Gibson USA is celebrating 2013 as the Year of Les Paul, and is blowing it up big with a new series of decade-dedicated Tribute SGs, each of which honors the artistry and innovation of inventor and guitarist Les Paul by capturing the essence of a great SG guitar from one of four different eras. The SG body style was first released in 1961 as a replacement for the original Les Paul, and the new design remained iconic long after the single-cutaway Les Paul returned to the fold later in the decade. The SG ’60s Tribute captures the look, feel, and tone of the legendary original SG Standards of 1960s. Like the first SG Standards, the SG ’60s Tribute carries a pair of PAF-style humbucking pickups, the most revered pickup ever created, along with the fast and comfortable slim neck profile characteristic of the start of that decade. Gibson’s most acclaimed hardware set ensures smooth playability and offers precise tuning and intonation. And, like all Les Paul and SG 2013 Tribute Series guitars, the Les Paul ’60s Tribute is available upgraded with Min-ETune™ automated “Robot” tuners for a nominal upcharge. The SG ’60s Tribute looks great in your choice of Heritage Cherry, Vintage Sunburst, or Ebony Black finish, all finished with Vintage Gloss nitrocellulose lacquer.
Like the greatest SG Standards ever made, the SG ’60s Tribute starts with a foundation of solid mahogany, a tonewood with a long tradition at Gibson. A solid mahogany body is crafted in the distinctive, thin asymmetrical dual-cutaway style, with iconic pointed “horns” and beveled edges to enhance playing comfort. A solid mahogany neck is glued into the body in Gibson’s time-tested tradition, and carved to a fast, slim ’60s profile that measures .800” at the 1st fret and .875” at the 12th. It is topped with a genuine rosewood fingerboard that carries 24 medium-jumbo frets to maximize this neck’s excellent fret access, and traditional trapezoid inlays. In keeping with the stripped-down ethos of this powerful performer, both body and ’board remain unbound, and there’s no pickguard to obscure the finish. A PLEK-cut nut made from black Corian™ subtly complements the black speed knobs and black pickup rings. The traditional back-angled headstock is silkscreened with gold Gibson and holly logos.
The SG ’60s Tribute takes its firepower from a pair of BurstBucker humbucking pickups—a BurstBucker 1 at the neck and a slightly hotter BurstBucker 2 at the bridge, both are some of the most accurate recreations of vintage PAF humbuckers available today. These great pickups adhere strictly to Seth Lover’s original formula, which includes a genuine Alnico II bar magnet in each pickup and slightly mismatched coils wound with 42-AWG enamel-coated wire for the characteristic edge and bite that has made original PAFs legendary. The traditional wiring complement of an independent volume and tone control per pickup, plus a three-way toggle selector switch, allows a broad range of sonic variations. To anchor it all down, Gibson USA loads in a Tune-o-Matic bridge and Stopbar tailpiece, with a set of genuine Grover™ kidney button tuners, a hardware set that partners up for solid sustain and precision tuning. Put it all together, and the SG ’60s Tribute presents the perfect celebration of Les Paul’s genius and achievement, wrapping it all into a great guitar that brings the look, feel, and sound of the original humbucker-loaded SGs to the hands of players of today.
Each guitar includes a black Gibson gigbag, owner’s manual, and truss-rod wrench, and comes covered by Gibson USA’s Limited Lifetime Warranty and 24/7/365 Customer Service.
