Gibson SG Junior

I've had mine for over 30 years. If I'm reading the way Gibson sorts it's serial numbers correctly, mine is a 66 (maybe a 67). Over the past 30 some odd years I've gotten away from the SG, playing Strats, Teles, Ibanez, & gizmos and gadgets to alter the sound and have recently gotten back to the old SG for its simplicity. With all the crap I've messed with and their complexity I've found I really enjoy the SG with a no frills tube amp and 1 or 2 simple on/off effects pedals.

I was fairly young (and not too bright) at the time and (it was considered fairly cheap back then) I did a bit of hacking to it adding a bridge position D'Marzio in a addition to the P-90. Gave it awesome thick/rich tone but cut the volume in half. Didn't know what I was doing. Anyway, wound up disconnecting the P-90 to just use the D'Marzio. Still had great tone but now also full volume. You might be wondering why I felt I needed to change from the P-90. Actually, when I had the distortion way up (which was the way I liked to play back then) the guitar and amp sounded like bagpipes. Currently she's sporting a Seymour Duncan rail type humbucker and still sounds awesome, thick & full. Other than the change in P/Us, a new pick guard and a brass nut she's all original. I don't like that I haven't been able to fine replacement pick guards so I got blank material to make my own.

The guitar had a beautiful red finish to it and over the years has developed an even more beautiful "patina". It's got some buckle rash and some minor dings and scratches, but hey!, we all collect a few scars over time, adds to the charm and character. As I mentioned earlier I did install a brass nut which lowered the action some more and enhanced the tone. Don't know about factory set up as I'm the 2nd owner and I usually go through the set up on all my guitars (10 currently) as soon as I get them home.

There were some other comments about this being a fragile guitar but that really hasn't been my experience, in fact, just the opposite. I've fallen with the guitar 2 or 3 times (drunk) and dropped it, I don't know how many times, before I put strap locks on, and other than the minor dents and scratches mentioned previously, she's still quite intact. Having survived me for the past 30 odd years I'd say she's quite durable and dependable.

What's that?

I've been playing since about '65 and gone through all sorts of gear during that time. I play a lot of slide. I currently own 4 Strats (real and copies), an Ibanez RG series, Harmony Rebel, Jay Terser solid body resonator, Susuki/Kiso Hummingbird acoustic and a Breedlove AC25/CM Plus Black Beauty and of course the SG. Amps are Line 6 II & III, Crate GFX 65T, Peavey Vintage, and misc. Gibson, Carvin & Sunn.
If it were lost or stolen it would be like losing a child or at least a dog. I don't think I would be able to replace it with something comparable.
I love the simplicity, action and feel and the "patina" it has developed over the years. I also like that my music friends lust after it, almost like they might over a beautiful mate.

Stock 1991 Gibson SG Junior solid body mahoghany withy a single P-90 pickup. I first removed the strap pins and installed Dunlop Strap locks. this guitar style has a nasty tendency to pull off the strap and hit the floor. Once that is done you are in business. I had the P-90 hole routed out for a Humbucker and dropped in a black Tony Iommi PU. This guitar kills! See my son play it on You Tube: lilhendrix132

Sounds great now and wasn't bad before!

The black gloss color is very tough, as it was made back in 1991!

Depend on the Gibson SG Junior for everything. Just do not drop it, as the neck will break.

Bought this used and it is the best value of all time!

Mine is a 2006 Gibson Limited SG Junior (produced for the Japanese market). It was originally CL (caribbean blue) but someone repainted it with satin black, an excellent lacquer painting job. The pickguard is big, like the 1968 model, in one piece, white.

Except for the finish, the Japanese LTD is exactly the same of the USA market recent SG Jr. reissue.

Mahogamy body and neck. Beautiful rosewood board, slim 60s neck, fast and low action.

50s style Warp around bridge.

1 P-90 pickup, reads 8K.

This guitar is extremely light.

From the beginning I was really impressed by this guitar sound. I own a modded Epiphone G-400 w/ Gibson and Duncan P-90s, but the JR sounds completly different. As the Epi sounds more bassy, with kind of Les Paul darkness, the SG JR really shines w/ middle and bright tones.

The sound definition is really good, and I can hear everything I play in band contexts, even with trash solid state amps. I raised the pickup screws a little to have more of that single pickup bit. It screams a little, especially in small rehearsal rooms. The hum is very low for a P-90 (with no shielding!).

There's a extremelly good response from the volume and tone controls, and it compensates a bit the lack of a neck pickup. Sometimes I miss it for that Clapton woman tone, but it really isn't a woman tone guitar. It's a real rocker machine, begging for a tube amp cranked up. It's perfect for my dirt blues, garage punk and fuzzy sounds.

My JR was refinished, so I can??t tell if the factory job was good.

First I was worried about the warp around bridge, but it gives me an almost perfect intonation (except for the low E after the 12nd fret). The brigdge screws were not necessary, so I removed them.

Machine heads hold intonation very good. Truss rod is also perfect, easy access, but take care, the neck is fragile and reacts fast to any truss rod adjustment. The frets finish is excellent. The wiring is simple and clean, Gibson 60s style.

This guitar has a long talon (neck/body joint) - good! - but the neck joint over the body (visible only when the pickguard is removed) is ugly, there's a space on the talon sides. It doesn't seem to affect the playability or the neck joint at all.

It's an SG, it's fragile, find out a good case, and take care, cheap cases and guitar holders can damage the lacquer.

The original strap buttons are very small. I use a simple strap lock.

Gibson Japan was very helpful and kind and when I asked for information about this guitar.

I've been playing since the 80s. Now I'm in Punk rock, garage, rockabilly and heavy blues.

I play this guitar with anything available, but my amps are a 1974 Palmer 50w and a 1968 Giannini True Reverb, also 50. I own many pedals, and now I??m with a Yamaha OD-10, a Plan-9 68 Classic Fuzz Si, a EH Holy Grail Reverb, a Behringer Vintage Phaser (modded), a Danelectro Dan Echo and a Cry Baby (modded) on the board.

I love this guitar for its simplicity end for the exquisite sounds it affords. No push pulls, no switches, no vibrato, simple bridge, one pickup, and it's an SG... I just need to play!

I'd like to have her forever, or other like her.

Ebony nitrocellulose finish, compensated wraparound bridge, Grover-made tuners with white round plastic buttons, medium neck with rosewood fretboard, made in Nashville 2001, 22 frets, volume and tone controls, one P-90 pickup, mahogany body and neck.

My style could be called punk rock for adults. I plug straight into a 1978 master-volume Marshall. The single-coil hum isn't bad unless I stand at certain angles. Since the P-90 is mounted on the pickguard, it can be set close to the strings, and it sounds thicker than the body-mounted P-90 guitars I've had. It's perfect for distorted rhythm sounds. The clean sound isn't bad either, though I never use it. Some people might miss the neck pickup, but the guitar sounds fuller without one, even unplugged.

I bought the guitar used. The action was fine when I got it, but the intonation was off until I backed the treble side of the bridge away from the post. Aside from a few tooling marks on the frets, the guitar is put together much better than the average low-end Gibson.

The tuners look cheap, but are geared the same as fancier Grovers. Modern nitro finishes are harder than vintage ones; no checking so far. The strap buttons work fine with a quality leather strap. This guitar is mostly for recording. Live, it's my backup in case of a broken string.

I've been playing since 1985 and use this guitar with a single-pickup SG Special. They're the perfect combination for me. If this one got stolen, I'd find another (in ebony, which Gibson discontinued, but it beats wine red).

Simple=beautiful.
Wrap-around bridge. 2007.
One P-90.
Mahogany slab. One tone. One volume.
Nothing more is needed.

Perfect blend of single coil and humbucker.
Tight, punchy lows. Prominent mids. Biting high but not trebly like a strat can be.
Cords pop. SIngle notes and solos ring. Great susutain,
Great for any type of rock or blues.
Appears impossible to clean it up but why would you want to.
I love my strats and I can push them hard; this howeve
r requires no pushing.
I use a Vox Custom Classic head and cord into guitar. Variety? - no. Great freakin rock 'n' roll roar - yes!

I was worried - I have tried the les paul faded double cut and found it to be unplayable (splinters, razor frets, untuneable).
I figured a guitar with essentially similar features and the same price might suck too. Wrong! Everything was set-up perfectly - I mean everything.

Looks, feels, and plays like a much more pricey guitar.
Solid.

Never had to call.

I hate humbuckers and had given up on Gibson as overpriced - Les Paul standard for over $2200 - you have to be kidding.
But I took a chance on this single-coil, single pickup, underpriced guitar - it blows the other gibsons (les paul standard/classic/custom, SG standard, V) and gretsches (semi-hollows) that I have had away.
great niche sound for those who like fender clarity with a bit more grind, bite, and punch.
the sound is just undescribably cool. $649 from musiciansfriend - sweet deal!

SG bevilled horn double cutaway body in a beautiful deep cherry red. Nitro finish (you can see your face in it!)over a richly grained Mahogany. Rosewood neck, Gibby Deluxe tuners
1.One Volume control which goes on forever
1.One flexible and woody tone control which when used properly is like a graphic eq!
1. Awesome roaring P90 soapbar.
Batwing black scratchplate
Thats it!

Its very difficult to be objective when rating the sound of this axe. As you can see, all reviewers love it. So...what can it do?

The P90 pickup is probably the most expressive single coil pickup one can get. It was designed in 1948 and apart from the supposed "improved P100" - which I feel has altered the dynamics of the P90, it has not been changed AT ALL! Sure it feeds back like the Bagdad air raid sirens when you are over your amp but move away 1 metre (3 ft) and you are in heaven. The dynamics of both the volume and tone pots need to be heard and experienced 1st hand. The range is enormous. Roll the tone back by a quarter of a turn and you approximate the neck pickup on a strat. Full on and it becomes a biting but warm rock and roll guitar. If you roll the volume back slightly it will clean up your sound. Full on under volume, and the P90 overdrives beautifully. I run the thing through a Marshall and this happens even when I'm in the clean channel. In the dirty channel, it will STILL clean up the sound when you roll it back. Amazing.If you are able to test Junior under volume conditions you will see what I mean. In fact, you MUST test it under Rock conditions. This guitar screams loud loud loud. Acoustically, it has heaps of sustain hence other reviewers comments of a ringing tone from the mahogany.Oh yeah, I play Blues and 70's rock. Its also great for slide.Heaps of sustain.

Bought the guitar second hand. Its 2 years old. I set up my own guitars and apart from new strings and tweaking the truss rod and harmonics, its as good as any guitar 4 times the price.Setup is perfect and the stop tailpiece bridge is fine. No intonation problems at all. The finish is absolutely beautiful as mentioned elsewhere. Its comfortable to play, has a late 60's profile neck...thin and tapered...damn this neck is fast!

I have used and played all brands and models over my 30 plus years of gigging. Strats, Les Paul Custom. LP Standard and Goldtop, SG Custom which used to be my favourite until this. As well as a collection of 60's Epi's such as the Riviera, Sheridan and Gibby 335's.
I am not boasting but my point is...this guitar is the best I have had.
I depend on it as my main stage guitar. period.

No Need yet

What can I say? I'm in love and lust again!
If it was stolen I would replace it immediately...and have to go into therapy to get over the shock of losing it!

Finish is Wine Red (deeper than the Heritage Cherry of my standard), body stylel is the classic devil horns, bridge is a wraparound chrome, tuners are Gibson buttons, stardard 60's neck carve, came with a really well padded gigbag, better than the one that came with my faded SG a couple of years ago, this is a brand new guitar with 22 frets, neck and body are solid mahogany, one volume, one tone (and that's it... it's perfect!) and one single P90 pickup. Overall fantastic guitar!!!

I play guitar based, heavy prog that has the distinct taste of classic punk. I've used this axe through a Flextone III and a Carvin XT112 into a 4X12" cabinet. P90's are noisy to begin with and this is no exception. The guitar has a raw tone that is the classic P90 tone. A grind that I prefer to a Strat single coil. Very simple, straighforward axe where most color is going to be provided by manipulating the volume control.

Factory set-up was non-existant. I set it up somewhat to the best of my ability but I got lucky and got ahold of my luthier the day he was about to go on vacation and he did a rush job with this and my standard. They both play like butter now... I don't know what he does to them, but he sure do it good! The only flaw on the guitar that I can see is that the fretboard rosewood has sucked the varnish back into it making it look knurled between the nut and the 7th fret. Jack says it's o.k. as I was going to send it back. I decided to keep it so then it would be 'my SG'. I was concerned that the fretboard would separate but he said it wouldn't. Actually rather surprised that this left the factory like this.

This seems as though it's dependable enough to be my main guitar and it may well be. I will be gigging with this, my standard and my PRS standard. I have no issues with this guitar when it comes to how solid it is. The only thing that I would consider changing is the tuners as they are the plastic button ones and I think it makes the guitar look cheap. They hold tune though.

This guitar is brand new. Warranties on guitars are like certificates of authenticity... pointless. Gibson is pretty stuck up at NAMM. Will only let dealers into their booths.

I've been playing for 33 years now. I have more equipment than I can list here. If this axe were stolen I would hunt down the perp and disembowel them as this will (and has) quickly become my favorite axe. I miss my faded LP Special DC that I had to sell a couple of years ago. I absolutely love the simplicity of it with one pickup, one volume and one tone and the wraparound bridge which Jack looked at and immediately fell in love with since they are so simple and they work so well.

made in usa brand new...solid mohgany body one ass kicking P90 pickup..sg body..nice neck wide like a martin acoustic in fact it feels like my hd 28 neck....not neck heavy, super light guitar overall...my strat plus was like a ton on my shoulder not this smooth baby... lots of sustain...not tons of features really simple
perfect guitar volume and tone knob and one killer P90...thats all you need
to blast off!

well i wish i had discoverd the mighty gibson Sg a long time ago..i was stuck on strats way to long....i love the sound of the P90 so @@ucking much i cant stand it i play through a marshall and i also just got an epiphone valve tube amp head and it sounds wicked through
that...i love classic rock like boston, pearl jam ...old punk dead boys ,new punk green day...you can get it all with this guitar and i love the feel of the neck ...nothing i dont like about this guitar I LOVE IT !!!fits me perfect the songs i write are grunge punk classic ROCK!I FEEL LIKE THE GOD OF THUNDER WHEN I PLAY THIS SG!!!

factory set up was perfect....wine color finish is perfect guitar looks beautiful..frets perfect, tuners hold ,no problem at all

Yes this guitar was made to gig! seems like it will last i would not bang it around...finish is nice it looks like you could nick it pretty easy but i didnt buy it to worry about it i bought it to play
live ...

Ive been playing since i was 12 im 40...i really love this guitar so much ..ive played fender strats forever...and have a epiphone les play with seymour duncans to record with when i need that humbucker sound ,i like it but its a tank and heavy like one.. i play and own 2 martin acoustics that i love , i love this SG as much as my martins .. i would by another again in a heartbeat if the fates had me part with this one...

Mine is an ebony/black 2001 Gibson SG junior Re-issue.

It has a single P-90 single coil pickup, single volume and tone knob, wrap-around bridge, 22 frets...that's about all I need in a guitar.

This guitar is simple.

I love how it looks and plays, it has a lovely fat neck.

I love how this guitar sounds. I play alternative and classic rock, it's perfect for that.

I run it through an old Mesa Boogie Mark IIB, and that's it. NO effects.

It's slightly noisy, but it doesn't bother me.

The crunch sound is really where it shines, this setup is simply amazing.

It sounds perfect.

I bought this guitar off ebay, so I can't say what it was like when it came out of the factory.

The frets are a bit pointy, but it's not terrible.

This guitar is from before gibson's quality control had "issues"...

But the guitar was perfect when I got it, the frets are just pointy because I haven't taken it in for a setup in a while.

This guitar is pretty much perfect, I worry about the neck joint, as it has a small crack because of the weather change.

The hardware has rusted a little, but I'm not sure why.

The finish is pretty good, I have to polish it every time I finish playing.

I'd depend on it, but as with all guitars, I'd keep a backup with me.

Haven't dealt with them.

I've been playing for almost four years, I own a bunch of other gear, but this guitar is my favorite. I own one other gibson, a 2005 les paul special SL (not the cheap faded one), and this guitar is a lot better.
If it was lost/stolen, I would hunt down the person that stole it and...

I would try my best to replace it, but these guitars are getting harder and harder to find.

I used to have a gibson sg special (faded), and my SG junior is completely different.

I love everything about this guitar.

This guitar was made in 1967, and is wine red and being an old Gibson would have almost certainly been manufactured in the USA. It's the usual shindig,22 frets, slab of mahogany, single P-90, "batman" pickguard, volume and tone knobs, open geared tuners and a wraparound compensated tailpiece.

I'm not sure how to rate features since it's got almost no gimmicky bits, it's a very raw nad bare bones affair, but it's also well put together and to give it a negative rating would imply it's poor quality. There's not much there, but what *is* there is good.

Holy crap! I almost wet myself when I first strummed this guitar, it's the most resonant slab of mahogany I've come across, and the P-90 is a really, really fantastic pickup. I know a lot of people were taking a lot of mind altering substances back then, but come on...what kind of lunatic relegates P-90s to the "budget" models?

It can give a nice mellow clean sound, although it'd be almost useless for jazz, if you got a good delay you could get a fantastic reggae/dub sound. I got in that kind of ball pack using a Korg FX unit as it happens and I found myself playing a style I'd never bothered with before. But stuff that, reggae and funk are all well and good, but what this guitar excells at is high powered rock and blues.

I was suprised at the output that this lone P-90 had actually, being a single coil I thought it'd be slightly less powerful and thinner, but it's got all the meaty thickness and grind of a humbucker, but with all the best elements of a single coil. It does however have the noise assosciated with such pickups, but I'm not bothered by this.

I've been running this into a Matamp C7 combo for the most part, although I tried it out with a Marshall AVT275 in the shop, and on both counts it sounded excellent. From mid to high gain stuff it's great as a rhythm instrument, but playing lead with it is so, so good. It's the sound I could hear before I turned the amp on, especially with my Matamp cranked to 10. Rolling back the tone you can get a really great "woman tone" too.

Well it came out of the factory 18 years before I was born so I'm afraid I can't comment on whatever Gibson did to it. It's also worth noting that back then the guitars were made by hand, by different luthiers, in a different factory, owned by different people. To get a new Gibson today made as they did "then" you'd have to go to the custom shop, or for something as good play two dozen or so Gibsons until you found one worthy of the name on it's headstock.

The guitar looks pretty knackered, it's a gorgeous road worn relic in fact. But all is present and correct apart from the tuners. This guitar sadly doesn't like being in tune, though with open geared tuners and 38 years of use I imagine a set of grovers would remedy this. I'd imagine it's been refretted at some point, a screw or two have gone missing, theres a tiny bit of rust, and the hardwear is well worn. But aside from the tuning stability it all works great.

Since the company responsible for this instrument is long gone and the setup long since changed and changed again I'll not rate this as such.

This guitar looks like it's withstood all 38 years of live playing rather well, although the way the finish is around the neck joint made me wonder if it'd been snapped off and reset at some point, although the fact I can only tell by looking, rather than feeling or hearing something wrong means I shan't lose sleep over it.

The hardwear aside from the tuners is all tip top, at least from a functional standpoint. Obviously plated metals lose their lustre and plating over time. The vibrato has long sice been discarded, but I'd have been the one to discard it had somebody not already done so. I may eventually replace the bridge with a tone-pros since I've heard great things about them, and I may eventually bite the bullet and replace the tuners.

The strap buttons suprisingly are the old kind, which is nuts. I have got hold of some straplocks for this guitar, so I should be ok.

I'd never, ever gig without a backup, but if I *had* to I'd take my parts bin tele/mongrel. SGs are frail, and angled headstocks are very breakable, and then there's the "rubber neck" syndrome, but as far as SGs go mine is relatively solid. Although if Gibson wasn't so set in it's ways and unwilling to change anything they'd probably be making them "neck through", most high end copies are.

If I don't expose this guitar to any real danger I'm sure it'll serve me faithfully, but like I said, SGs just aint that tough.

Excellent, when I enquired about the serial number to find out how old it was Gibson Europe called me back promptly, told me all I needed to know. I even got a wiring diagram and a picture from the brochure.

I don't have any kind of warranty on it, but on a guitar made several ownerships ago I don't expect it.

I've been playing about four years now. Aside from the SG, my main amp is a Matamp C7 combo, and I use an Ernie Ball volume pedal, JimDunlop Wah and sometimes an EHX Big Muff made in their Russian factory at some point. Overall between the SG and my parts bin tele I'm sorted, I've got two guitars that I love the sound and feel of.

If it were stolen or lost I'd be really hacked off since coming across another one would no doubt take quite some time. I love how it sounds, how it looks, plays and the fact it's really light yet still sounds rich and full. I didn't compare it as such, but I've played plenty of SGs, Tokai, Epiphone, "Vintage" (the brand) and Legend, this outdoes them all, even the Tokai believe it or not.

There's not much I really wish it had, although a neck P-90 would be good, if I find an SG special of similar vintage and it's as good I'd consider buying it and setting the junior up to be used for slide since I'm using one of my cheaper guitars for that right now.

If anybody knows why the P-90 is mounted to the scratchplate rather than directly to the body like most P-90s feel free to let me know, I just can not work out why Gibson have done it this way.

At the end of the day I scored a killer guitar that plays and sounds better than any other Gibson I've laid hands on, including the Gibson Custom shop Clapton 335, which although nice is rather a joke at the #9999 price I've seen it at. You could get a real one from that era for that kinda money! I'm glad to say my partsbin telemongrel has an equal finally.

1967 SG JUNIOR

I bought this guitar about 5 years ago from "Academy of sound" , it was battered and bruised but sounded beautiful ! No-one had even looked at it , so they let me have it for ?350 !! Fools ! Its a very battered cherry red colour , the maestro tremolo has long -since gone and some kind soul replaced it with a wraparound bridge. The orignal tuners have been replaced for schaller tuning pegs . Curiously I discovered a hole routed in the neck position for a humbucker - quite odd I thought, what with the fragile neck joint ...... however my trusty luthier O.K'd it and installed a kent armstrong humbucker with coil tap in the provided hole , so with the original P90 in the bridge postion and a 3 way switch , I have access to some great original tones .

I play indie / rock . The sound is truly amazing and as soon as I plugged the guitar in , all those years of gigs and experience made sense - I had found THE guitar for me. It sizzles on solo sections , a single strummed chord sounds better than any new guitar I've tried , and with the pick up configurations I get a wide range of interesting tones when using either an AC 30 or Twin . I always feel disapointed with new guitars as they just don't have THAT warm sound - I suppose its decent wood with years of sweat and tobacco smoke and whatever else happens over time but the tone is so sweet - If you hold the back of the guitar up to your ear and strum an open chord , the whole body kind of vibrates in sympathy , , I'm not getting all hippy here ! Try it !

The action is super low , I think Gibson claim that the SG is "the fastest neck" , true or not its a wonderful , easy guitar to play .

I've had a few problems in the area of reliability , its never let me down , but the neck joint does worry me , its just so fragile . I find it a problem in the studio as the guitar does move in and out of tune - if you plug in a tuner and turn the guitar upside down (headstock facing the floor) the guitar drops half a step out of tune !! Try it , its quite shocking ! This has caused problems for me if I'm recording intricate parts as if you exert too much pressure on the neck , it pushes it out of tune - I've adopted this nuance into my style , during heavy distorted parts it seems ok , however its unnacceptable on clean parts though .

N/A

The Gibson SG junior is great . The P90 pick-up gives beautiful distortion , even the feedback sounds amazing . Great for solos , rock , the individual note definition is great too . Plugged in clean (not that its ever really clean ) through a Fender Twin with a touch of tremolo and reverb - dreamy ! Its got two faults , Neck drop (the neck is too heavy for the body) and tuning problems if you move the neck whilst playing , which we all do ..
Its a fragile old lady , thats for sure but I wouldnt swap her for anything

Mine is about a '98 or so. I work for a Gibson dealer, and we bought a couple of these at a blowout deal from Gibson, I guess they were overstocked or something. I promised my boss these guitars would sell great (who wouldn't want an inexpensive, American made Gibson?), and if they didn't, I'd buy at least one of 'em. Well, bad purchase for the store on my part again, 'cause the guitars didn't sell. I bought the red one as I'd promised to do, and I adore it. It has no features as anyone reading this knows. Single P100 (not a P-90, weird, huh?), wrap around tailpiece, single volume, single tone, vintage style tuners, mahogany body. That's about it. But then, I don't want features. From a personal perspective, the less a guitar has, the better it is.

I use this guitar for the more overdriven stuff I do. Perfect for Who-style raveups and really singing wheedly-deedly bits. The P100 has a great tone, it's not a perfect P90 clone, but I can stand right next to a PBR flourescent and have no need to find mecca. It's kinda bright, but nothing like my lipstick-equipped strat. Back off a bit on the amp's tone and it balances the other guitarist's Casino perfectly. I've never tried it for anything clean, but I do love this guitar's girth on the power chords and it's cutting-but-still-fat-way-up-on-the-neck stuff when mildly-to-wildly overdriven. I use it with a reissue Tube Screamer and two Nick Greer pedals: a Ghetto Stomp and a Sonic Boom, plugged in to a Mesa Maverick. Outstanding early-'60's rock tones.

Factory fit was excellent, but .009's are just too skinny. I moved on up to .10's and it's a great playing guitar. No hot spots or dead spots. I have no problems with intonating the instrument, despite the wraparound tailpiece. The pickup has never been touched by me, so I'd say Gibson got that right, too. Maybe they worked extra hard on the ones they were going to show to dealers, 'cause this one is just fine. We have gotten other guitars over the years from Gibson that have been total disappointments, though, including a Custom Shop piece. But this particular Jr. I found no issues with. As far as looks go, I personally don't give a rat's crotch what a guitar looks like. I don't look for flaws because I don't care. I painted my strat with flat black spraypaint, y'know? I mean, who cares? It's for using, not looking at. Finding niggling little flaws in a guitar like this is an utter waste of time. But structurally, the guitar is sound, no wiring issues...it's a great player's piece.

I've been playing this guitar for about three years live, and it's been excellent. No string breakage issues, no noise issues, stays in tune despite the looks of the tuners, and I am completely confident in it. I mean, what could go wrong?? It's just a slab of wood with a pickup in it. I replaced the strap buttons with schaller straplocks, as I always do. I just took it on a tour out West, and though I had a backup, it never got used. No need for it, but I never play without one. I'm not stopping my gig for a broken string and I don't have a tech, so backups are required. As for the finish, it looks like Gibson trans-wine-red over mahogany, and there you go. If it has any dimples or any of that sort of thing in the finish, I haven't the faintest idea. But, as I said, I don't care. In fact, I think I prefer guitars that are beaters. You either play them or you collect them, and I play them.

Hmmmm, I probably shouldn't answer this one as I still work for a Gibson dealer. I have no need for any factory support, any pro player worth his salt shouldn't, either, unless something is blatantly wrong with the instrument, in which case you should go through the Gibson dealer where you bought the thing. The warranty is limited lifetime, and I doubt I will need it.

I have been playing for twenty years or so, I own a mid-90's American Standard Strat which I have loaded with Duncan Lipsticks, a couple of Nick Greer overdrives and a Mesa Maverick. There's nothing to have asked anyone about this guitar, you either know what's up with such a beast or you don't. Were it stolen, I would seek to replace it with a similar model. I love the feel and playability of the guitar and the way it brings out the rock in me. I can really stray into McGuinn territory given a too-clean guitar, and this encourages me to keep it simple, play for the song, and really dig in and play loose. It's forgiving, my Strat is not. Overall, a ridiculous deal for $250. Just an opinion: Paying more than $1000 for a guitar is insanity, and even then only a Rick is worth a grand.

Review for a 1966 SG Junior. Mine was all original when bought apart from a different hardcase and removed vibrola (good thing too, those are useless trems and whats more they're fuckin' ugly).

I had the original tuners changed for a new set of Deluxe ones; I don't want new holes drilled on a 39 year old instrument else I'd have Grovers. I had the fixed intonation tailpiece-bridge changed for an basic intonatable one, I may get a Badass bridge or better at some point.

The tone control is okay, not a great sweep there. I use the volume control every so often, but most of the time when I pick up this guitar I'm not looking for subtlety or nuance. I'm looking for a no-nonsense balls-out performance.

If I'm in the right mood this guitar is a hands-down favourite. As I said, NO NONSENSE. Sometimes less is more. I generally use this with Fender Twins of all kinds (except those nasty 135w models!) or Non-MV Marshalls. I use it exclusively with a Boss GT-8 (I've been using the Boss GT multis for years) and/or amp distortion/reverbs only.

Noisy? Of course, the P90 is a single coil and carries all the assorted problems we've come to expect. This particular P90 is a tad noisier than the ones on my '94 LP Special but what are noise gates for? The tone of the thing is incredible - bite, punch and when you hit the harmonics it SCREAMS.

Oh, I'd forget about using it clean. This has the WORST clean sound of any guitar I've played using 'classic' designs (strat/tele/es335/es175/les paul etc). But for the one sound it does, that awesome rock snarl, it's untouchable. Although I will point out the clean is tasty when its not plugged in. Probably because there's so little of the guitar - whoever said it's a plank with a P90 wasn't kidding.

The thing was a beast to be wrestled with - crappy intonation and couldn't hold pitch for ten minutes even with new strings - until the new parts were on there. Now it's actually reasonably reliable.

I still don't trust that it joins at the last (22nd) fret and has a tiny heel though. Gibson seem to have this serious problem with neck design - necks popping out into the pickup cavity on 50s models, giving many of their guitars small strap buttons for example. I'm surprised this guitar hasn't got a neck break either end of the neck!

The finish is amazing. You know Fenders 'closet classic' models right, the ones with the slight chips and nicely cracked finish when you look closely? This guitar looks like that, with minimal neck wear. The lacquer is gorgious... so smooth and never gets sticky, it's a shame they can't make them like this any more.

Lets talk about the neck. I fucking love that neck... it's a huge, comfy baseball bat with short scale (24.75") but better string tension than I've come to expect from the many Gibsons I've played. The space between the strings is well above average... you true-blue Fender guys must HATE guitars like this but I love it cos I can pull out some wide bends when I'm on form, without snagging other strings all the time (think 6 semitone bends, 12th fret on the G for example. Try that on a Strat).

The action is great. As I said string tension is great and that neck is a work of art, smooth and really allows you to dig in. Still one of the best guitars I've ever played.

See what I said about the neck and the small strap buttons. The hardware has been partly changed, see above. The finish will last. If I don't drop it it'll last another 40 years. I can't gig without a backup.

Nah, they don't know what they're talking about these days. I emailed them for some details on my '94 LP Special and they kept insisting it was a Junior, even though it has LES PAUL SPECIAL on the headstock and 2 P90s. Then I pointed this out and was told Juniors/Specials have the same meaning. LIES, FILTHY LIES!

Okay, it's taken me over 2 hours to finish this review cos I keep getting distracted, so I have to say this. It's not versatile. It's not got a lot of sustain. It's noisy, it doesn't hold tuning as well as most of my other guitars.

But... when I'm on form and shes on form, this guitar has pulled from me some of the best lead work of my life. Records well too... try overdubbing a solo with a P90-equipped SG onto rhythm tracks record with LP Standards. The LPs are the girth, the SGs are the bite.

This isn't my ultimate guitar - my LP Special is the perfect hybrid of SG/LP tones to me, it's far more versatile and stays in tune better despite it's neck break. But as I say, when this guitar is behaving it really rocks. Even if it has only got one sound, at least it's a smoldering, awesome one.

You want more info, I've provided my email address.

This is a 2001 that was sitting around a store for 4 years. I bought it new. It has a tone and volume knob, P-90 pick-up, and white button tuners. I won't rate the features because if you like a lot of features, you won't like this guitar - it's super simple. I like this guitar for that reason.

I play rock in the style of AC/DC or Black Sabbath. The guitar sounds very bright. I play through a Soldano Hot Rod 50 with very little gain (around 2). I replaced one of the AX7 preamp tubes with an AT7 for even less gain. Sounds very good with the volume turned up halfway.

I replaced the bridge with a wraparound tune-o-matic bridge because the intonation was not perfect. I adjusted the action and it plays just the way I like. The paint job is nice (black) - no blemishes. The guitar looks great.

The guitar with the stock compensated bridge was unreliable for recording - a nightmare actually. Without the replaced bridge, I would rate it a 6. With the new bridge it's a 9. I don't use a back-up when playing live.

I never call the manufacturer. I don't have the patience for repairs covered by the warranty.

Been playing for 15 years. I own a 2000 Gibson Les Paul Jr., a 1984 SG Special, and an 80's Jap Fender Tele. I like the SG Jr. the best and would buy another if something happened to this one.

This is a 2001 SG Junior. Vintage Cherry finish with one P-90 and a wraptail.
Tone, volume, a 22 fret all access neck with 6 kluson style machines and vintage oval tuner buttons.

This is so light. Maybe 6 pounds, and they are not neck heavy because of the light tuners. Grovers would make the neck heavy so it was a great idea on their part to stay true to the vintage styling.

Other than that these look identical in every way to a 67 SG Junior. The headstock is identical and so is the logo color and placement. I think they did a better job on this than they did on the LP Juniors. The LP Juniors are great but they don't look like real juniors because of the missing wood by the neck joint.

Anyway it's just like my friends '67, only the neck is slightly rounder and the tuners are far better on this new one. Even the rosewood is very dark like it should be. The 60's original old ones had the 3 on a strip cheapo's. Came with a hardshell case from Guitar Center - they through it in because of my haggle.

I give this a 10 because this guitars features are its lack thereof. It's very simple, very LIGHT (bad back saver), and it rocks hard since it's all mahogany and loaded with a hot P-90. The tone control is very usable unlike the production les pauls. You'll know when you try one. Also the cherry finish is beutifully thin laquere, and you can see the wood grain perfectly through it. That gives it a warmer feel in the hands and makes it a real pleasure to play.

Can be a little noisy in high gain when not playing, but while playing you just don't hear any interfierence. The P-90 growls and Bites like a Gibson single coil wound to over 8k-ohms should. Very Hot and that lets you dime the amp and use your two simple controls. Volume and Tone to go from a hard clean to crunchy rythym with singing leads that only a Gibson P-90 can do in solid mahogany. Think Leslie West or early Santana.

Pretty darn good it's hard to screw up here. When they are done building these they either work or they dont. Placement of the Bridge is vital and all else is covered under warrenty. Frets are large an lots of room for resurfacing in years to come.

This is solid as a rock if used with respect. Don't drop any guitar that has a 17 degree peghead angle. No problems with the pots or pickup, or tuners in over 3 years. Good Job Gibson. Please bring these back!!

Gibson support is awesome but I've never needed it on this guitar. On my historic I needed some new saddles and they sent them out fast. Good Job!!

Over all fit finish and playability are second to none. This guitsr is a pleasure to plat and sounds wonderfull. Simple truly is better. The longer I play the more I realise that. Simple guitars, non Master Volume amps, simple riffs = lots of FUN and easy to listen too.

I hate to give 10's accross the board but this guitar is a gem. Actually better than my PRS Santana and better than my 97 SG Standard.

I got mine last summer from Musicians Friend in their blow out sale for $399. What a steal for this guitar! Mine is a 2001 model and is ebony in color. Everyone knows the basic features and you know what they give you enough to get many decent sounds out of it. It may not have a 100 sounds but for one pickup and a volume and tone control you can get a quite a few great sounds without having to mess with a bunch of switches. I like the wrap around bridge/tailpiece but it isn't as easy to setup as the separate tun-o-matic and tailpiece like my 1992 SG Standard. This guitar, unlike the aforementioned SG Standard, does suffer for SG Neck Heavy-itis. Although for me playing standing with the guitar in a comfortable position it isn't a problem. This one is also very light compared to my other SG and my Strats. Also I really dig the fat neck - you can dig in really well with it...great for bending. I give it a 9 because you buy this not looking for a 4 pickup - multiswitchable guitar. It is a simple, no frills blues rock machine.

Great but a tad noisy. I love the tone of this thing for blues and classic rock. I can get awesome Jimmy Page and Hendrix sounds to Allman Brothers and AC/DC. It really suits that stuff perfectly. I also love the natural acoustic resonance of the guitar - it sounds awesome just for strumming unplugged. My only complaint is the P90 is a little noisy. I am more anal about this than some, but not as much as others. I live with it right now but I want to try some noiseless P90 pickups - like the SD P90 stack or even Lace makes a stacked P90. If they don't sound as good then I will plop back in the P90 and live with the noise. Just beware using really high gain. If is were noiseless and sounded this way it'd be a 9.5 but with the noise it has to be an 8. It is a great sound though.

The action was about perfect for me which is a little higher than most people like. 6/64 on low E at 12th fret and 4/64 on high E at the same place. That is just a perfect for me - I play pretty hard and like to get a thick tone - so it works for me. I had to change the 9-42's that came on the guitar immediately to my 10-52's tuned down a 1/2 step. It rocks and rolls like that. The finish is good but has some flaws - nothing major - probaby should be buffed better. The pickup was adjusted okay - I adjusted it some though to experiment. The fretwork was very nice and had no real problems at all. When I bought the 1992 SG Standard new it had worse fretwork than this one. Not that is was too bad either. Nut needed a little work but that was mostly for the heavier strings. I still need to stop some of the g-string pinching (sounds painful!) when I bend really far but otherwise not probs really not for the price.

I think this guitar could withstand quite a bit of live playing. I like the thicker neck and it seems to bulk up the guitar a little more than say my SG standard which I fear hitting the headstock or it falling over against something. The neck joint seems stronger because of the thicker neck - it may just be my imagination. The finish is laquer so you have to watch out for that but all gibsons are the same that way. The strap buttons are okay but small. I bought little lock things from StewMac that click in place on he strap buttons after you put the strap on and they work fine $1.50 strap locks - can't beat that. I would gig without a back up - not much to go wrong unless you break it.

I have only dealt with them once via email a bunch of years back. They offered a helpful suggestion in a reasonable amount of time so that experience was good. Many companies don't even email you back. This was in '95-'96 and they were courteous and pleasant. So no complaints.

This guitar is absolutely fabulous especially considering the price I paid. I'm not sure if I'd pay a lot more for one maybe a couple hundred, but at $399 it was a deal of a lifetime. It plays awesome and sound awesome. It is just a nice guitar to go to. Also my wife was actually the one who purchased it for me and because of that I could never let it go. I wouldn't want to anyways - it is a permanent addition to my guitar collection.

2002 model. Every body knows about the features. Why rate them low? The simplicity is why this guitar can sing and is so light and easy to play at the same time! I say quality neck joint, quality finish, quality tuners and bridge setup. Perfect frets and a screaming P-90 with .022 caps and nice volume and tone swells make this and excellent feature filled guitar!

Sounds great. Very Pete Townsend Rawness to these guitars. Sings sings and sings. The P-90's I have had to BTW are pretty hot 8.5-9k. These things don't require any effects to sounds great and go straight into your favorite Tube amp combo or half stack nicely.

My choice is a JTM 45 or a Fender Twin!

Already said. All perfect. Nice laquere smell too;)

Supposed to be a 2 pice top but I can't find any seams or otherwise. Gibson told me they came in 1,2, and3 pice bodies.

Rock Solid! Had it for almost two years and no problems. How many guitars can you say that about that you gig regularly with?

Gibson Support is probably the best out there. I never had a problem getting parts or information from them. Usually in less than 24 hours you have your info and no parts are comming!

Nothing else to say but I wish they never discontinued these! This was the best budget guitar the world had IMO, This and The LP Junior..

Appears to be a NOS (if I have the serial number dating procedure right, it's a 2001) ebony Gibson SG Jr. Cool P90 pickup, mahogany body and neck, rosewood fretboard, tone, volume, you get the picture. Also dig the wrap-around tailpiece. Pretty stripped down features-wise, but it's meant to be. Came with a heavily padded gig bag.

Big ol' baseball bat neck, which almost feels too big (for me) on a short scale guitar, but I settled in with it nicely after 5 minutes or so and very much dig it now. Feels a lot like the neck on my Tele Plus with a little extra girth.

I'm a Fender guy, and have been ever since I started playing. So my review will come from that perspective (bias?). I wanted to add a Gibby to my stable, and also dig SGs and P90s. Combined with the price, this was the obvious way to go. I used this with a variety of the "standard" overdrive and distortions (SD-1, TS9, Big Muff, etc) and a few different Vox and Fender amps.

Unplugged, the Jr. has a very mellow, warm strum to it. It sounds very "short scale"; punchy with a good dose of mids. It lacks the bright Fender clank that I adore very much, but of course it would, it's a Gibson. Plugged in, it has a very organic clean tone to it, with lots of mids and lows. It even has a smattering of acoustic-ness to it....very woody. A nice flavor to compliment the rest of my stable.

But as many have said before, this thing just doesn't seem to want to play clean. For me, the clean was nice but a little bland. It didn't have any natural chime to it. It really does beg to be overdriven. Cranking the gain a little yields brings out some great raunch. The more you hit it, the better it responds. True to most P90 guitars, the tone is biting yet thick and single notes simply sing. All you need is a little gain and it just oozes character. The tone control is very usuable, especially in the 6-10 range. I was able to rangle up a good compliment of rhythm and lead tones from just a single pickup. It nails that cool Steppenwolf grit with the SD-1 and, naturally, handles Replacements-style mayhem with aplomb. It reminds me a lot of an overdriven Telecaster set on both pickups, except with more punch and thickness. A fun guitar to strap on and go. Whenever I pick it up, I just want bash out some rock n' roll, drink a beer, and then play a slide solo with the empty bottle.

In Sum: I really really really hate to call this thing a one trick pony, because it's not. But it just seems to thrive much more with some dirt in the signal. The clean tones just don't capture me the way my Fenders' do, and I like a good clean tone. But dirty, it's something else.

This was my first brand new guitar in a while (two previous purchases had been used). Overall, it looked great with a few niggles here and there. The finish is stunning. There were one or two tiny flaws that I could identify on close examination, but otherwise it's gorgeous. The fret work is excellent as well....they look and feel well dressed and polished and there are absolutely zero stray ends or barbs to be found anywhere. Around the upper frets there are what appear to be some kind of filing or tooling marks on the fretboard itself, but whatever. For $399, it wasn't going to be perfect.

The guitar was very well setup, but I will need to change the strings to a bigger gauge once I get rid of my laziness and get some strings. The factory strings still have a lot of life left and felt absolutely great despite being a bit too light for me. Action was also set up very well.

All of the chrome parts generally look great, except for some adjustment wear on the treble side of the bridge (but very well hidden under the top of the slothead post, you can't really see it unless you're specifically looking for it), and the pots and tuners are solid and smooth. The knobs rotate a little crooked, which was the biggest bummer for me but minor in the scope of things.

Unreal for $399

I have little doubt this guitar will withstand live playing. Everything is very solid. It does feel a little more delicate and less substantial that what I am used to, but I wouldn't bet on it being a guitar that would just crumble in your mitts if you sweat on it just a little too much. I would use it for a gig without a backup. It will mostly be a knock-a-round home jammer for me, so it should last a lifetime.

I've been playing 15 years, and love all sorts of music. I particularly love shoegaze, older blues and country, straight rock and punk, you name it. I own two Telecasters (a Tele Plus with Lace Sensors and a '69 thinline reissue), a '68 RI Strat, and a Rickenbacker 330/12. I'm a bonafide Fender guy, as mentioned above.

This guitar is basically my token Gibson. It was a great price and had a lot of the features I was looking for. I've always dug SGs and the Junior series of guitars. It was not bought to replace my Fenders, and I can't say that it will. But that's because I'm such a Fender devotee.

This is my knock-a-round, plug-in and go, rock out with yo' c@ck out, louderfastermoredistortion guitar. It does feel like a guitar twice its price, so I love it even more for that. I think it's a great intermediate player or backup candidate, and lets you get into the Gibson club at a low price (Melody Makers are cool, but do you REALLY want one of those?....c'mon, everyone knows SGs kick ass!). For me, it's on par with the SG Fadeds for around $150 less, and actually I would rather have this than one of those for the finish alone.

Highly Reccommended overall.

New old stock made in 2001, bought 6/03. Features are the same as prior review, plug and play value definitely gets a 10.

I'm mainly into indie rock (Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral) and post hardcore (Fugazi, Hum) and for this it doesn't dissappoint in the slightest. Unplugged this thing resonates rediculously (easily fills my bedroom). Plugged in with volume at full it has a ballsy midrange that begs to overdriven. Power and octave chords cut through with urgency and sustain indefinitely. Also the body's resonance causes a very heavy reverb sound (is there such a thing as a deverb? I can't just get a dry sound). Backing off the volume acts like a notch filter revealing those crisp Gibson lows and a touch of high end brilliance (but still nowhere near in the Fender camp).

Good God, I've never seen a stock instrument play this well. Intonation and neck relief are perfect (when does that ever happen, especially from mail order? I think the wraparound helps also). Action was exactly how I wanted (med. to help negate buzzing on heavy downstroking). I changed the stock strings to a special set of D'Addario .010's with a wound G (the only difference is .018 instead of .017 gauge) and keep it tuned down to an Eb. Everything was still well, perfect. The only misgiving I had was a minor finish flaw on the back, but at this price I won't even bother...

No issues yet, everything looks solid. It stays in tune nearly all the time (I check everytime I plug in and still have yet to really tune it). I think the wound G helps a lot also.

I've dealt with different divisions of Gibson and they're always thorough and helpful.

I've actually only been playing for around 4 months or so but I've played bass constantly the last 4 years, so I know how a solid instrument should look. My first guitar was a decent Japanese Les Paul custom knock off from the 70's but it didn't quite capture the tone I wanted. This guitar was a treat for me as a beginner since it nailed everything I was searching for. This sould be a keeper for years to come.

p.s. MF still has a number of these left (I thought they'd be gone by now). So grab one

USA-made, 2003 Ebony, 22 fret, mahogany body and neck. No frills is a fact. One volume, one tone, one screaming P-90 bridge pickup. Wraparound bridge, deluxe tuners, fat neck, and fat sound. Comes with gig bag. I gave it a five since ten is "tons of features." I frankly respect the lack of knobs, switches, and other junk that gets in the way of the tone. I would give it a ten for "utility."

I play blues. I have been a Fender fanatic, i.e., Strat, Tele and variations thereof, but this guitar has transformed me. I can't put it down. I play it through a '53 Fender Tweed Deluxe. No pedals. Although, it sounds pretty good with an MXR Micro Amp for a boost if necessary. The characteristic noise of a P-90 can be minimized by turning the volume down between songs, or by tweaking any pedal you might use so there is not too much gain on the input. The sound is the best part. Solos are fat and notes sustain in a unique way. I find myself playing notes that would not "sing" on my other guitar. I can back off the volume or tone for rhythm. I thought the guitar would be "treble-heavy" but that is not a problem.

The guitar came with strings that would not stay in tune. They were 0.009s and were not wrapped around the tuners correctly. With a change to 0.010s, the guitar settled into tune. I have no problems with the tuners. The guitar stays in tune and I don't plan to change any of the hardware. The finish and wood are fine and I really like the wraparound bridge. The feel of the neck and the action are superb. The pickup is a soapbar, not a dog-ear, and is not really adjustable. It is up high and provides plenty of response. A great sound!

I have not been able to put it down. I played gigs with it and it stayed in tune and enhanced my playing skills. I plan to gig with it regularly. The strap buttons are small, but adequate with the correct strap. The simple design and solid finish should not be problem in terms of reliability.

Lifetime warranty. I dealt with Gibson before. They were very supportive and helpful. I don't anticipate any problems.

I have been playing almost 40 years. I gig regularly. I own Strats, Teles, PRS, Les Paul and Groshs. This is my favorite guitar now. Can't beat that sound. I have a Fender Deluxe Reverb and tweed Deluxe, Ampeg Jet Reissue, Gibson Goldtone, Penn, Victoria Champ, etc. I would buy this guitar again anytime! I would immediately replace it. It has a one-of-a-kind tone and feel. I love the simplicity, sound, action and feel of this instrument. I couldn't recommend this instrument more to other players.

2002 SG Junior Reissue
Volume, Tone, Single P-90

No frills really, but thats why I bought it. Gets and 8 because the pick-up could stand to be upgraded for my style, which is just alternative rock. Haven't decided on which pick-up for it yet.

Also gets an 8 becuase of the pick-up. I do love the sound of P-90's, the stock one just doesn't have enough balls. It is noisy but you'll have that with single coils. Lots of lows and mids with this guitar, not the guitar for you if you like lots of highs. I don't know how this guitar would perform if you wanted something other than the plain out rock I play, but for me the sound works.

The guitar was set up well enough for me. Mine is ebony and the finish was in great shape. No flaws with the finish or pick guard. I'm starting to understand the complaints from most people on Klusons and there tendancy to slip out of tune, but its nothing new tuners can't fix. The tuners is what get it a 9, but for 30$ some new grovers will fix that problem and a 10 wouldn't be hard to reach. I love the wrap around bridge. I don't have much of a problem with breaking strings and I think it is due to the bridge.

The guitar withstands live playing with the exception of tuning, which is why it gets a 9 not a 10. Again nothing some new tuners couldn't fix. The strap buttons are a little small but I can't say they won't hold because I swithed them for a locking strap right away, its really a must. Its a very dependable guitar, and besides tuning after every song lately it has never let me down. I always have a back-up but I would have one with any guitar.

never had to use it

I haven't been playing long, only about a year and a half, but I've owned three other guitars two of which were strats and I've never had anything easier to play. I give this guitar an overall of ten because with a few simple upgrades this can be a great guitar. For me personally.

Made in 1991 wine red SG jr with one black dogear P-90, vintage style black pickgaurd, and tune-o-matic bridge. All original except for Gotoh tuners. The tone control is more linear and useful than in most other electric guitars I have played (i.e., there is a noticable difference between 7 and 10 on the tone nob). A simple guitar, not designed to have "features."

If you like the rock sound of the early 70's, this is a great guitar for that sound. Set a good tube amp for heavy overdrive, plug in your SG jr. and start to wail! The single P-90 bridge pickup is high output, but plenty bright. Unless you turn the tone nob below 5, it does not sound muddy. I think is a more defined "midrangy" sound than one would get with a typical humbucker, and a thicker rauncher sound than stock "Fender" bridge pickups usually offer. The downside of the P-90 is that it does add "vintage" hum. I don't think there was any speical attempt by Gibson to shield the guitar to reduce the hum and the hum seems a bit more pronounced than the other single coil guitars I own.

The single pickup offers a fairly limited range of tones and this guitar does not do "clean" well at all. That makes the SG jr's use fairly limited, so unless you are playing hard rock all night you will need something more versitile at gigs/jams. (Bring a second guitar that can do the lighter stuff well.) But this guitar ROCKS! While I use other guitars at gigs thus far, this is the guitar I like to play at home. It is inspiring!

The guitar sounds good acoustically and I sometimes think about adding a single coil neck pickup so that I could use this as my #1 gigging guitar. Will 1991 Gibson SG jr's ever be collectable? Seems like a long shot, but history suggests that it will keep its value much better if I leave it alone.

I rate it a 10 for Hard Rock, an 8 for Classic Rock, and a 4 for just about anything else. Overall I guess I would give it a 9.

This is a 12 year old guitar and it has held up pretty well. No major damage. I think the finish is low budget but it is not checked or cracked. The dark wine red is really nice, not like some SG's that look BRIGHT red. There are numerous finish flaws, especially on the neck. I have had the guitar for 6 months and I don't know about the guitar's history. I don't think it has been heavily played because the frets are original and are not very worn.

The dogear pick has adjustable pole pieces, but the pickup height is not adjustable. However, it seems fine where it is.


The nice thing about the double cut away is that you can play waaay up the neck without much problem. However, having such a long neck means that the neck is not very stable regarding tuning. I have 10's on the guitar and the tuning changes noticably depending on how I hold the guitar. I am going to try 11's to see whether the increased string tension makes the neck more stable.

One more thing, this is a neck heavy guitar. However, if you have a strap with good friction that does not slide around on your shoulder, you probably can keep the guitar from taking a nose dive the second you let go of the neck.

The stock strap buttons are not trustworthy, especially the near the neck joint. I put in a larger screws and a set of strap locks.

No headstock break on this one, but that mahogony neck looks sooo flimsy at the neck joint. The Gibson neck angle seems to be designed to break with moderate force. So this gets low marks for not being well constructed to withstand the rigors of real world gigging. It seems clear that people who gig with these end up breaking the headstock sooner or later, unless they are extremely careful (or lucky).

I have been playing since the mid 70's. I got a good deal on this guitar used and am happy with it. This guitar is what it is. Of my 7 electric guitars, I like this one the best for no nonsense tube driven rock and roll. If you like that sound, it does it very, very well. It is easy to play and sounds great. I take off one point for neck-related tuning instablity, which is probably why you don't see a lot of pros using SG's.

This particular SG Junior is was made in 1968, when Junior meant "1 pickup guitar with a p-90 in the bridge." Nowadays, I don't even know what gibson means anymore when they say Junior. I mean, what's with these "Junior Special" models? but I digress...

Features? it has features?

Well, I know that it is indeed the classic SG shade of cherry red (gotta love it!). From the screws on top, it looks like it used to have a Gibson vibrato unit on it, but other that, it has a replacement bridge/tailpiece unit. It weighs about 5 pounds-VERY light for an electric guitar. Somebody replaced the tuners with Schaller keys (and I approve-vintage keys are nice if you hang guitars on walls, players need tuning stability, not mint colored key knobs on shit tuners). Comes complete with vintage-collector-disapproved large pickguard with 1 p-90 pickup mounted on the pickguard (but not soapbar style, how weird is that?), single volume and single tone controls. Tone sculpting? well, it's not quite parametric eq....

...but it does the job well enough, that's for sure. Plug this thing in, and WOW!!! If your favorite flavor of singlecoil sound comes from Fender, you'll have to goose the treble a little more before you'll be satisfied with the pickup sound. You'll probably need to roll off the bass a touch, too. But this P-90 stuff is quite satisfying just the same. It's got a fuller midrange than a Strat bridge p/u, and less high-end harshness than the Telecaster's bridge. It does the not-quite-distorted distortion sound quite admirably, and while that might not sound appealing, it really is.
Also, if you're used to ignoring your tone control, I will be happy to report that this tone knob is far more usable than my Strat's, and that it does indeed add to the variety of desirable sounds one is able to achieve. Admittedly, it's not as versatile as my Strat, but then again almost nothing short of a guitar synth is.
If I had to give you an artist whose sound I can cop with this guitar, it would have to be Leslie West of Mountain. Plug this thing in, turn everything up to patent pending, hit the "mississippi queen" riff, and the essence of the sound is there.
Again, it may not be the perfect sound and isn't the ultimate end of my tone quest, but it sounds great in its own right, therefore it gets a 10 in my book.

Well, the guitar is 35 years old now, and the finish is heavily checked all over the place (that's what you get when a guitar is up in the cold North without a case for 33 of those years), but the neck is very comfortable and easy on the hands. Again, a little more fully profiled than a standard Fender, and WAY thicker than the '80s-style "super strats" I've played, but again, it was made in the pre-shred era, and that was expected.
The control cavity was nicely shielded from hum and buzz coming from all directions and is, in fact, shielded better than my '99 Les Paul, so Go Gibson, class of '68!
Like I said, the bridge/tailpiece unit was an aftermarket replacement, and the string spacing of that unit was too narrow for my SG (and the previous owner said he was selling it because "it didn't sound right" HAH!!). I had to go get *ANOTHER* bridge unit (thank you to the makers of Badass bridges) to replace that one. and it worked better, but it was still mitigated by the next point, which is:
The only real defect that the factory was responsible for. It was the placing of the bridge a little too far to the bass end of the guitar, which in turn screwed with the proper string spacing over the pickup's polepieces. Unfortunately, this affects the sound and playability drastically, so points must be taken off for such an oversight. Luckily, I was able to spend $10 at Sears to get some small files to cut myself new saddle slots to compensate for their oversight, but that's not something I like doing to make a guitar playable...
So, in summary, Neck good, action good, finish worn but expected for its age, shielding great, Bridge placement AFWUL, sound before fix moderate, sound after fix WONDERFUL.

Well, it's lasted this long, and the previous owner said he gigged with it regularly....
The pots are original and still aren't scratchy, and the pickup is still strong.
The only thing that worries me is that the front strap button looks like it has fallen out before-it is screwed into a plug at the base of the neck that doesn't feel very solid. but then again, there is no evidence of a snapped headstock ever occurring on this guitar (must have just been gigged hard, as the original strap screw for the rear button was bent as well). Still, that hasn't stopped me from getting some straplocks for this guitar (which I do for ALL of my guitars). I like all of the necks in my possession to stay in as many pieces as they arrived in (including my own).
Oh, and I NEVER EVER gig without a backup if I can help it. Gigs are money.

Gibson? HAH!!! 1968 was about 5 owners ago for them....About all they can do is to point me to their serial number dating web page. I mean, even their factory is now 1000 miles away from where they were in '68. But I don't think I'll need them too much. Only so many things can go wrong on a guitar this simple...

And no warranty for me! I got it used!!

Gotta love it. Plays good, sounds better than ever, and wasn't a bad value for a late '60s SG when I got it.
But it's like the saying goes, you always hurt the ones you love, and it looks like this thing has been loved a LOT. I can see why. Nothing else sounds like this guitar. The setup could have been better performed at the factory, but it managed to last this long, didn't it?

I picked up my my SG Junior (serial #100420) in 1976 for $250 at pawn shop in Addison, Texas, outside of Dallas. It was made in 1963, I think and it's a original cherry finish is in great shape, with the neck worn away just slightly from playing. The body is a single piece of fairly thin (but light!) mahogany. The neck is set-in and is wide and flat. It's not thin like a PRS, but flat -- more like a classical neck. It's got a single P90 dogear pickup that sounds incredible and it has 1 volume knob and 1 tone knob. Though, I still have the original bridge, right after I got it the local tech installed a badass bridge and replaced the nut with a brass nut. I later changed this to graphite. The tuners are the old style cream circles and work great. Before I caught GAS (guitar acquisition syndrom) I kept considering replacing the pickup with a humbucker or adding a neck pu to try to increase the sonic possibilities, but luckily I never got the nerve as it would have destroyed any chance of it selling as a collector's piece. Eventualyl, I decided the simplicity of the setup is what makes it great.

This guitar can get a wide range of sounds, given the right amplification (can you say tubes?). I've used it for rock, blues, country, even jazz. It excels as a rock instrument because the P90 just plains kills with the vol on 10 and a loud tube amp. For blues country and jazz, you just have to back off the vol and fool with the tone knob a little, but eventually you can get a usuable sound for these two. I found that changing my picking handing position more towards the neck can introduce more depth or beef for jazz and blues. The P90 is quite versatile if you play around with it and find how to use it. Without an amp the guitar still rings true and solid, and that's usually the sign of a good guitar.

Other than the occasional 1 fret job, there's never been a need to do much to the setup on this guitar. Again, this guitar wins for simplicity here; the setup is so simple you don't have much to worry about. The frets are dressed well, the tuning pegs stay tight and in tune and the electronics have never failed me.

From 1976 to 1988 this was my only guitar. I used it for countless live shows, club dates and party gigs. (For some reason, the idea of buying another guitar never occurred to me!) It has withstood all the abuse I've thrown at it which includes dropping it more than a few times, banging into amps, walls, other guitars, and being moved abount 8 times. I had locking strap buttons on for a while, but even before that my strap never came off -- I was just paranoid. I would use it today on a gig, but since it's become somewhat desirable, I'd be scared someone would steal it. I usually play my squier tele for outside gigs now.

No idea. I bought it used and have never had to contact Gibson. This is a quality instrument.

Overall, this guitar is amazing. I'll never sell it (unless I need to for dough) because it's been with me for ever. In addition to this guitar, I have 2 Diodatis Vintage (Les Paul - type) guitars (excellent axes!), a strat plus with a E.C. neck and Buzz Feiten tuning system, 1991 PRS Emerald Flame top CE 24, Hamer Echotone (great deal for only $300), 1997 Squier Tele w/ Bill Lawrence PUs and a heavily mod'd Johnson strat copy. This guitar doesn't get as much attention as it used to, but that's probably just as well because I might damage it. My favorite features are the wide flat neck and the versatile killer P90 pickup. The only thing I wish it had was a little thicker body so that the neck wouldn't keep causing it to tip down. I have to use a leather strap with some nap to grab my shirt so that it doesn't slide down. Other than that, this is an awesome guitar. Everytime I bring it out, someone wants to buy it (and modify it probably!). I've seen this guitar sell for around upwards of $1500 on Ebay, but mine could probably fetch around $1300 now.

My SG Junior is a fairly recent (1999) reissue that closely resembles the model made during the 1966 to 1969 years. It has a clear cherry finish over a nicely grained mahogany body; a fat (clubby) mahogany neck; 22 medium height fret rosewood fingerboard; 3 on a side individual Gibson Deluxe tuning pegs with creme plastic buttons; single volume and single tone controls; large black pickguard with 11 screws surrounding one black soapbar P 90 pick-up with adjustable height screws and a chrome combination bridge/tailpiece with fixed intonation saddles.
Like most of Gibsons lesser models, my SG Jr came with a Gibson gig bag.
Pretty basic appointments on a bare bones guitar.

I'm a big fan of P 90 guitars. P 90s have a unique bell like vibe and yet when coaxed acheive a thick gritty blues/rock tone. P 90s are also noisy when played through a high gain amp. It's the only negative thing about them.
The tone control really works on this SG. The slightest twist makes a difference. Now there's a new concept.
When playing any single pick-up guitar, the player is pretty much left to they're level of talent. A single P 90 guitar like the SG Junior is a real exposer. When I'm feeling my oats, my SG Junior is a great sounding guitar. It's a bare bones instrument that'll separate the player from the poser.

I've been playing guitar since the mid 1960's and I've seen much of what Gibson can build. Gibson can make an outstanding guitar and a piece of crap on any given day. Their guitars vary in quality so try as many as you can.
The SG Junior is very basic.
I'm surprised that my guitar doesn't have fret overhang like on most non bound neck Gibsons. It was the thing that immediately attracted me along with the chunky neck shape.
I also own a 1962 SG Les Paul Jr in cherry red. The body contours on the 99' Junior are sharper than the 62. The frets on the 62 are wider and flatter much like those on a 335.

My SG Junior feels solid. But.....it's a budget Gibson guitar and Gibson is very inconsistant in Q/C.
Gibson finishes are a bit iffy. I've seen finishes flaking or peeling on recent Gibsons as well as incorrect neck angles on their acoustic guitars. Since this is a used guitar, I'm kinda left to my own warranty expense.
Time will tell if I have a good one.

I have a 175 that was sent back to Gibson for a neck problem and it was corrected. So, customer repair work was good.
Getting correct historical info from Gibson is a bit dicey. When Walter Carter is involved, Gibson is a top notch informative company.
A 10 with Walter.
Your guess with no Walter.

A fine basic P 90 guitar.
Along with the SG Junior, I own 2 other single P 90 pick-up guitars.....a 1956 Les Paul Jr and a 1962 SG Les Paul Jr.
Like my other Gibson P 90 guitars, my SG Junior has that Leslie West Mountain tone through my Bogner Shiva 2x12; early Stones tone with my Top Hat Ambassador 2x12; early Clapton blues vibe with my Bluesbreaker and Black Crows vibe with my DR Z Precsiption.
The SG Junior for all it's simplicity can cover many styles of music.

1961 U.S.A. SOLID MAHOGANY, ONE VOLUME AND ONE TONE.
I CHANGED THE PICKUP FROM A P90 TO GERMAN MADE HOHNER HUMBUCKER IN 1973. MAHOGANY NECK WITH ROSEWOOD DOT INLAY FINGER BOARD. THE FINISH IS THE ORIGINAL TV YELLOW. THIS IS THE ORIGINAL SG DOUBLE CUT HORNED SG. ORIGINAL WRAP-ARROUND TAILPIECE WITH AN INSTALLED PLASTIC SADDLED TUNE-O-MATIC BRIDGE. (WORKMANSHIP BY VIRGIL LAY LONG BEFORE HE OPENED HIS S.I.T. STRING COMPANY) ORIGINAL TUNERS, 22 FRETS, VERY THIN NECK.

I GREW UP LISTENIMG TO JOE WALSH ( MEASLES,JAMES GANG) AND PHIL KEAGGY(GLASS HARP) IN KENT, OHIO AT J.B.S. (JOE WALSH AND HIS BAND THE MEASLES PLAYED AT OUR FRIDAY NIGHT "SOCK HOPS" AFTER FOOTBALL GAMES.) I HAD THIS GUITAR CUSTOMIZED BY VIRGIL FOR THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS, WALSH'S TELE AND KEAGGY'S LES PAUL.
I AM CURRENTLY USING A FENDER DEVILLE AND PLAY MOSTLY JAZZY BLUES, BUT THIS GUITAR CAN HANDLE ANYTHING. DURING A RECENT TRIP WITH A GOOD FRIEND AND HIS SON SHOPING FOR GUITARS, WE PLAYED STRATS, LES PAULS, P.R.S.s, PARKERS YOU NAME IT. I INVITED THEM IN TO PLAY THIS GUITAR. THEY BOTH SAID THIS WAS THE BEST SOUNDING AND PLAYING GUITAR THEY HAD IN THEIR HANDS ALL DAY.

ANYONE THAT IS HONEST WITH THEMSELVES WOULD HAVE TO ADMIT THAT THESE GUITARS WERE ALMOST UN-TUNABLE IN ORIGINAL STATUS. INTONATION WAS A NIGHTMARE. WHEN I RE-STRING IT, I WIND AS MUCH OF THE STRING AS POSSIBLE FORM THE TOP OF THE POST DOWN, THIS HELPS PREVENT SLIPAGE. USING A PURE NICKEL MEDIUM TO HEAVY GAUGE SET OF STRINGS IS ALSO VERY HELPFUL. THIS GUITAR IS VERY LIGHT. IT ALSO SOUNDS VERY GOOD UNPLUGED, WHICH I BELIEVE IS THE TRUE TEST FOR ELECTRIC GUITARS. THIS GUITAR HAS ONLY BEEN SERVICED (TECHED OUT) ONCE IN 40 YEARS! IN IT'S CUSTOMIZED STATE I WOULD RATE IT A

THIS IS THE ONLY ELECTRIC GUITAR I HAVE EVER OWNED. I CAN'T IMAGINE EVER NEEDING ANYTHING ELSE.

NEVER HAD TO

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING SINCE 1964, I HAVE TWO CLASSICAL GUITARS AND ONE ACOUSTIC. I DON'T THINK THIS GUITAR IS RE-PLACEABLE IN THIS FINISH AND YEAR, BUT IF I HAD TO SELECT A NEW GUITAR IT WOULD PROBABLY BE A FIGURED TOP LES PAUL WITH WITH THE 60'S STYLE THINNER NECK.

Factory White SG Junior, 1963 USA (of course!)
Solid Mahogany body & neck, no stupid bonding or "frilly" bits, weighs nothing...

Right back then, Gibson got it right, this is how an electric guitar was supposed to be.
Nobody complains that you cant get an acoustic with individually adjustable bridge saddles or an adjustable sound hole or anything stupid like that. This is a musical instrument for playing music on and no bullshit!
This deserves a 10 because the features are endless (they are all in the musicians hands and imagination)

It's obvious from the other reviews here that there is a definite appreciation club about this guitar. This guitar will suit any kind of music and despite 1 pickup, 1 tone, 1 volume it is possible to get loads of different sounds out of this thing and all of them are magic.

You have to have a decent amp though. I use a 1961 non top boost AC30 and a '64 Blackface Deluxe and play rock. It is no noisier than any other single coil equipped guitar that I have ever played and especially with the AC30 it sounds better than any Les Paul or PAF equipped guitar. It simply has no useless rubbish on it or any extras to impare the sound and this is also the reason it stays in tune so well also.

I have played other SG Jrs that are really bad and I would advise anyone NOT to get one with the vibrola (Horrible). I'm now looking for 50's LP Jr also which sounds fatter (but not better).

This guitar cannot be beat and it looks so cool as well.
I may get other guitars but I won't ever find one better than a Jr!

This guitar is nearly 40 years old. However it is still going strong and is 100% original with only a couple of minor chips in the paintwork. There's nothing to go wrong with a design like this uless the things been broken.

See above!

What the hell. I'm never gonna sell this thing so it gets a 10 even if I go off it for a while and "rediscover" it's magic....

This is a 1991 SG Junior, USA. 22 frets, 1 bridge P-90, 1 Volume pot and 1 Tone pot (SHARP spiked metal dial indicators that have cut open my thumb about 50 times in a decade; they point up at you, so when you reach down for the knobs, GOTCHA), all mahogany, rosewood board with dots, wine/plumish dark red transparent finish, OLD style SG Junior Pick guard, cheap Grover tuners, Tune-O-Matic, stop bar tail, fairly shitty gig bag... I got a 6-foot Whirlwind out of the miserly dealer.

SOUND: uh huh. You either dig this or you don't The thin SG with one bridge P-90. You know and love this sound, or you just don't get it. It's a raw cross between punk, metal, garage, rock, reggae, blues, and everything raunchy, no acoustic guitars allowed. Bright, but chainsaw like, whether clean or rocking.

This pickup can be noisy as hell. Or, sound like a wet dream if noise is what you want. Hopefully, you got this guitar because you wanted to be noisy. Who the hell would buy this otherwise? I, personally, love it to death... six albums, ten years, does everything: punk, crazy sonic experiments, rock, rap loops, reggae, kissing your girlfriends ass with lame pretty songs....

I lie about the ten, becauseee it's an 11.

Once or twice I lowered/raised the action, over ten years. Once or twice I cracnked the truss rod to straighten her out. Once I tweaked the Tune-O-Matic, and she stayed true ever since, until the bridge bascially got fused in that position with dog hair, rust, smegma, crap, dust, green shit, beer... I wonder if it works.

The frets are ground early flat, and still rock. The board is worn down and gummed out beyond all hope-- I can see 1001 songs having been played 1001 times, and all my favorite notes stuck in time, which according to the board is EVERYTHING up the the 22 fret. I am proud of this fretboard.

Reliable, you bet. I used to change the strings, maybe once every year, or two. Jams, gigs, recording, watching teevee, chucked around like a toy... punished her. And then, I finally ran out of luck.

I took her so much for granted, I left it at a friend's house following rocking out one night. The guitar fell over (which she had done innumerable times with me). HEADSTOCK crack, you know where. (If you don't, right at the first two E pegs.)

My god. I never realized. I am shocked, heartbroken. DEFINITELY GETTING a pro repair resurrection. Still gets a ten, because I totally mistreated and abused her for a decade (played without backup, yes) and I finally pushed my luck-- not the guitar's fault. She held up so well, as irony goes, that's why I stopped giving a shit.

In 1991 she came with a 5 year warranty. In five years, already the guitar looked like Vietnam, so, there never a real issue here.

I cranked out powerchords from about 1984 to 1991, not too serious-- Sears Les Paul Copy (unknown year), circa 1985 I got an Aria Pro II RS Knight Warrior. In 1991, I got this SG Junior. Something about this guitar made me want to play, and "get serious" about guitar, and LEARN to play a little of everything. Every single day, from 1991 to 2001, I played this guitar (usually 3-6 hours per day), and this guitar ONLY (through a little Marshall 5005 and a Fender Princeton Chorus, among other stuff). This is the only guitar I played for a decade, and she did it all. The finish is checked, cracked, nicked, worn, scratched, stickered, everything. When disaster struck, I played a bunch, but went back to Gibson. I bought a Les Paul Studio (2001). Excellent sound, but the Les Paul's PLAYABILITY compared to the full-access SG neck is beyond inferior. As is the rib-bruising heavyweight body compared to the slim, semi-contoured, long-neck friendly SG. I bought a Fender Strat. Nice toy, really; good body, cool vibrato, Hendrix etc. I just got a Rickenbacker 650 Dakota, super, really; thought I could get the neck access feel to 24 frets. WHY DON'T I SAVE MYSELF THE FUCKING TROUBLE AND JUST BUY ANOTHER SG??? Simple. Because I'm going to get this SG Junior fixed up. This guitar is it for me. I have tried so many guitars, and an SG is it. For $350, and I've just spent well over $2000 trying to disprove what I already know. DUH!

LP junior 1963, US-made.
Quite a nice guitar, fast action neck, P-90 pu, and a badass/tune-o-matic-combined bridge. The tuners are crap though, cheap plastic "Deluxe" tuners. I can't understand why so many people complain about, say for an example, Epiphone's asian made tuners. These US made are much worse.

Lots of sustain. Raunchy sound. If you like it you like it. Otherwise you don't.

Don't know how well it was set up at the factory, this is a 38-year old guitar... but it's a great player! Absolutely the best guitar I've ever had in that sense.

The finish is a laugh, but this babe has beeen around for so long that it would be impossible to have a good finish on her.

But its better than NEW Gibsons, but not as good as asian Epiphones.
Yeah, I seriously think that Epis from Korea have a better finish than moderne Gibsons.

I've used it live a hundreds of times. Never no probs, except the fact it doesn't stay in tune if you bend a note. But for rhythm-work it's just fine.

'No contact needed.

I've played for twentyfive years, blah blah blah...
I dig this guitar, even when it's a piece of s**t actually.M Epis are much better, and costs a lot less, but anyway.

2000 SG Junior made in the USA. 22 frets, mahagony body(not sure of how many pieces) one volume and tone, wrap around bridge style. Of course this guitar comes loaded with one screaming P-90. The neck is a real nice suprise. It's a little wider than the standard or at least feels like it. It might be the result of the lack of binding. The neck also feels a little deeper than the standard's as well. Anyway, it's a stripped down SG with the sole purpose to rock.

I would say the SG can play just about any type of rock and blues out there, matched with the right amp. I play rock ranging from Chuck Berry to OASIS and does it well. I normally use a Marshall JTM45 reissue along with a Marshall BB-2 pedal. Take your Jazz and Country next door because there ain't nothing but in your face Rock and Roll coming out of this rig. The tone has a rich and "on the edge" aspect to it. The P-90 will cut through glass yet be warm and thick. This is not a bright sounding guitar despite the fact it has one P-90 located near the bridge. It's tone is very midrange, and I usually have to turn back the middle and turn up the trebble around 7-8 on my JTM45. "Screamin guitar" is often used to discribe the someones sound, but the Jr really does. When you bend a note on this guitar it doesn't die out or tapper off like on my SG Standard. The note seems to sustain and increase in pitch unlike any other that I've played. I don't have the technical terms to discribe it but sounds literally like a scream. It may have something to do with the wrap around bridge, I don't know but I love it. For rock and blues it's a 10. A little to rough for Country or Jazz.

The action was a little high when I recieved it, had it professionally set up and now it's great. The action is higher than my Standards and the strings seems to be further apart. You can really dig in and bend, to me it's a little easier to play than my standard. The guitar has some minor cosmetic flaws, ie, pick guard screw seems to be at an angle, but nothing you can notice. Overall I'm very pleased.

This is a working mans guitar and seems to be built like it. However, replace the tuners, they are seriously cheap. I always gig with another SG but not for back up, just a different tone. You can depend on this guitar, there's not a lot of features to go wrong with it. I give it a 8 because of the turners.

N/A

I've been playing for about 15 years. I'm a big SG fan. MY other main guitar is a 96' SG Standar with Seth Lovers installed. I have owned a Les Paul Studio, 3 American strats, SRV Strat, 72 Tele Thinline reissue, and I can always come back to the SG. As far as playability, tone, and comfort, the SG for me can't be beat. I have a JTM45, Fender Blues Deluxe(really good amp), and a Fender Blues JR. To tell you the truth I have no Idea why I bought this guitar. I saw Angus Young on the cover of a guitar Mag with what looks like a pre 65' Junior(yes a Junior), I did a little research and thought I'd try one out. The thought of having another SG with a little different tone was what I was looking for and this is it. I love this guitar and find myself picking it up more often than my Standard. I love the tone, shape, weight(lighter than the standard), and looks of this beast. If were stolen I would diffently but another asap. Great price and great guitar.

This is a current production model SG Junior. It was manufactured in late '99 but is "officially" a 2000 model per the Gibson catalog. This guitar is as basic as it gets. Traditional SG body style, one P-90 at the bridge position, one tone pot, one volume pot, wrap around compensated brige, 22 frets, vintage tuners, strings, Rosewood fretboard, set neck, and a place to plug the cord.
The finish is a transparent stain called Wine Red. I think it looks more like the recently changed Heritage Cherry than Wine.
The guitar comes with a bag, but I opted for a Gibson hard shell case at an additional cost.
I bought this guitar because of its simplicity. I wanted to find a very simple guitar that could give me a unique tone that I could call my own. True, this guitar is not oooozing with gadgets and wiz bang features. That's what I love about it. It has everything I need it to have.
I suppose some would say it deserves a lower rating for features since it's so basic. But I knew exactly what I was getting and I think its elegant simplicity is what makes it so sweet. I don't want nor do I need any more features.

This category is the SG Junior's "sweet spot". As I said, I wanted to find "my tone" in the most basic guitar I could find. I spent years diddling with different amps, effects, and guitars (I own 18 guitars). I wanted to get back to basics.
When plugged into my Fender Hot Rod Deville 212, the SG Junior delivers very full midrange and bass tones. A very warm sound. I was expecting the P-90 to be a bit brighter since its mounted closer to the bridge than the neck, but bright highs do not seem to be this guitar's forte. I rarely play this guitar overdriven. When I do, I use the Deville's "drive" channel and the P-90 crunches up quite nicely. It's a tad noisy when overdriven but that's what I expected from the single coil of the P-90. No surprises there.
I was surprised at the range of tones I am able to get from this guitar...given the fact that it only has one pick up. Using the guitar's tone control in combo with the amp settings, I am able to make this guitar produce a fairly wide range of tones. This further reinforces my newly found notion that "less is more" when it comes to guitars.

Well, if sound is the Junior's "sweet spot", this category must surely be the Junior's "sour spot".
About the only good thing to say is that my Junior came with a perfect action. This is thanks to the great Guitar Tech where I bought the guitar. I did readjust the P-90 to my tastes but that's not unusual.
Pretty much everything else about this guitar is a quality control disaster. Gibson obviously screwed up when picking the wood for this guitar. It has two HUGE grain flaws in the wood that run perpendicular to the "normal" up and down grain pattern. This guitar should have never received a translucent finish.
There's a major Lacquer crack all the way down one side of the neck joint on this guitar. I've got other SG's with cracks in this area, but none this bad.
The chrome on the wrap around bridge is badly discolored. At first glance, this appears to be tarnish, but closer inspection suggests that it may be a defect in the plating. I plan to contact Gibson regarding this in an attempt to get the bridge replaced.
I had to regulate the nut to lower the D and G strings. There was barely any groove.
Both control knobs were loose enough to fall off when inverted.
Several screws holding some of the tuning machines were not screwed all the way down.
All I can say is this particular SG Junior is lucky it found an owner who appreciates sound over cosmetics. I don't expect any guitar to be absolutely perfect when I buy it, but this one was obviously skipped over when the Quality Control inspector visited the SG line.
In fairness, I have 5 other Gibsons and have been pleased with the Quality. This may have been the "one in a thousand" that got to market without proper QC.....who knows.
I want to be able to rate this guitar higher in this category, but I must call a spade a spade.

Despite its QC and Cosmetic flaws, this guitar should hold up like a tank. There's simply not enough stuff on it to fall apart. It has the later style "beefier" SG neck joint, so there should be no fear of a weak neck. I fixed the control knob looseness and they've stayed tight. The hardware seems tough enough to stand up for the long haul.

I've dealt with Gibson \ Epiphone on several occasions and found them to be extremely helpful and customer oriented. Lately, I've been using the Gibson Customer Relations forum at their website. I've found this to be an excellent way to get help and information. In the vast majority of cases, I'm able to get a response in a matter of hours. On warranty related issues, I've used the site and have had good success. On one occasion, they shipped me replacement parts no questions asked.

I've been playing on and off for 25 years. I own 16 guitars of vaious brands (mostly Gibson and Epiphone). As I said else where in the review, I was searching for the simplest guitar I could find that could deliver smooth warm tone through my Fender Deville. I found just what I needed in the SG Junior. The single P-90 delivers great tone in a package with the bare minimum of features!
Even though this guitar had its share of quality problems (mostly cosmetic), I still love it. I would replace it with another SG Junior if it was stolen or lost. In fact, I'm thinking about getting another one if I start playing out again. This has got to be one of Gibson's finest values going right now in a current production model. I highly recommend it.

This is a brand new 2000 model SG Junior (although it was manufactured late in '99). This SG is about as basic as it gets and that's what makes it so cool! 22 frets, One P-90, One volume control, One tone control, Vintage style deluxe tuners, compensated wrap-around bridge (no tune-o-matic), and a place to plug in the cord. No frills...NONE. This guitar is finished in a translucent "wine red" stain which is very similar to the older, darker, heritage cherry finish. It's the typical SG body style with the later style "beefed up" neck joint.
I suppose some would rate this guitar low in this category since it is not top heavy with wiz bang gadgets and cosmetic flufferies. I bought this guitar, NOT for cosmetics and fluff, but for Its elegant simplicity and great tone. I knew exactly what I was getting and did not go looking for this guitar because I wanted a pile of features. For those like me who WANT a simple no-frills guitar, additional features are useless. For that reason I will not rate the guitar on features. It would not be fair.

The single P-90 in combination with the one tone control and my AMP's controls delivers a surprisingly wide variety of tonal combinations. I use this guitar to play a lot of my own music which is mild alternative rock with a lot of clean tones. I wanted to get "my own" sound out of a very simple guitar with little or no effects and a decent amp. I got what I wanted by plugging the Junior into a Fender Hot Rod Deville 212. When I want to crunch the P-90, I use the "drive" channel of the Deville...NO pedal. Occasionally, I'll use a Boss Chorus and sometimes a Boss Delay, but that's it.
I was initially worried about intonation with the "wrap-around" bridge. However, this SG intonates BETTER than some of my ABR equipped Gibsons. It has a very warm, midrangey sound that can be muddied up quite a bit by its own tone control. I wouldn't exactly say this guitar was bright sounding. That's not it's forte. The single coil P-90 has a the usual single coil hum, though not as bad as some Strats I've heard.
This guitar gives me MY sound in a very simple package. I couldn't be happier.

The action was darn near perfect out of the box. I had to move the P-90 higher on the high strings to get the treble sounds as I wanted them. I also had to regulate the G string groove on the nut to reduce the tendency for that string to go sharp on heavy fretting.
The Wrap-Around Bridge also appears to be tarnished already. Either that, or the plating process was defective. I plan to contact Gibson concerning this quality lapse.
Gibson clearly screwed up selecting the slab of Mahogany for this guitar. The grain pattern had 2 very pronounced flaws in it running perpendicular to the usual "up and down" grain pattern. This guitar should have NEVER been finished in a transparent stain. Awful. Luckily, it ended up in the hands of an owner who values sound over looks.
It also came with a "Lacquer check" crack all the way down one side of the neck joint. Another testament to declining quality control at Gibson??? As the owner of 8 SG's, 3 of which have this type of cracking, I was not too concerned. But Gibson should be aware that MOST customers will not tolerate this kind of workmanship indefinitely.
I suppose if this guitar didn't sound so good I would be less satisfied. I can live with the defects. Other folks would be MUCH less forgiving. Gibson should pay attention to quality!
ONE bright spot in terms of craftsmanship on this guitar was the fretwork. The frets were very well done indeed. Another good point was the finish. The finish is thick, evenly applied, and glossy. Even though it is translucent and allows the hideous grain flaws to show, it was well applied.

As simple as this guitar is, I see no reason why it shouldn't remain virtually bulletproof for years and years. There's just not enough STUFF fastened to this SG to cause problems. Even with the cosmetic defects listed above, this guitar should be a tank.

I've dealt with Gibson\Epiphone on several occasions and have been very impressed with their responsiveness and willingness to help. I've dealt with them mainly through their website customer service forum and have found this to be an extremely effective way of getting results.

Been playing on and off over 25 years. I own a total of 19 Guitars, Mostly Gibsons, One Strat, One Dean, One Schecter, and 5 Epiphones. Despite the abundance of quality control related flaws on this guitar, I LOVE it. The appeal for me is in the simplicity of this plain Jane SG. No frill, just good sound.
I'd really love to be able to rate this guitar a 10, however, the DISMAL quality control that is evident on this guitar forces me to be honest. As I've said above, MOST folks would have walked away from this guitar in utter disgust without even trying to play it. That's a shame...for Gibson's reputation.
As a true blue Gibson fan, I can only hope that they read these testimonies and focus more on quality.

1966 Burgundy Mist metallic SG JR (body refinished,possibly at the gibson factory?The refin seems very old and very well-done,except that they didn't refinish the back of the neck).Basic as can be-single P-90,volume,tone,vibrola,stud bridge/wraparound tailpiece(if you don't use the whammy).Mahogany body/neck with rosewood board.pearl dot inlay,I think there's 22 frets,I don't have it in front of me at the moment.Replaced tuners with Grovers.I give it high marks because,even though it's very basic,it does its thing VERY well.

Ever played a really good P-90 equipped SG? If so,you know. If not,to quote Aspen Pittman,"let's just say your education is not complete".Excels at raw rock,noise and blues.Hell,it'll even do country pretty well for a GIbson.Bright but not too bright,resonant and full.Great for everything from Muddy type stuff to PJ Harvey 'To Bring You My Love'stuff to Season To Risk entropy.As Billy F. Gibbons has said about P-90 equipped Gibsons "listen to that P-90 man,it's just SMOKIN'" which petty much hits the nail right on the head.

Not exactly the slimmest neck ever but not a Louisville Slugger,either,it's just about right for me,great access to upper register too.The very simple bridge allows for use either as a wraparound or with the Vibrola,which unfortunately doesn't stay in tune very well.The intonation is less than perfect,and there's really no way to adjust it,but it's not terrible.Plays like a guitar should,IMHO-won't make yr fingers bleed,but it fights back just a little.Great for slide.

This guitar survived being knocked from its stand onto brick and all that happened was a machine head broke-the wood was fine!Still,I love this instrument dearly and take good care of it so nothing like that happens again.It's sturdy,but I'm sure I could break it if I tried.

Gibson is a 50/50 shot in my opinion.I've dealt with them,and they seem moody to me,and I've gotten a lot of conflicting information from different people there before...but for the most part they were nice enough.

I'm kinda biased toward SG's,Jrs and Specials especially...I would totally replace it,I actually parted with it for almost a year once but luckily I talked Buzzz back out of it (What a guy!,Buzzz if you ever see this I love ya,man!),I played probably 1/10th as much as I did before when I was without it.Get one now!!! (but try not to drive the price up any more so I can afford another one!!)

What is there to say about the Junior? Three on a side tuners, a P-90, a volume pot, a tone pot, and a Vibrola.

Sound? Well, it's about as straightforward as a guitar could be. A bridge P-90 on a plank. That's all you're going to get. But if that's what you want, a straight-ahead ballsy P-90 tone - it's a blast.
What prompted me to do a review is the resonance of this guitar. I don't understand how or why, but this thing doesn't even need to be plugged in. It just rings like an acoustic guitar.

This guitar is a '68, Mahogany finish. I appears to have been refinished a while back. Also, someone had slimmed down the neck a bit, from the baseball bat that you normally find. I have also had it refretted. Hence, I can't speak to the original status, but the neck, body, neck joint, tuners and electronics are holding up nicely.

Solid as a rock. I have heard they are suceptible to the headstock injuries common to old Gibsons.
The Vibrola bars can be found, but the other trem parts are a devil to find (as are the witch-hat knobs), and are usually missing.

n/a

I always wanted one of these, but the giant baseball necks kept me away. (Small hands.) I like the sound of P-90's and the odd trem system. It's a real snappy, zinging, sustaining guitar. Upper fret access is amazing as well.
A player that I am fond of uses an SG just like this one switching back and forth with a Telecaster. The tones sort of hooked me, and I went on a 'couple-year quest for one with a neck I could get around (which also didn't dive neck-first toward the ground when wearing on a strap).
Great guitars. Not that flexible, but a real player, and a great backup. I still have yet to meet it's equal for resonance.

This attractive guitar is believed to be a 1993, it was purchased new in that year. Since then I've never seen one new again. It is ebony with a single P-90 pickup and one volume and one tone control. It is also neck thru body unlike the bolt on necked Epi copy I've seen lately in stores. It is a mahogany body with a mahogany neck and rosewood fingerboard. It also has a stop tailpiece with adjustable bridge and a very uniquely cut pickguard.

This guitar has one sound as forementioned; a bright rock sound which can only be made slightly muddier. It does however pack miles of sustain, and is a great rock guitar. Just take your jazz licks eleswhere.

The SG was perfect from the factory, excellent fit and finish, great action and a Gibson rarity, "the right strings" the standard 10's were fantastic. This gutar didn't even have a smudge of fingerprint on it.

This SG unfortunately took the famed Gibson form of attempted suicide. In a strong wind it blew off of a stand and fell head first. Needless to say, I now have the infamous Gibson crack on the headstock. Amazingly though, it still stays in tune and has great sustain. Other than this misfortune, the guitar has held up quite well in all areas.

A Gibson Lifetime Warranty, never used it.

Overall, a single purpose but very fun guitar. If it were stolen, I don't think I could even find another one. Would I buy it again? Already did....off the guy I sold it to originally when the headstock first cracked!

I have a 64 SG Jr. Cherry red in color with a rosewood (I think) neck. It has a volume knob and a tone knob...that's it. Very light weight but standing up it is headstock heavy...I have to keep lifting the neck up so it won't hit me in the knees. The original bridge had no adjustment for intonation so I replaced it (but kept the original). Don't know what the body is made of... mahogany maybe? Bought used in 73 with no accessories. It has 1 pickup near the bridge. It's black plastic with metal screws or posts sticking out under each string and is held on to the guitar by two small screws.

Blues guy here...and this guitar is a 1 trick pony..rockers only, blues guys need not apply. BUT it was my first guitar and it has a WONDERFUL neck... big, fat, and fast. It sounds great for distorted rock and roll (think "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith) but the clean sound is too trebly for my ears to do blues. It can be noisy through the wrong amp and if you stand in the wrong place it will give you a 60 cycle hummer. Damn, I just wish it didn't play so well...I'd trade it in on someting with some tone. But I'll give it a 10 for the rock sound it does make.

Action: This is without question the best PLAYING guitar I have ever tried. The action is set low, the neck is beef, the strings are light, and it doesn't buzz or fret out. My right hand seems to just fall into the right place to play. MAN I wish my strat played like this. The finish looks cracked but it is such a pretty red not flaking or peeling so I'm leaving it alone and original.

Never a problem with the guitar that wasn't my fault...I dropped it once and broke the headstock just above the nut.

never had occasion to use it...so I don't know

been playing since 72. As far as other guitars go, I also own a 92 Strat plus and a 74 Guild acoustic. I suspect that I could get dramatically better tone simply by moving the pickup up by the neck or maybe adding a neck position single coil to the guitar (what do you think?) It has been a great guitar for rock and roll.

I sold this guitar a while ago, so forgive me if I don't remember everything. It was a 1968, I think 22 frets.It only had a volume and a tone, with a P-90 in the bridge. Mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard. The bridge was wierd, like the bridge of a Tune-O-Matic but a tremolo tailpiece. Not a bigsby though. I can't remember the brand of tuners. The neck definately had some meat to it. A friend of mine called it the "Louisville Slugger" neck. When I got it, it had a cheap cardboard case with it.

This guitar did one sound. You could go loud or quiet, bright or dark, but it was still all the same. It was an great sound though. At the time I played Blues and classic rock. This thing made the perfect early Santana sound.

I can't really say, it was a little beat up when I got it.

Well, it was about 30 years old when I got it, it was all original. The finish had dents in it in a few places, and was a little scratched up, but I'd say it was pretty good for an instrument that was around when the Beatles were still together.

I never needed any repairs. I have no idea about the warranty, but it probably expired before I was born.

This was my first electric guitar. I bought it mostly because it was old, it said Gibson on it, and I could afford it. Since then, I've moved on to bigger and better things. I sold it after I bought my first PRS (Custom 24) because I hadn't touched it in 3 months. I used the cash to go buy a second PRS (Custom 22). I sold it to a friend, and he loves it. It's exactly what he'd been looking for. If I would have ranked this before I tried a PRS, it would gotten a 9, but it really was no competition to a top of the line modern electric.

It is a 91' with one P-90 in the bridge position. It has a set-neck and one volume and one tone knob. It has a tune-o-matic bridge and a nice set of tuners. I believe it to be made out of Mahogany with a rosewood neck. The neck is pretty thin and feels great. It has dot inlays and 22 frets. I got it with a gig bag. It is made in the USA.

I really, really enjoy the guitar and probably will never get rid of it. I have never seen another one just like it and it plays like a dream. It has a very full and tight sound. The guitar has only the one pickup and cannot do many different sounds but has a tone that is really, really lovely. I don't like the tune-o-matic bridge that much and would prefer a wrap around but, what can you do? The P-90 can be noisy at high distortion levels but nothing bad.

The guitar is built extremely srong and feels great. The action is very nice. I tweaked it for along time before I got it just where I wanted it though. The guitar is definatly made well!

This guitar will stand up to almost anything you do to it. I would play this without a back up because the wood sounds great and the guitar resonates extremely wonderfully. I wish I could get more sounds out of it but I would not want another pickup in it because it looks so, cool this way. The starp buttons are tough but I wish they put the neck one on the side of the body instead of behind the neck. It is a very dependable guitar and the finish will last along time.

Gibson is great with any help you may need.

I got a great deal on this guitar and I would definatly buy it again. They aren't very easy to find though. They do however sound like a dream. The neck is very fast and I love the way it can hold notes. I have to many guitars to name and this one definatly has its place in my rig. I still love the versatility of my Strat Plus Deluxe and my Firebird but this guitar has its own sound and can definatly back itself up with it. If you can find one they are a great guitar. Just make sure you give it a chance. I almost got rid of mine one time but would have regretted it. Overall, wonderful guitar.