40th is coming up and the wife asked me what I wanted……god knows, I think I might have come to a point in my life when I don’t need anymore crap.

Guitars however will always be drool-worthy in this house even If I can’t justify spending loads on them.

I have always wanted an SG (years of listening to Buffalo Tom and Bill Janovitz rather than the usual AC/DC) but I’ve heard there’s not much point buying the Gibson as the Epiphone is almost as good (and I probably wouldn’t notice the difference)

So it’s the Ephiphone G400 Pro:

Or the Gibson USA 2014 SGM

Can’t go mad and go for a Standard but I’m really struggling for other ideas

Both are good. I’ve got a couple of Gibson models which are great and have played a few Epiphone as well. All good. I’d get an Epiphone and spend the rest of the money on something like a Blackstar 5 watt amp. You can get some great sounds out of that combination.

Purely a snobbery choice IMO. Top end Gibsons, of course , are amazing, but so they should be considering the price.

Epiphones are lovely pieces of kit, and play far better than their reputation. Seadog the Youngest has a second hand Epi SG, no idea what model. We passed it through the hands of our local guitar wrangler, who fixed up the electronics, sorted the frets a bit, and perfected the action/intonation etc. The guitar was £100, work was £80. Plays like a much more expensive instrument!

Guitars.

A bit like bikes really, except no one keeps changing the standards meaning all your existing guitar stuff doesn’t becoming obsolete.

What I mean, is you should go into a decent store, and try several. Try the epi. Then the budget tributes, and then finally a Standard.

You might prefer a cheaper one. Some people I know, often with Fenders especially, prefer the cheaper ones. However, MY SG Standard, which I got new in 88, is gorgeous. And unlike a bike, still useful nearly 30 years later, which has basically worked out at about £20 a year.

If you like the Standard, with its nicely finished headstock including mother of pearl holly, trapezoid inlays, and a nice bound neck, and a decent thick finish, you should treat yourself.

However, do also try others. the SG has a very “flat” and relatively skinny body, without massive contours and can be a little neck heavy. Watch SG players and some of the odd positions they hold it in. the position of the neck might not naturally be comfortable for you for your fretting hand.

Don’t set your heart on it, until you’ve played it. But in my opinion, its a far more versatile instrument than people give it credit for, it’s clearer than a Les Paul tonally, as there’s much less wood to the body. And Les Pauls are bloody heavy.

Personally, I’d buy a Gibson, and go s/h if needed. I think there are some SG’s for sale on TheFretboard at the moment. Are Epiphones Poly or Nitro finish? I much prefer Nitro as it ages nicely, but some of the finishes on the cheaper Gibson’s are a bit nasty. I’d have thought you’d get a nice Gibson for £500 s/h, they are one of the cheaper guitars they make.

What is the inlay at the 12th fret on the 2014 Gibson? That’s probably gonna look horrid and will reduce the resale value. I’d avoid Gibson’s latest ‘improvements’ like the plague.

Agreed with the relatively light body (sg stands for ‘small guitar’ iirc!) they are a strange instrument to hold and play compred to a les paul/335, let alone something bolt on with strings parallel to the body. Definitely try one sat down and stood up for a bit, fwiw the dip in the middle of the body is in a different place in relation to the bridge compared to many electrics so may feel a bit different sat down too!

Also not all epis are/were created equal. There are some fantastic quality ones and some really bad ones out there (my brother once had an epi lp studio and it was bolt on, bendy neck and terrible pickups and hardware compared to similar priced squiers at the time))

Not seen/had a go on the g400 pro, but wilkinson tuners and alnico pickups suggest that it will be much more the real deal in terms of tone and build quality. I Also wonder if the quoted ‘lightweight’ wilkinson tuners will balance it out a bit better versus big chunky grovers. Also coil taps very useful ime, especialy if you can get bridge and neck tapped together in middle position. You could ask your wife to spend the difference between the epi and the gibson on a nice little valve combo.

Telecaster, anything else is frippery!

that said, guitars being wood are each unique, you have to play them, feel them, look at them, stroke them a bit etc. Different strings and set up can really make or break (literally) an instrument. Buying a guitar mail-order is just too much of a gamble for me… I haggled my last tele down by £50 as it has weird grain markings on the fretboard. Now I quite like my “defect” it acts as a kind of weird fret marker!

Love Buffalo Tom! One of my very favourite bands. Deserved to be so much bigger.

Dunno about the guitar debate though sorry. I have an epiphone SG and I like it, but then I am a drummer.

Mate of mine whom is a guitarist by trade has a rather lovely vintage SG (early 60’s IIRC)… but tends to use an Epiphone most of the time, particularly live.

He may have hinted that the Epi is actually the better guitar. Only hinted mind… one of those things you don’t really want to come right out and say when you have a guitar worth that kinda money sitting around!

As said, try a few and decide from there!

I keep almost going and looking at them – wouldn’t mind one with P90s in it.

Also – second the Blackstar comment – I have a 5 Watt “Metal” stack beside me, got it dialled in for some rather fine Led Zep tones at the moment when fed with my particularly unusual and rare *Les Paul 😉

(*Gibson… natch… My gigging guitars were a Gordon Smith and a Hamer though)

Get thee to a store and try some out. Go with whatever is better. Gibson these days can be somewhat hit and miss.

Do you already have a decent amp?

It’s ages since I really did guitars, but Epi quality control was pretty iffy and the electrics were ropey- noisy pots, unreliable switches, etc. I put a full new wiring harness in my brothers’ and the pickups out of my usa sg, and it really was a lovely thing, the woodwork was excellent but the electrics really let it down badly, it was like 2 different guitars. And in the shop I spent an awful lot of time putting new switches in customer guitars, they had a short lifespan- epi had the sort of no fuss warranty that always implies they know stuff is going to need replaced… They were always wired correctly at least and almost always functioning out of the box, which is a step up from budget brands. Exactly like a well made but inexpensive bike, with a quality frame and cheap bits bolted to it.

That SGM seems to be the same body and neck as my US SG Special was, but with a bunch of changes. If so then it’s bloody good value! I loved everything about mine apart from the balance, traded it eventually for my korean tele and a bag of money but it was ace.

Worth twice as much as the standard epi? Probably, imo, the body and neck weren’t honestly massively better but the general quality of everything else was far higher. And lets be honest, guitar choosing is partly emotional so for a big birthday, a Gibson scores higher doesn’t it?

I put duncans in mine, but I was really happy with it exactly as it came out of the box. Same not really true of the Epi, it needed a little help to shine and tbh once upgraded the price gap was small.

But the trouble with guitars is, they do vary- a really good epi could be better than a meh gibson. I’ve often bought guitars mail order and winged it or sold them on but then that’s what I do, if you want it to be The One then honestly, you’ve got to meet it first, it’s like wives.

You’ve wanted an SG for years but have you played one? Like a previous poster has said they can be neck heavy. As its a significant birthday I’d break the piggy bank and get a proper Gibson but get down to a shop and play both then buy the one that plays and sounds best. I’d also give a Gibson Les Paul and Epiphone Les Paul a play as well as a Gibson or Epiphone 339 as I reckon both are much better guitars than the SG. I’d much prefer a used Les Paul to a new SG.