It’s Tuesday again, and Gibson has just announced the latest member of their limited run Guitar Of The Week series––this week’s instrument being a rather wicked looking customized version of the new SG-3 (first introduced at this year’s Winter NAMM.)
Simply titled the SG-3 Fireburst, the guitar sports many of the same features as the SG-3, including the old-school “chicken head” knob for controlling the guitar’s unique 6-position rotary pickup switch (bridge, bridge/middle, middle, middle/neck, neck, and bridge/neck,) but now customized with what looks to be a handsome Fireburst finish, and yet another trio of blade single-coil pickups.
The SG-3 Fireburst will also feature a mahogany neck (24 3/4“ scale length,) rosewood fretboard with 22 frets, dot inlays, traditional tune-o-matic bridge, stopbar tailpiece, Green Key tuning machines, and chrome hardware.
The guitar is being built in a single run of 400 units, and once it’s sold out, it’s gone.
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #10 :: SG Standard With 3 Single Coil Pickups
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #35 :: ’61 SG In Satin Antique Walnut
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #4 :: Explorer Pro Vintage Sunburst
- A Reader Reviews Gibson’s Guitar Of The Week #21: The SG-3 Fireburst
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #2 :: Les Paul Classic Antique
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #7 :: Les Paul Money Bass
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #36 :: Explorer New Century In Satin Ebony
- Gibson Announces Guitar Of The Week #34 :: Les Paul Standard 50′s Neck
June 12th, 2007 at 6:58 pm
It can also be used as a Guitar Hero controller.
June 12th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Has anyone actually heard what these blades sound like?
Would be curious.
On the subject of SG’s, I got a Classic last month. They stopped making it last year, but I’m sure they will do it again. Full gloss (not like the faded) P 90′s and a bound neck.
Rocks pretty good!
June 12th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
“It can also be used as a Guitar Hero controller.”
Priceless ;)
June 13th, 2007 at 9:10 am
Whoa!
Its a strat man!!
It looked exctly like a strat when i was scrolling
June 13th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
That is the very first Guitar of the Week that I’ve actually wanted. Quite tasteful.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Whoops, I guess I missed the last SG-3, the inlay and finish on which I like even better.
September 9th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I played one of these in Hong Kong, and I fell in love with it. I wouldn’t say it sounded like a strat at all. It’s a return to the Gibson SG-200 from the early 70′s. Somehow Gibson makes the single coils sound huge and heavy. I played through a Marshall combo and it was truly a magical combination. I play through a Budda 18-watter at home, but this guitar requires Marshall. I’ll be buying both when I get home from this deployment.
September 23rd, 2007 at 6:35 am
I just ordered one. I’ll let you folks know how it is when I get it. Also, doesn’t the body look like Swamp Ash? Gibsons description says mahogany body(as do all online retailers), then ash on their slide show. Hmm…
September 28th, 2007 at 10:58 am
So my SG3 arrived yesterday. After giving it a proper workout, I’m very happy with it. I’ll give a quick list of pros and cons and a short review.
Lets start with the Cons:
The pickups look goofy. They are these VERY tall single coils (esp the bridge) that are white on top, but wrapped in black on the sides. You can’t see this in any of the online photos.
The chickenhead pickup selector is nice, however it’s quite hard to tell which pickup you’re on just by looking at it. I’m sure this will get easier over time, but all of the settings are fairly close together.
The only other thing is minor cosmetic issues that are specific to my guitar: a bit of white fuzz or something in the laquer, and the fretboard has a bit of a divet on the 5th fret.
Now, on to the Pros:
This guitar sounds GREAT. There are so many different sounds to dial in on this thing. It’s missing the big humbucker sound that my Les Paul has, but that’s why I got it. There are two settings that sound very strat-like, although a bit toned down. There are also two fairly mellow settings that are good for rhythm and strumming. There is a super treble-y setting, and a fairly creamy sounding setting as well.
It’s light & easy to play. But I guess this is the norm for SGs, however this is my first.
Fit and finish are top notch. Aside from the minor cosmetic blemishe I mentioned, this guitar looks stunning. The ash top has a quilted-type grain to it that is stunning. The tuners are quality, and everything just feels solid. Intonation was pretty good right out of the box, but it needs a setup to lower the strings a bit, although they aren’t sky high. The case is even beautiful.
Now here is the question… If I was going to a gig with just one guitar, would it be this one?
I think so. This guitar is not a one trick pony. I’d use it simply for the variety of sounds I can get. Not to mention it looks stunning too. I’m quite happy with my purchase (I sold a Mexi Tele, 2 snare drums, and recording gear to buy this) and feel the price I paid was more than fair($799).
Here are a couple of photos so you can see the guitar a little better.
http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/7/30/147893/IMG_1041.JPG
http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/7/30/147893/IMG_1046.JPG
Thanks for reading & happy playing.