1967 Gibson SG Jr.

Fat & fast neck and a beefy P90 pickup. Rev up this vintage Gibson SG Jr. for a rock & roll salute!

This thing sounds mean, nasty, and raunchy, but dial back the volume control, pick softly and it sounds sweet with an comforting, almost seductive, mid-range sparkle.

This guitar spent its first 50 years as a Gibson Melody Maker, an SG-shaped student model guitar with a fairly tame single coil pickup. The Melody Makers were made by the same craftsmen and women at Gibson’s Michigan factory, using the same wood and machines as the more expensive SGs. The headstock is less fancy that the top-shelf stuff, but I actually prefer it. It’s less top heavy than a regular SG, so the neck never droops.

The standard pickup routs on these guitar are larger than the stock Melody Maker single coil, yet just shy of fitting a standard P90. Wolfe Macleod was up for the task and wound me a P90 with custom bobbins that dropped right in.

Specs: 1967 Gibson Melody Maker in cardinal red. Original single coil replaced with a Wolftone MeanerP90 pickup. A bit hotter than vintage output at about 9k, and Alnico 2 magnets.