A Fine and Original 1964 SG Standard

This 13-inch-wide SG Standard weighs just 7.00 lbs and has a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches and a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid Honduras mahogany body, one-piece mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and inlaid pearl trapezoid markers. Inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown headstock inlay. Individual dual-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with double-ring Keystone plastic "Tulip" buttons. Back of headstock stamped with serial number "223789". Two original Gibson patent number humbucker pickups, each with a black label "Patent No 2,737,842" on the underside, with outputs of 7.32k and 6.97k. Original "MR 491" and "MR 490" black pickup rings. Four-layer (black/white/black/white) plastic pickguard. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way selector switch. Potentiomteres stamped "137 6336" (CTS September 1963). Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic retainer bridge with nylon saddles and Gibson "Maestro" Deluxe Vibrola tailpiece. Apart from a minuscule amount of belt buckle scarring on the back, some very minor finish checking and a couple of small and insignificant cigarette burns on the face of the headstock by the "A" tuner, this totally original and completely unfaded example is in near mint condition. It has one of the best and fattest '64 necks that we have ever seen -- absolutely to die for! Housed in the original Gibson deluxe black "faultless" hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.00).

This example is from arguably the best year of the "original style" SG Standards and has the great advantage of the far superior Gibson "Deluxe Vibrola" as opposed to the clumsy and cumbersome "side-to-side" vibrola that is found on the earlier Standards. It also has the stronger neck joint that was introduced in early 1963.

At 7.00 lbs. even, it is also the lightest SG Standard that we have ever seen -- the seven others that we have handled over the past few years ranged from 7.20 to 7.60 lbs.

"Considering all the Les Paul models as a whole, sales declined in 1960 after a peak in 1959...[and] by 1961 Gibson had decided on a complete re-design of the line in an effort to reactivate this faltering model. The company had started a $400,000 expansion of the factory in Kalamazoo during 1960 which more than doubled the size of the plant by the time it was completed in 1961...One of the first series of new models to benefit from the company's newly expanded production facilities was the completely revised line of Les Paul models. Gibson redesigned the Junior, Standard and Custom models, adopting a new, distinctly modern, sculpted double-cutaway design. The 'Les Paul' name was still used at first, but during 1963 Gibson began to call these new models the SG Junior, the SG Standard and the SG Custom...The transition models -- those produced between 1961 and 1963 -- had the new SG design but the old Les Paul names, and these are now known to collectors and players as SG/Les Paul models...SG-style solidbodies have attracted a number of players over the years, including John Cipollina, Eric Clapton, Tony Iommi, Robbie Krieger, Tony McPhee, Pete Townshend, Angus Young and Frank Zappa" (Tony Bacon, Electric Guitars: The Illustrated Encyclopedia, pp. 134-136).