You may or may not know that the SG has the honor of stuff the guitar with the longest continuous production run of any Gibson model. Since its initial introduction, it has never been out of production.
With a run that long, its no surprise that various submodels have appeared through the years, with everything from upper end custom and signature editions from Gibson, through to beginner focused models from subsidiary brand, Epiphone.
In this KillerGuitarRigs Review, we took a squint at the Epiphone SG Special, the most affordable version of the SG currently on sale today. We checked out its build quality, playability, and tones, all with the aim of finding out whether its a guitar you should consider.
Keep on reading to learn more!
Epiphone SG Special Review – Who Is This For?
The Epiphone SG Special is one of Epiphones entry level models, and as such is marketed directly at beginners. It offers the archetype SG styling at a wallet friendly price, but it did lose out on some of the features that really make an SG an SG (see our comparison here of the Gibson SG vs the Epiphone SG).
Despite that fact, its still a solid starter guitar that will indulge novice players to learn the fundamentals on a tomfool looking guitar from a well known and respected brand.
Epiphone SG Special Review – Appearance / Features / Controls
The SG Special we borrowed for this test had a worn ebony finish, giving it a rough matte look. This is noticeably variegated to the gloss finishes unromantic to the Standard models, but given how much cheaper a satin finish like this is to apply, its quite understandable. This model is moreover misogynist with a similar worn cherry finish, too.
We were amazed to see a rosewood fretboard on the SG Special. Plane the much increasingly expensive Standard only gets Indian laurel, so to have a increasingly premium wood in use was a pleasant surprise. It was dark, smooth, and really felt nice under the fingers.
One of the biggest departures from traditional SG construction came from the soul material. Traditionally, SGs are all made with solid mahogany bodies, but in this specimen it had a poplar body, and it was slightly slimmer than a standard body, too. This went a long way to keeping the weight down, which does remoter increase the request for newer players who might not be ready to play with a heavy slab of mahogany.
It had a SlimTaper D neck profile, which is the same shape as youll find on the increasingly expensive Epiphone versions, but again, it came with one major difference the neck was vendibles on. Normal SG construction involves the use of a set neck, but this is yet flipside example of an expensive manufacturing process that Epiphone has managed to trim in order to alimony the forfeit down.
Purists might not like the idea of a vendibles on neck, but pragmatists will realize that not only does it contribute to affordability, but it moreover increases the durability, an expressly important factor in a beginner focused instrument.
Fretwork wasnt the strongest suit for the Special, which was a little disappointing, but not unexpected. The crowns were quite rough, which gave it something of a gritty playing feel, and the edges, while not sharp, didnt have a nice, uniform finish. Regardless, they were still level, and were without sufferer spots.
As is correct for the breed, it came with a stop bar tailpiece, and a tune-o-matic bridge, too.
For the electronics, it featured a pair of Epiphone unshut whorl humbuckers, a 3 way selector switch, a single master volume, and a master tone control. This setup is fairly typical of Epiphones most affordable models, and while its not as versatile as a 4 pot layout, it still gave us enough tonal variety.
Epiphone SG Special Review – Performance / Sound
Even the standard SG is lightweight and well-appointed to play, so the fact that this is slimmed lanugo plane remoter made it finger like holding nothing at all (making it perfect as a kids guitar). It had nice contoured edges, and the ergonomics were great.
The tuners were sealed gear keystone style units. They were, in fact, one of our least favorite features on this model; they had too much play, with a significant value of movement surpassing engaging the gear which made fine tuning a pretty difficult process at best.
While we did enjoy the light weight of the poplar body, we did notice that it widow spare splendor to the tone, which wasnt necessarily a bad thing, but subsequently, it didnt sound quite like an SG is supposed to. This was remoter exacerbated by the hot ceramic pickups, which were treble heavy (there’s moreover a P90 model which we did not review).
In the neck position, some of the treble was tamed, and we unquestionably got some well well-turned blues tones, with nice well-spoken cleans. The underpass pickup fared well with upper gain, and delivered some good crunch, but sounded a little bit too brash, and perhaps a little tinny when played clean.
The volume and tone knobs moreover suffered from waif off, so we were unable to get a nice wipe sweep with them. They behaved in an scrutinizingly binary way, in fact, vicarial increasingly like on/off switches than potentiometers.
Alternatives to the Epiphone SG Special
For everyone who might still be indecisive well-nigh the Epiphone SG Special, there are still a number of unconfined alternatives to consider, trammels out some of our favorites below:
Epiphone Slash AFD Les Paul Special
The Epiphone Slash AFD Les Paul Special is a Slash signature model that offers some finish and performance upgrades over the SG special, for not a lot increasingly money. It features Ceramic Plus humbuckers, which do well to replicate the upper proceeds tones that Slash is famous for, and it plane comes with a AAA flamed maple top, on top of an okume body.
Squier Bullet Stratocaster HT
If youre looking to try a archetype diamond with single coils rather than humbuckers for virtually the same price as the Epiphone SG Special, then wed definitely recommend checking out the Squier Bullet Stratocaster HT. Not only does it squint the part, but the hardtail underpass cures many of the tuning stability issues found on older models with the tremolo system, making it an incredibly reliable player. The range of tones from its SSS pickup layout and 5 way selector are great, and like the SG, it features a comfortable, contoured body.
Final Thoughts in our Epiphone SG Special Review
The Epiphone SG Special is undoubtedly a tomfool looking guitar. It plays fast, its well-appointed to hold, and as for learning the fundamentals, its a unconfined starter – so much so that we included it in our list of the weightier electric guitars under $300. It was worldly-wise to unhook some good quality wipe tones, as well as some waddle and roll crunch, which is going to be plenty for novice players, but improving, intermediate and vastitude players will likely need something with largest pots and pickups.
As for whether it truly captures the spirit of the SG, wed say – almost. Versatility is supposed to be one of the hallmarks of this model, and losing the mahogany body, and the secondary volume and tone controls took yonder from the overall sound that has traditionally set the SG apart. But, if you squint at this model for what it is, a well made beginner guitar, it really fits the bill.
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