Back on the test bench with Gibson. After savoring the Les Paul Special Faded models (single and double cutaway), our interest in this series has led us to the SG model. Will it really be a Gibson with a capital G? Burning to find out, we got hold of one in a Worn Brown finish. The Faded series is especially appealing for its value for money and for offering the chance to own a professional-level American guitar with the quality Gibson has accustomed us to.
When we reviewed the Les Paul Specials back then, we could see at a glance details that, to some extent, justified the price difference compared with their big sisters, the Studio, Standard, etc.: maple top, binding, a glossier finish, fingerboard inlays, pickups... In general, Gibson bases its price differences on the quality of its finishes more than on other factors.

However, what features does the Faded have that the Standard or other higher-end models don't? Let's get right to it and examine the results.

Unboxing
The guitar arrived in its original heavy-duty Gibson cardboard box. While this was gratifying (when its products are worth it, a company should always care about their safety until they reach the consumer), it was less so when I opened the box, because the guitar came in a gig bag. Although it was a heavily padded gig bag, a guitar like this should, in my view, live in a hard case from the moment it leaves the factory.

That said, as with every American Gibson, the gig bag came with a small set of tools for making the relevant adjustments (truss rod, hardware, intonation...), as well as the documentation and the inspection card filled out and signed by the luthier who checked and set up the guitar. Even so, as you'd expect, I had to set the intonation to my liking in order to properly perceive its acoustic properties. You'll never find a brand-new guitar in a store with the intonation set or with a specific pickup height (the company itself wisely assumes the musician will configure it according to his preferences).

Features and finishes
As for the overall look, we have the classic SG structure: 24.75" scale, set neck, electronics based on two humbuckers and four knobs; a very thin satin nitrocellulose finish on the neck and body (which has a multi-ply pickguard), as well as hand-buffed areas on the body matching the points where your arm makes contact while playing. This gives it a rather vintage air, as if the guitar had been played for years.

a) The Worn Brown finish
The finish was precisely what caught my attention most about this guitar, and something I was keen to examine. Although nitrocellulose is an expensive material (and one of the best for guitars), applying a thick finish would obviously result in a very high price (besides the careful labor involved—nitrocellulose is very toxic—and other added types of finish). Our baby has a thin brown finish that, over time, "becomes one with the wood." However, continued use, especially live, will cause that finish to wear at its contact points (waist, arm...). That was my suspicion, which I confirmed after consulting my local luthier.

Indeed, it's a cheaper and less durable finish than on the series' higher-end models, but it will delight fans of the vintage look, since the guitar already has that look out of the box, and it will become more pronounced as it wears.

b) Structure
The body is two-piece mahogany, very light and resonant. The neck is one-piece mahogany, slightly heavier than the body. It's a considerably slim neck, typical of '60s Gibsons. On the headstock you can see the Gibson logo in gold, as well as the truss rod compartment. On the back, you can see that two extra pieces of mahogany were used to shape the classic headstock, and the serial number is stamped along with "Made in U.S.A."

The fingerboard is unbound rosewood with mother-of-pearl dot inlays. While I don't turn my nose up at other materials, I think rosewood is a good choice, since, being a porous wood, it absorbs very well the products we use to maintain the fingerboard, such as lemon oil. This keeps it nourished until the next cleaning, and it offers greater protection against buildup of dirt, dust and sweat than nobler woods (maple, ebony...), although on the other hand its density and strength are lower.

Feel, intonation and hardware

a) Feel
When I strapped the guitar on for the first time, I felt I had a real SG in my hands: lightweight, very solidly built, comfortable and with that typical feeling of holding a vintage instrument (or one that at least aims to be), thanks to its finish.

The neck is smooth and comfortable, and the friction it offers as I move along it is really low. In my view this is a feature worth highlighting, because I dislike playing electrics with overly glossy neck finishes, since they slow you down considerably as soon as you want to "run."

However, given the lack of binding on the fingerboard, I missed some curvature and rounding on the edges of its width, since they're a bit sharp, and depending on how we're used to playing, the palm of our hand may come into contact with that "edge," causing discomfort. Although it may be a trifle, it's worth mentioning, since I tried several of the ways many guitarists usually grip the neck.

b) Intonation
This may be the guitar's Achilles' heel. Although the Kluson Green Key tuners it comes with as standard are really expensive and made of good material, after leaving the guitar resting on its stand for a day, it usually shows up slightly out of tune, failing especially at the tuner for the third string. However, this has happened on more occasions with Gibsons, because of the construction and material of the nut (usually plastic).

c) Hardware
As for the frets, although they're solid and built to last, I think the height of the first frets was a bit neglected when they were installed, which can lead to fret buzz if we lower the string height too much. So, to get them to sit well with the strings, you need to spend some time leveling the frets a bit and patiently set up the intonation.

The bridge is a chrome-finish tune-o-matic. It provides good sustain, and stringing is very easy. It's the typical bridge of this type that Gibson installs on most of its low- and mid-range series.

Speaking of strings, its stock strings are, without a doubt, good-quality Gibson Brite Wires in .010 gauge. They have a steel core with nickel winding. The steel provides great brightness, partly tempered by the nickel, which gives them more warmth.

Electronics
As I mentioned, the guitar has two humbuckers, specifically the 490R (neck) and 490T (bridge). They're two Gibson Alnico II pickups, so I deduced the guitar would sound like rock and roll, with the typical warmth of an Alnico magnet but without excessive gain. These are very "crunchy" pickups, well suited to rock, hard rock and blues. But what about the rest? We have four knobs: two tone and two volume, controlling each pickup respectively. The resistance they offer when turned is rather high, which is a mixed blessing: on the one hand, the controls stay put if we brush against them carelessly, so we don't accidentally turn them and change our settings. On the other hand, if we're guitarists used to changing tonal settings often during a live show, making the desired changes can be awkward.

Finally, I couldn't resist the temptation to "gut" our guest. I removed the back control cover and the pickguard. The pickups had two-conductor wiring, so the only possible connection is in series, with two coils. The wiring was quite tidy, and the inside of the body, although it had the odd splinter here and there, was really clean.

Sound
We've reached the long-awaited section. Will it really sound like an SG? Once it was tuned, I played the guitar unplugged. On the first chord, I felt strong resonance through the body and neck. Putting my ear close to the body, I timed the sustain, and I can say without blinking that it's a guitar with near-infinite sustain. Things look promising.

We plugged into the amp, starting with the clean channel, no reverb. We selected the neck pickup, and the result is a pure sound with sparkle but with the low, fat timbre typical of mahogany. It's the same pickup the SG Standard has in that position, and to my surprise, when comparing them, I noticed a slightly higher treble level in our guest than in the Standard. A luthier who worked with Gibson for many years once told me that certain finishes let the wood "breathe" better than others and also change its acoustic properties. On the Faded, it seems that because of this, high frequencies come through more easily, while on the Standard they're held back and its lows are more pronounced. In my view, this isn't a drawback; it's rather a matter of seeing which type of sound and finish suits us best. Certainly, I didn't find any disadvantage in sound compared with the Standard.

We switched to the distortion channel, added a bit of grit with a RAT, and the result is as expected: thick, blended solos that sound like pure rock and roll, with moderate gain.

In the bridge position you notice strong mids and pronounced highs, which let me get some more than decent harmonics (especially when playing on the distorted channel). A thick, blended sound with intercontinental sustain, very much in the SG tradition.
Mind you, although the gain is somewhat higher than the neck 490, it's still moderate and rock-oriented.

Of course, to each his own, but considering this guitar's rock focus, I think the choice of pickups is spot-on, since the neck pickup, although it's the same model line as the bridge one, has somewhat less gain and low-frequency output, to adjust the acoustic balance. Meanwhile, the bridge pickup, with good highs and strong mids, serves up a perfect cocktail when combined with the lows provided by the wood, resulting in a balanced sound without losing an ounce of the timbre so characteristic of Gibson SGs.

Selecting the middle position activates both humbuckers. I especially liked its sound on the clean channel, and even more so with some reverb added: chiming and "bell-like." Of the three positions, this was my favorite for playing arpeggios.

As for the distorted sound, I tried riffs from different musical camps, and I think the best suited were those typical of modern hard rock, since the sound you get is full and heavy.

Conclusion
In my view, this is an instrument geared toward blues and above all toward rock, rock and roll and their offshoots. Although it may be stating the obvious, I think the best thing about this guitar is its sound and acoustic properties, while intonation and setup are trickier matters, since it "resists" a bit. Of course, once patiently adjusted, it will perform perfectly live. Add to that its light weight (so we won't get tired even after wearing it for hours) and its excellent tone. It's definitely a guitar that will improve with the years, like any instrument from the brand.

With our guest, Gibson has given us an affordable, quality instrument whose finish is shouting: "there's nothing like tradition." SG sound for about a thousand euros. For the shrewd rocker.