barnesjd
New member
So I bought the SG Exclusive I mentioned the other day. Picked it up late Saturday night. She needs some work before she'll be a great guitar, but I'm pretty sure I have a keeper. Like a good Norlin, she's got vintage looks and vibe without being worth so much I can't customize it without guilt.
I got enamored with this one quickly because I had not heard of the SG Exclusive (although I'm now positive I've seen one in Nashville because it had the same finish and trim, but I just didn't realize it was a special run of any sort at the time). The curious can read more about it here (thanks to GOHOINC for the link).
A prior owner had already replaced the neck pickup with something (I completely forgot to open it up and see while I had the strings off
), but the bridge is supposedly the original Dirty Fingers (pic below for any experts who'd like to confirm).
It has PLENTY of fret wear. This is my second Norlin, but first without a refret. I think I've read somewhere that the frets back in that era were a bit skimpy to begin with. The guy I acquired it from had bought it in '84 because his LP was too so heavy for gigging, and he played this one plentifully. Once I recharge my guitar funds and my wife's grace, I'll get my local luthier to match the frets from my goldtop.
Cosmetically it's in fantastic shape. The guy had long ago removed the pickguard (didn't think to ask if he did it, or the previous owner) so this cream one in the picture is a not-so-well-fitting aftermarket. The weird thing is three of the holes were filled in and covered in black. I could still see where the holes were, but there were not any noticeable changes in the finish. Perhaps it to refinished at some point. But... that wouldn't explain why two of the holes were unfilled. Not a big deal, just weird.
One thing interesting about this guitar is the headstock, which I took a close up of below. The Gibson logo isn't like my Les Paul, where it is sorta cut into the headstock veneer. This one looks silvery rather than pearly, and it's raised up out of the surface of the headstock. I took the picture with some light on it to show how it's raised. The same goes for that little whatever-it's-called thing in the middle of the headstock.
I'm not sure what's up with the wiring, also pictured below. The guy had the wiring worked on. It appears that all of the pots were replaced, because I don't see anything I would have expected on them from the Gibson factory. No problem for me in that regard because I love gutting. The tone knob is really weird though. I don't feel like it's rolling off the highs. It's doing something, but I've not played it enough to quite figure out what's going on. Maybe it's 50's wiring or something like that which I've yet had a chance to try.
Over all, I think this will stay in my collection for a long time. It's perfect for the immediate reason I bought it, which is to have a guitar with a slightly heavier bottom string for drop D tuning. It's way too dark right now, though. If I can figure out what kind of pots are in here, I might look into 500k pots or whatever to brighten it up. I'll definitely change the bridge out to a Callaham ABR-1 like I have in the LP which I absolutely love. After that I'll figure out what pickup I'll put in there. Even if it wasn't too dark, the Dirty Fingers bridge is not nearly as hot as I like. I just know I better get the other stuff swapped out before I figure out exactly how much brighter I want the pickup to be.
Anyway, I thought I'd share my find. Cheers!
I got enamored with this one quickly because I had not heard of the SG Exclusive (although I'm now positive I've seen one in Nashville because it had the same finish and trim, but I just didn't realize it was a special run of any sort at the time). The curious can read more about it here (thanks to GOHOINC for the link).
A prior owner had already replaced the neck pickup with something (I completely forgot to open it up and see while I had the strings off
), but the bridge is supposedly the original Dirty Fingers (pic below for any experts who'd like to confirm). It has PLENTY of fret wear. This is my second Norlin, but first without a refret. I think I've read somewhere that the frets back in that era were a bit skimpy to begin with. The guy I acquired it from had bought it in '84 because his LP was too so heavy for gigging, and he played this one plentifully. Once I recharge my guitar funds and my wife's grace, I'll get my local luthier to match the frets from my goldtop.
Cosmetically it's in fantastic shape. The guy had long ago removed the pickguard (didn't think to ask if he did it, or the previous owner) so this cream one in the picture is a not-so-well-fitting aftermarket. The weird thing is three of the holes were filled in and covered in black. I could still see where the holes were, but there were not any noticeable changes in the finish. Perhaps it to refinished at some point. But... that wouldn't explain why two of the holes were unfilled. Not a big deal, just weird.
One thing interesting about this guitar is the headstock, which I took a close up of below. The Gibson logo isn't like my Les Paul, where it is sorta cut into the headstock veneer. This one looks silvery rather than pearly, and it's raised up out of the surface of the headstock. I took the picture with some light on it to show how it's raised. The same goes for that little whatever-it's-called thing in the middle of the headstock.
I'm not sure what's up with the wiring, also pictured below. The guy had the wiring worked on. It appears that all of the pots were replaced, because I don't see anything I would have expected on them from the Gibson factory. No problem for me in that regard because I love gutting. The tone knob is really weird though. I don't feel like it's rolling off the highs. It's doing something, but I've not played it enough to quite figure out what's going on. Maybe it's 50's wiring or something like that which I've yet had a chance to try.
Over all, I think this will stay in my collection for a long time. It's perfect for the immediate reason I bought it, which is to have a guitar with a slightly heavier bottom string for drop D tuning. It's way too dark right now, though. If I can figure out what kind of pots are in here, I might look into 500k pots or whatever to brighten it up. I'll definitely change the bridge out to a Callaham ABR-1 like I have in the LP which I absolutely love. After that I'll figure out what pickup I'll put in there. Even if it wasn't too dark, the Dirty Fingers bridge is not nearly as hot as I like. I just know I better get the other stuff swapped out before I figure out exactly how much brighter I want the pickup to be.
Anyway, I thought I'd share my find. Cheers!
