Exceptionally Rare SG Special with Factory Bigsby

This 13-inch-wide SG Special weighs just 6.70 lbs and has a nice, fat nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid Honduras mahogany body with highly contoured edges, one-piece mahogany neck, and bound rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo. Closed-back Kluson Deluxe strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Two very hot original Gibson P-90 pickups with outputs of 9.61k and 7.61k. Five-layer (black/white/black/white/black) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch and jack socket, all on lower treble bout. The pots are dated "137 6411" (CTS March 1964). Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with white markings and with metal tops. Factory custom special order aluminum bridge, pre-set compensating saddle on aluminum base with factory 'horseshoe' short bigsby tailpiece. This totally original and very rare factory "special order" guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. There is a small amount of belt-buckle ware on the back of the guitar and some slight fading to the back of the neck. A few small and insignificant marks on the edges. There is a minuscule amount of belt buckle scarring on the back of the guitar, a few very small surface chips on the body edges, the top is slightly faded and has a couple of small marks and indentations, there a tiny amount of edgewear on the headstock, and the back of the neck is very slightly faded and has a few very small and insignificant indentations. The original frets have some playing wear but have plenty of life left in them. Although this guitar is from January 1965, it has that wonderful, fat 1964 neck, and is the only one of this exceptionally rare variant that we have ever seen! This guitar could also be described as an SG Standard with dot inlays and P-90s. Housed in its original Gibson black hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.00).

"The Les Paul Special was introduced in 1955 as an intermediate model between the regular Les Paul guitar and the lower-priced Junior and TV instruments. Like the latter, the Special underwent two successive body redesigns in 1958 and 1961 while the Les Paul affiliation was discontinued in late 1959. The model was then renamed SG Special without any apparent changes in the specifications other than the removal of Les Paul markings. Overall four variants of the Special can be distinguished between 1955 and 1965...The first variant is primarily characterized by its single cutaway thick-body otherwise similar in shape to the contemporary Les Paul Junior and TV. Up to 1958 the single-cutaway Special was listed exclusively with a limed mahogany finish...In mid-1958 a restyled double cutaway Special was first shown but the new variant was not shipped in quantity until 1959...Simultaneously, the Special became available in cherry red in addition to the limed TV finish, whose shading was changed to a more opaque banana-yellow colour...The double cutaway Special was listed as a Les Paul for less than a year, and in the pricelist dated 1st November 1959 the model appeared as the SG Special. All the specifications remained the same save for the removal of Les Paul markings on the headstock and the installation of an enlarged one-piece guard covering the area between the front pickup and the fingerboard...In early 1961 the SG Special was revamped with the ultra thin body design pioneered on the Les Paul Standard, but most of the other specifications remained unchanged. The model was fitted with a restyled 5-ply black pickguard and by the end of the year a new bar bridge featuring pre-set compensating ridges for better intonation became a standard appointment...By 1965 the (short) Gibson Vibrola tailpiece, so far available as an option, became a standard appointment of the Special" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, pp. 211-212).