Gordon Smith SG

Made in England 2008, 22 frets, volume control with coil tap, tone control with bypass, one Gordon-Smith humbucker at bridge, medium mahogany neck, Brazilian Cedar SG-style body, black satin finish, GSG intonable bridge, tuners possibly Van Gent, 24 3/4" scale.

It sounds a bit brighter than a typical Gibson SG, but not too thin, and is a good match soundwise for my maple-necked 1984 SG Special. The pickup is alnico with a 9.4K output, good for a medium-gain rock sound through my 1978 Marshall. The coil tap is on the bright side. The tone bypass adds even more treble. I use neither.

The lack attention to detail was disappointing, especially considering the seven-month wait. The nut was cut a bit high and some of the frets were uneven. The fretboard was poorly planed and is higher on the treble side, making the guitar a bit difficult to play. The paint job was a bit rough around the fretboard, and they slapped on an ugly pickguard to hide a rice-grain-sized finish bubble. The bridge is sturdy, though resistant to adjustment even with the strings loosened.

This guitar is a nice hunk of wood with sturdy hardware and decent-sized strap buttons. The finish scratches easily, like all good (thin) ones, but destroying it would require some effort. I always use a backup because strings break.

I've played seriously for over twenty years. I have a one-pickup 1984 Gibson SG that I've been trying to find a companion for since 2006. I've been through an inferior 1984 SG, a 1984 Spirit, and now the G-S. Around the time I received this great-sounding, sloppily constructed guitar with its high freight bill, US Masters introduced the Hornet Performer. It's sort of like an eighties SG Special. I ordered one with a single pickup, and they're promising me high quality. If they come through, the G-S is going away.

I bought this guitar because it was simple; one bridge pickup, one volume knob and one tone knob. Therefore its pretty limited on features, if you wants more features go for the SG2 which has bridge and neck pickups.

The pickup is fairly bright sounding but this is offsetted because it just has the one bridge pickup. They do point this out several times on the website so you know exactly what you're getting. The guitar sounds absolutely brilliant, much better than my Gibson Les Paul which cost me x3 more. I play in a band which plays very heavy hardcore/crust/doom and from what i've heard so far it will do me just fine.

The action is incredible, I will adjust the action to be more suitable to myself and raise it a little but it feels incredible to play how it is setup. The finish is unbelievable, I haven't found anything wrong with it but it still has the feel of being put together by hand, its strange. It's pretty much one of the best looking guitars i've ever seen, i've got it in the plain wood finish with silver/black hardware. And they even did a little inscription on the back of the headstock for me.

Haven't had it long enough to test the durability but like i've said already the build quality is amazing, my friend has an SG2 and hasn't had any problems with it at all. All the nobs, tuning pegs, strap pegs are solid and I will have no second thoughts about playing this live without a backup.

Gordon Smith are pretty much the friendliest and most helpfull company you ever likely to deal with. I spoke to Dave while it was being built etc and he was always on top of things. The most incredible part was when City Link were being awkward with the delivery times and I would have to wait a few days until I could get it. Dave randomly turned up at 6 O'clock in the evening with the guitar himself?! Risking the Leeds rush hour traffic, I don't really know what more you could ask for. No problems yet but Dave assured me I could contact them in the event of me having any!

All in all I paid ??455 for this guitar and ended up with something I would have gladly paid double for. I don't think my Gibson's going to get played too much anymore!

Emerald green sunburst finsh in matt. (The colour sounds bad but looks beautiful!) Stop tailpiece and H/H 'Bare Knuckle' pick-ups, both coil tapped, which were added at a later date. Body and neck are solid Maple with a rosewood fretboard. Guitar is really light which makes it very comfortable to play for lenghtly periods. It was made in 1998 and has been my trusted friend ever since.

It sounded good to start with but now with better pick-ups, it rocks! The guitar produces a BIG sound. With a simple solid body and stop tailpiece, there is very little electronic stuff to change to the tone. The resonance you get from a chord represents the whole guitar.
It can chug out ferocious hard rock riffs, elegant blues and with the Humbuckers halved, really scooped out funk. Oh, and it is very smooth for any solo work.

Although a lot of love clearly went into building this guitar, the finish was not great to be honest. There are a few imperfections that I have never seen whilst looking at other guitars in shops for example. Such as a little over-cutting with the saw in places, the odd small snag of wood grain. It is nothing major in the slightest and if anything, made it more unique. The electronics have been disappointing. I've had it looked at several times to try and remove 'clicky' noises from selector switch with no success.

I very rarely break strings on this guitar (I would have said 'never' but for the last gig I played!) and once in tune, rarely drifts much. With the exception of the point in the following paragraph, this is a very reliable, fancy free, guitar players guitar that is proving to be very dependable.

The ultra light resin is the real let down. By far the easiest guitar to damage (superficially) that I have ever played. I'm not bothered by 'battle damage' and it looks beautiful still, but I can't help feeling that a thicker resin coat would have been a good idea to prevent chips and dings to the final coat.

Never dealt with Gordon Smith since they were building it and I was phoning them up to get the latest. Very nice chaps to talk to on the phone but that is about it!

I've been playing for 18 years and I use a Marshall DSL50 Head and 4X12 Cab in a hard rock band. (www.myspace.com/drivechain) I've recorded with this guitar (twice) and played countless gigs.
I love it for several reasons. It is unique and it mine!! A one off, and that is rare for a guitar under a grand. It is light weight and so doesn't make your shoulder ache. It is a beautiful thing! But most of all is produces a massive wall of sound that is simply awe inspiring. Every time I switch my amp on a hammer a riff out - I love my guitar!!!!!

Standard Gordon Smith.
I have heard gordon smiths described as the zippos of the guitar world. Its simple and it works. Not to many features to be honest.
I have a single gordon-smith humbucker on mine, with a push/pull pot to change into singles with. I have a really cool looking transparent
finish over the mahogany, wowee it looks sweet. I dont think the amount of features matters that much and so i am not going to give a rating. If the guitar sounds really good at what it does then thats what matters.

I play mainly blues and blues based rock. It sounds amazing. The tone control is crazy.... if you put the tone on full and then turn it down slightly you hear a little click. I think this is something to do with the electronics and bypassing something. But when the tones on full and you have a nice bit of distortion you get a brilliant bluesy tone. Sort of like clapton on the beano album. I dont know if its just my amp but i seem to get over trebled or under toned whenever i try to get a clean sound. There have been times when I have wanted to play some B.B. King and other quite clean stuff and havent been able to get the right sound. But i do use a marshall. If you want to play cleaner blues get an E355, which i plan to get in the future. But at the moment for the money i have heard nothing sound better.

This guitar was set up really well, i have had no problems with it.

This guitar seems really reliable, I am not so sure about the finishing touches though. I have had to replace my volume and tone knobs with beefy metal ones as the plastic ones came off. The finish looks ace... but it is very weak. I had this guitar for just over a year now, i have played it alot, and it shows. Have got quite a few little scrapes and bumps. But i decided to not have a scrathplate and so that was inevitable. I replaced the strap buttons with locking ones, the origionals seemed ok... but its just for peace of mind. All these failures are superficial... it works. I would definatly depend on this guitar and have gigged without a backup. It is as reliable and durable as i want it to be in the areas i want it to be.

This was my first proper guitar. I am never going to sell it, and if anyone takes it they are going down. It does the job and sounds good. It plays really nice and looks really nice. I would definatly buy another...... and maybe i will......

incredible sound. just the thing for ANY style of music.

A Gordon-Smith is really reliable in sound, but the durability could be better. Paint comes off real easy, buttons too I might add...
Nevertheless, I really would use this guitar on stage without a backup! I have 2 other el. guits, but this is my fav