Gibson USA SG Diablo

Hands-On Review: Gibson USA SG Diablo
Sculpted Gold

By Dan Day
Musician’s Friend Staff Writer


My first electric guitar was a Gibson SG. To be precise, it was an SG TV with a white finish, wrapover tailpiece, and a single P-90 pickup. I bought it secondhand for a mere $60. I was thrilled to have a guitar with that famous name on the headstock. No cheap imitation, this was the real deal—I wanted to rock and this was the guitar I needed. I knew that not too many years after it was introduced in 1961, the Gibson SG had established a well-deserved reputation as a solid workhorse guitar for no-nonsense raw rock with down-to-earth visuals to match. By the late ’60s Eric Clapton was playing his Fool-painted SG Standard in Cream and Pete Townshend was windmilling and smashing SG Specials with The Who. (For a list of famous SG players, check out the SG Buyer’s Guide.) Compared to its posh uptown socialite cousin the Les Paul, the SG is a street-savvy blue-collar worker. In contrast to the curvaceous carved maple top of the Les Paul, the SG’s all-mahogany body was a functionally flat slab. Its finishes—cherry, walnut, white and natural—were good-looking, but not especially flashy like a sunburst finish. The SGs only stylistic claim to fame was its dual-cutaway devil horns that were pointed and beveled in contrast to the gently curved single cutaway found on the Les Paul. But hard rockers didn’t care, the SG was lighter and less costly than a Les Paul, the double cutaway allowed easy access to the upper frets, and the all-mahogany body produced a powerfully warm sound.
The devil is in the details
Gold-plated parts:
Not gold:
Tune-O-Matic bridge
Stop tailpiece
Tuners
Strap buttons
Pickup covers
Truss rod cover
Screws for pickup rings, back plate, truss rod cover
Pickup selector switch ring
Input jack Fretboard
Frets
Nut
Inlays
Creme binding
Creme pickup rings
Strings
Back plate


Over the last five decades, the SG has pretty much stayed its simple stylistic course, with Gibson occasionally releasing an SG model that showed some visual flair such as the SG Supreme with a flamed maple top and striking finishes like fireburst. With the SG Diablo, Gibson has struck gold. The initials SG originally stood for “solid guitar” but with its headstock-to-strap-button gold treatment, those letters could stand for Shiny Gold. Until now, going for the gold in an SG led you to the All Antique Gold SG Custom. It has a goldtop finish and gold hardware with contrasting black pickup rings, headstock, truss rod cover, pickup selector ring, and top hat knobs. But the Diablo takes gold appointments to a whole new level that would make Goldfinger himself green with envy.

If you’re totally into the gold theme you can take it even further by installing some gold-colored strings, a gold nut, and frets. However, making the fretboard gold may be a bit much. As the Mad Hatter advised in Alice in Wonderland, “Let’s don’t be silly.”
Lots of curves, you bet

Just so we don’t get too distracted by the Diablo’s flashy gold exterior, let’s not overlook a huge stylistic innovation brought on by the SG Diablo: the carved top that gracefully rises to form a plateau for the pickups, bridge/tailpiece, and controls. Even the back of the body has dimples for additional visual flair. With its flowing, curvaceous 3-D body, the “SG” might also stand for Sculpted Glory.

Another significant touch is how the controls have been streamlined. Separate tone and volume knobs have been replaced by a master tone and volume control with the pickup selector switch in the middle. All three controls have been moved closer to the bridge, with the volume knob’s location making it easier to do volume swells with your pinky finger.
Midas touch

It seemed appropriate to test drive the SG Diablo by jamming on “Gold and Silver” by Quicksilver Messenger Service. Quicksilver was a San Francisco group that featured the dual SG attack of Gary Duncan, the co-composer of “Gold and Silver,” and John Cipollina. While my jamming buddy played the jazzy 6/4 time Dm to G chord changes on his SG Standard I played the “Take-Five”-inspired main theme on the SG Diablo. The ’50s rounded neck profile gave me the proper heft and support for strenuous string bending while the two extra frets allowed the extra upper end notes to provide a thrilling climax. The BurstBucker Pro humbuckers with Alnico II magnets and unmatched bobbin windings reproduce the classic “Patent-Applied-For” sound. The BurstBuckers and the all-mahogany body combined to produce treble notes that had a little extra top end and bite, the low end notes were chunky, and the midrange was nice and punchy—all-in-all a good balance of clarity and grime. Despite its flashy exterior, the SG Diablo delivers the down and dirty tones that have made the SG the rocker’s choice for generations.
Features & SpecsSolid mahogany body
Set-in neck joint
Mahogany neck
’50s rounded neck
Rosewood fretboard
24-3/4" scale length
24 frets
1.6875" nut width
12" fretboard radius
Nashville Tune-O-Matic bridge
BurstBucker Pro 2 bridge pickup
BurstBucker Pro 1 neck pickup
1 Volume, 1 Tone, 3-way pickup selector
Top hat knobs
Grover keystone tuners
Nitrocellulose lacquer finish


With the dollar falling, it’s time to invest in gold and order your new Gibson SG Diablo. It comes with the Musician’s Friend Lowest Price/Total Satisfaction Guarantees, making this a no-risk deal.