Gibson SG Junior Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1965), made in Kalamazoo, Michigan, serial # 519368, cherry lacquer finish, mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard, black hard shell case.

The SG Junior has remained a very popular guitar since first appearing in 1961, and with good reason. This one has an ancient and fairly minor "smile crack" headstock repair but remains otherwise original and an excellent player. This super light and handy instrument distills the essence of Gibson's 1960's sculpted solidbody aesthetic down to the minimum, with a single p-90 pickup and seemingly endless neck to play on. While designed as a student instrument SG Juniors have been the choice of many professional players for decades, especially in the hard rock zone.

This dark cherry SG Junior was built in 1965, the last great year of Gibson's classic electric era. It has some transitional elements, notably the then-new large universal control rout on the back of the body with the attendant metal shielding box, a production expedient at the time. Inside the wiring rig has a visible pot date of the 14th week of 1965. The C-profile neck has the slimmer 1 9/16" nut width used consistently from this time until the end of the '60's but the neck itself has a chunkier feel than many, especially as it approaches the body. The neck joint is the older squared-pocket style and the small pickguard, capped knobs and solidly body-mounted pickup are all still '64 spec. Such transitional variations are typical of Gibson, where nothing went to waste!

This guitar features one very hot "dogear" plastic covered P-90 and a mix of nickel and chrome hardware typical of 1965. The "short" Vibrola tailpiece is chrome, but the arm and solid stud-mounted bridge are nickel, although the studs are chrome. The tuners are the original Kluson Deluxe strips commonly used on this model. Soon after this example was built all SG's were modified with a large center body rout covered by an expanded pickguard allowing bodies in stock to be assembled into any SG or Melody Maker model. This final earlier-'60s style Junior is one little screamer of a guitar, and more versatile in operation than many think (Ask Chris Spedding!)

Overall length is 39 3/8 in. (100 cm.), 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 9/16 in. (40 mm.).

This is a nicely original guitar showing some wear and tear and the one common repair but still playing very well. There was a "smile crack" split to the back of the headstock just above the nut; this is very solidly and cleanly repaired with a smooth overspray that was perfectly blended into the original lacquer. There is a fairly deep ding to the treble side of the fingerboard just below the nut, perhaps related to the incident that caused the damage.

Apart from this repair the guitar remains original and unaltered. The cherry finish has some average fade to the top, mostly but still retains a nice strong color. There is light checking and small dings, dents and scrapes overall but no really heavy wear. All hardware is original. The pickguard has shrunken up a bit as is typical and it has lost the lower front tip; there is some scuffing to the face and the plastic pickup cover.

The guitar has been refretted with wire similar to 1965-6 spec but just a bit wider with a fairly flat crown; these show very little wear. This guitar has a better neck angle than many of these and plays great with a bright ringing sound even unplugged; when paired with a lively amp it really comes to life. It lives in a modern HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.