# NGD - Gibson SG Baritone



## JD27 (Jul 8, 2014)

I had some major baritone GAS going on. My first baritone was a Fender Blacktop Telecaster. While it played decently, the pickups were standard Fender turds and the low E wouldn't intonate properly due to running out of adjustment on the bridge... So I kicked it to the curb after a few months. But it did leave me with an appreciation for the baritone guitar. I had some newly found room on my Sam Ash card and some 4th of July savings, so I knew it was time to buy. Enter the SG Baritone.

First off, the body is larger than a normal SG to match the 27" scale without looking silly. Mahogany body, mahogany neck with 24 frets and a richlite fretboard. The neck is listed as an "oversized SG" profile, feels like a slightly wider 50's neck, similar to my RD necks. I like though, it is very comfortable, I don't like super thin necks. The stock pickups are 496R and 500T pickups with coil taps. They sound good in this guitar, the tone is pretty huge which I was hoping for. It plays great, better than my lower tribute and studio Gibson's did. Got to give it some setup love, but I have high hopes for this one, I think it's a keeper. 

I dig the alpine white, but this one might be just a little too white. So it is getting a black hardware makeover shortly, because like a tuxedo shirt, it's formal but likes to party. New black grover locking tuners, tonepros bridge, black gibson knobs and most importantly, custom white Black Winter pickups... Extra frostbitten and grim.  On to the pictures.


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## BrailleDecibel (Jul 8, 2014)

Wow, those things look great, even with the over-whiteness...if I were to get one of these, some black hardware would definitely be happening. I definitely have a raging case of GAS for one of these now, though! Happy NGD!


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## yingmin (Jul 8, 2014)

I'm not crazy about those guitars cosmetically, but the fact that Gibson put out a baritone guitar, presumably aimed at the contemporary metal players, and made it not just white, but WAY TOO WHITE, feels like they were deliberately ....ing with us, and I can certainly appreciate that.


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## JD27 (Jul 8, 2014)

CJLsky said:


> Wow, those things look great, even with the over-whiteness...if I were to get one of these, some black hardware would definitely be happening. I definitely have a raging case of GAS for one of these now, though! Happy NGD!



Black hardware is definitely in order!



yingmin said:


> I'm not crazy about those guitars cosmetically, but the fact that Gibson put out a baritone guitar, presumably aimed at the contemporary metal players, and made it not just white, but WAY TOO WHITE, feels like they were deliberately ....ing with us, and I can certainly appreciate that.



I think it's going to look much cooler once I swap the hardware. They did have a badass silverburst 28" Explorer a few years ago.

Gibson.com: Gibson Explorer Baritone


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## BetterOffShred (Jul 8, 2014)

I love the 500T. It's always sounded great in my Paul. I put Burstbuckers in my SG though and I really like them, they def do not sound as huge as the 500T though. That's a really nice guitar, and I think the alpine white looks great. Not every day you see a guitar that white.. 

-Brett


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## CrazyDean (Jul 8, 2014)

Damn...that's hot.


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## JD27 (Jul 8, 2014)

BetterOffShred said:


> I love the 500T. It's always sounded great in my Paul. I put Burstbuckers in my SG though and I really like them, they def do not sound as huge as the 500T though. That's a really nice guitar, and I think the alpine white looks great. Not every day you see a guitar that white..
> 
> -Brett



The 500t sounds great in this, but I love Black Winters, they are my favorite high output passives. I really like Burstbucker Pro's, they are my favorite Gibson pickups, my Silverburst RD has a set.


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## Adam Of Angels (Jul 8, 2014)

It's like the SG version of the Buckethead. I love SG's, but I'm not a very big guy, so it hurts to know that this guitar wouldn't work for me... But I love it anyway - good catch, man!


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## MoshJosh (Jul 8, 2014)

dude NOT cool getting all these sweet guitars and leaving the rest of us with nothing! haha HNGD

hows the balance? I can't remember who but another member on here was looking into these and was worried about neck dive.


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## JD27 (Jul 9, 2014)

Adam Of Angels said:


> It's like the SG version of the Buckethead. I love SG's, but I'm not a very big guy, so it hurts to know that this guitar wouldn't work for me... But I love it anyway - good catch, man!



I sold my other SG, but for size comparison here it is next to my Viper.


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## JD27 (Jul 9, 2014)

MoshJosh said:


> dude NOT cool getting all these sweet guitars and leaving the rest of us with nothing! haha HNGD



Ha! Like you didn't just buy two new guitars! 



MoshJosh said:


> hows the balance? I can't remember who but another member on here was looking into these and was worried about neck dive.



It's an SG, it dives. Doesn't bother me though.


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## Scruffy1012 (Jul 9, 2014)

Very nice man, looks beautiful, love the white. HNGD!


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## Grand Moff Tim (Jul 9, 2014)

JD27 said:


> I sold my other SG, but for size comparison here it is next to my Viper.



Seems about in line with the difference between a standard LP and the Buckethead LPs.

Here's mine, for reference:


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## Steinmetzify (Jul 9, 2014)

Dude that thing is sick. I grabbed a baritone a couple weeks ago and have a new appreciation for them. I never even knew this existed. HNGD!


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## Daf57 (Jul 9, 2014)

Whoa - that's so cool! So classy in white, but the black pups and HW will be sick! Congrats!!


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## G-Varbanov (Jul 9, 2014)

Congrats dude! Post some pics after the makeover. Im curious how it will look with black hardware. Im not sure about the pups change thou... the 496 and 500 absolutely scream in my Buckethead LP and are outshouting my entire EMG collection with ease. You seem to be taking away too much out of this guitar and eventually that will kill its charm. But hey... whatever floats your boat. :> Keep the pics/vids coming please! :>


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## JD27 (Jul 9, 2014)

Grand Moff Tim said:


> Seems about in line with the difference between a standard LP and the Buckethead LPs.
> 
> Here's mine, for reference:



I thought there was a white Les Paul Bartione, didn't realize it was a signature model though.


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## JD27 (Jul 9, 2014)

G-Varbanov said:


> Congrats dude! Post some pics after the makeover. Im curious how it will look with black hardware. Im not sure about the pups change thou... the 496 and 500 absolutely scream in my Buckethead LP and are outshouting my entire EMG collection with ease. You seem to be taking away too much out of this guitar and eventually that will kill its charm. But hey... whatever floats your boat. :> Keep the pics/vids coming please! :>



I do like the 496/500 together, but nothing is more charming than a set of white Black Winters. I have Black Winters in 4 guitars now, I have complete faith that they are going to sound awesome in this. I haven't coil tapped them in anything yet, so I am interested to see how that sounds.


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## Shawn (Jul 9, 2014)

Nice score! Very classy.


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## Philligan (Jul 9, 2014)

I really dig that. 

If you ever want to get rid of one of your RDs, let me know.


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## AkiraSpectrum (Jul 9, 2014)

Very cool buy! That white head stock makes me shiver, in a good way  

congrats!


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## Les (Jul 10, 2014)

Very cool glad it came!!! All the Mushok support on my other thread is very tempting, but something about this SG is still hanging with me. And surprised nobody has asked yet, but how does the body balance out?


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## JD27 (Jul 10, 2014)

Les said:


> Very cool glad it came!!! All the Mushok support on my other thread is very tempting, but something about this SG is still hanging with me. And surprised nobody has asked yet, but how does the body balance out?



It has a larger body than a standard SG, so it is little better balanced. It still has some neck dive, but I don't have a problem with it. The Mushok would definitely save you a few dollars, but I have never played one so I don't know how they compare. I'd personally love to have his old MMM1 Ibanez model based on the SZ line, but they are hard to find.


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## jwade (Jul 10, 2014)

Out of curiousity, would you be willing to measure the body and post the dimensions?


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## JD27 (Jul 10, 2014)

jwade said:


> Out of curiousity, would you be willing to measure the body and post the dimensions?



I could grab the basic dimensions when I get a chance. I think I still have an old Epiphone SG I could grab and sit back to back for comparison. This is getting ridiculous, I have to think hard about guitars that I may still have in the house.


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## DrShredder (Jul 10, 2014)

Wow, gorgeous guitar!
Much better than the bucket head les Paul....


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## JD27 (Jul 10, 2014)

Neck joint to bottom is 17". Widest part across bottom is 14". Widest part across upper body is 11.25". Headstock to bottom of body is 41.75".


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## JD27 (Jul 11, 2014)

Black Winters installed, they are glorious. Ordered the wrong tonepros bridge by accident, got the large post which definitely wont work. And MF sent me gold knobs after I clearly ordered black ones.


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## jwade (Jul 12, 2014)

I feel like gold knobs with black everything else would look gorgeous.


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## JD27 (Jul 12, 2014)

Probably look good. I thought about setting it up like a white Les Paul Custom.


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## LLink2411 (Jul 12, 2014)

If that had fingerboard binding and black painted bevels, that would be a wallet killer.


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## JD27 (Jul 12, 2014)

LLink2411 said:


> If that had fingerboard binding and black painted bevels, that would be a wallet killer.



Like 120th Explorer and V, probably be a $2000 model after that.


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## Suho (Jul 14, 2014)

I have admired these SGs for a while- nice to see it show up here. The Buckethead LPs look nice too, but this one takes the cake. Nice Score!


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## JD27 (Jul 14, 2014)

Black Hardware installed.


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## ghost_of_karelia (Jul 14, 2014)

Smart shit, dude. Just outclasses other SGs in my opinion, sweet grab!


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## JD27 (Jul 14, 2014)

Also forgot to mention there are 2 push/pull pots for the coil taps, so each pickup has an individual control.


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