAG...

ESP's are usually considered very good guitars, made in Japan, but LTD's are their 'Epiphone' line and 1/5th the price of a real ESP and made in Indonesia (models up to roughly 400 series, so 256 also) and slightly better ones in Korea.

I haven't had much experience but from one; still both LTD's I've played were pretty bad; see my LTD100FM review from a while back...good player, nice neck feel, but for instance can't set the intonation right, and lifeless junker sounwise...not to say all LTD's must be bad, just that I would not expect marvels. Sub-100 series at least are largely outright crap guitars but I do hear they get better fast.

But it's not 'real' ESP and should be called LTD instead.