Gonzales SG

[TIMBO]

Hi guys, Anyone seen these guitars http://www.everythingsg.com/forum/sg-copies/7584-rare-japanese-sg-copy.html

[Ritchie200]

That does look like the Ibanez step routing that was on all their Artist guitars back in the mid to late 70's.  Do you have one of these?  I had an Artist from about 1982 and the humbuckers were REALLY nice sounding.  The guy said they were really crunchy sounding.  I think that describes what I had pretty good!


Jim

[TIMBO]

Can't find much info, Ibanez copies were the guitar to be had around the late 70's early 80's. My first electric was a LP Jr. copy and I probably paid a few hundred for it. From memory it was a good guitar.

Look to buy one this weekend for about $400 with a case.

[Ritchie200]

Timbo,

This is the step routing on the body I was talking about that was used back then.  I think that went away on all their models around 1980.  Take some pics and give us a review after you get it!

Jim


http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GZp5XU7wNGc/TVc9alRe5QI/AAAAAAAAAiE/kR7oj-yKDAU/s1600/b2.jpg

[TIMBO]

Hey Jim, This one is as close to the real deal as you can get, look/shape wise.
The body has two slabs of what looks to be maple about 15mm thick stacked on top of each other (I assume this is to get the wires to the buckers)
Then there is a 3mm veneer on the top and bottom, this looks to be mahogany.
The neck, three pieces side by side, again maple.
Looking down the barrel, the neck is straight and a slight dip at the 12th fret on the bass side.
Gotoh modern tuners have replaced the kluson style.
Vintage style frets are in good condition.
Bolt on neck has a tight joint and shows no stress or movement.
Three pickups with little of the gold plating remaining. Bridge pickup dc measures 13.4 ohms and neck 7.4 ohms and middle I can't measure cause it has been disconnected and the wire is in the pickup cavity.
Cheep toggle switch, works fine.
24mm pots for the volume and tone controls.
Cheap tone caps that measured .043 I replaced with .022.
Nut , not sure the material. The bass side is low and can cause some fret buzz, also the strings bind when tuning and using the tremolo.
The bigsby style tremolo, lost its gold plating (real deal???) has no makers mark visible and works well, but there is a problem with the guitar staying in tune.     No pick guard. There is signs that there was a pick guard that look similar to a LP guard.

A short sound check has it sounding pretty good, so this is a bonus.

Thing to fix :-
I think I need to replace the nut to set the strings a bit higher as well fix the binding problem.
I can't find a replacement tail piece (one that would cover the existing holes or is a fixed Bigsby type) otherwise I will remove the whammy bar and replace the spring with a tube spacer.
The bridge pivots to move with the tremolo, cause this can CREEP back or forward, I can see that this could throw it out of tune. With the tremolo in a fixed position I will replace the bridge with a standard gibson style bridge.
I would like to remove the middle pickup and find a pick guard that will cover the cavity of the pickup.
At this stage the pickups will remain. 
The body has a few chips on the edges but this adds to the GROOVY factor.

[TIMBO]

Hi guys, I have left this one in the hands of a local guitar tech who has given it the nod to have some mods done.
I may have been able to do some of the mods he has suggested, but this involved removing the bridge as the original one pivoted to rock when using the tremolo.
I don't really use the trem so this will be fixed and the new bridge will be a GOTOH similar to any gibsons.
The bone nut is low on the bass side and this will be shimmed to raise the strings.
The frets are vintage style and are a bit worn ( no grooves ) and it was suggested that a refret with mini jumbos but this was quite expensive, so the original will do for now.
New strings and setup and it will be good to go.

The toggle switch is a Cheepie so I will replace it with an L toggle.

I was hard to determine the quality of the humbuckers, I think they were good. 

[Ritchie200]

Too cool!  You got an SG Beauty at a great price.  Please post some clips with all the pups when you get done!

Jim

[TIMBO]

Hi guys, A quick update. The guitar is back from the guitar guy and I'm $400 lighter in the pocket.

He did a good job with the simple mods ( I could have done myself).

The neck was adjusted and is flatter than it was and I now have fret buzzing all the way down the neck.
Although he did worn me that it needed new frets.
I'm not unhappy with what he did,as he also replaced the nut.
I had a bit of a fiddle and raised the bridge, this reduced the buzz and it plays well and stays in tune.
I might adjust the truss rod just to give some relief. Thanks