The Gibson SGs inception was in 1961 when the guitar was originally designed to bring a new style to the ever popular Les Paul line of guitars. However, without Les Paul’s approval the guitar was renamed the SG in 1963, the SG standing for Solid Guitar. Due to this change the first two years of SG guitars all have the Les Paul logo on either their peg heads or on the area just below the fretboard.
The Gibson SG is a very thin solid body guitar with a double cutaway design. The guitar is designed to be a straight ahead rocker with two humbucking pickups in most incarnations. This design is what makes the guitar ever popular with hard rock and metal guitarists. The controls on the guitar are very simple in nature and not a very far stretch from any guitar with dual humbuckers. The controls are simply 2 tone knobs and 2 volume knobs and a 3-way toggle switch. As would be expected one tone and volume knob correspond with each pickup while the toggle switch goes between neck pickup, bridge pickup, and both.
While this guitar is not the most innovative its unique design and power to scream have made it a very popular guitar among many playing styles. Some guitarists who have used the SG are: