Revitalising a 1979 Gibson "The SG"

[Simon Barden]

I know all about the mental block thing, so I sympathise.

[fender3x]

Dumb question, but what's a barrel jack doing there? Isn't the jack on the front on an SG?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[JimC]

Dumb question, but what's a barrel jack doing there?

AIUI that's one of the oddities of that particular model.

[Simon Barden]

Jack position different, switch position different. No idea why they changed it for this model, but they did. Rather than keep it standard for a budget model, they decided to re-engineer it, which must have added a reasonable cost. The cocaine was really having an effect on the management by this time.

[fender3x]

That is nuts. The econo model uses an interior but more expensive jack.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[TZK321]

IMHO it looks much nicer and cleaner having the jack on the edge of the guitar. Functionally I doubt it makes any difference.

Brief update: I sent the wire harness back to 920D to be fixed. They received it today. I'll probably get it back after the holidays which is fine. I won't be able to install it before January 18th anyway.

Thanks goes to Simon for spotting the mistake in the wiring. I never would've noticed that.

[fender3x]

I think you're right about the aesthetics of the side jacks. It's very clean looking and can be used even when there is a lot of curve like on an SG.

I like them on the front because I always seem to bump them when I am sitting. Especially when using a straight plug.

Functionally there is no Sonic difference, of course. It's more about durability. A decent open jack will last forever. I have one that is over 50 years old and working perfectly. Even high quality barrel jacks like Switchcrafts will eventually break. Particularly if you use different cords with them. I converted the one on my G&L to an LP style side jack after it broke for the second time.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[JimC]

Rather than keep it standard for a budget model, they decided to re-engineer it, which must have added a reasonable cost.

My guess would be that because it was a budget model they wanted to distinguish it from the standard, and that was all there was to it.

[Simon Barden]

Having thought a bit more about the history of the guitar, I suspect that it really simply followed on from "The Paul"



There may have been some savings on that guitar by not having the upper front bout toggle switch with its own cavity and cover. Because the body was quite a lot thinner than a normal LP, the standard jack plate may have been too large to fit in neatly, so the overall smaller barrel jack was used. Standard jack plate size is 33.5mm square, and I'm sure the overall body thickness of the guitars would have been very similar. My 2014 Melody Maker LP has an edge thickness of only 33mm, and has thinner rectangular jackplate as a result. The "The SG" cavity was just a touch too shallow to fit a 25mm deep switched pot in.

Then "The SG" followed on from that.



Once you ditch the carved maple cap and have a flat-top Les Paul, there isn't a lot to differentiate it from an SG apart from the body shape. So you can now use the same body blanks and cavity routing template for both guitars. I'd expect they used exactly the same necks on both guitars, and is probably why the "The SG" has a chunky Les Paul thickness neck, rather than the normal skinnier SG one. So the only real difference between the "The Paul" and "The SG" is the body shape and the edge chamfering.

[fender3x]

Sounds like a good hypothesis.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk