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This is a very nice guitar. I have an ‘17 SG Standard to compare it too. I also have an ‘18 SG Standard that I returned to zZounds for this guitar. I’ll tell you why later. The ‘19 SG Tribute is Gibson’s 2019 base model SG. The finish is a satin finish and has a great textured feel to it, very much like earlier model faded finishes. It’s not glossy like my SG Standard. The neck is maple if that matters to anyone. To me the neck feels a little more stiff and study but I don’t abuse my guitars so I don’t think durability is going to be a problem. The maple neck is rounded. It feels like the neck on my ‘17 Traditional in size and shape. It would ne what is considered the ‘50s neck. It’s not huge but definitely bigger than my nice slim ‘17 Standard neck. That’s the main reason I am keeping this ‘19 Tribute. The neck is thick and has a different feel compared to my SG Standard. The guitar is bright acoustically and has a wonderful sustain and resonance for a slab body mahogany guitar. This is my first SG with the full face pick guard. I am constantly changing pickups so that might be a slight hindrance since you have to take the whole thing apart to swap them. Out of the box the guitar tuned up and was intonated very well. I adjusted the action a little lower for my taste. The 490 pickups are actually pretty good through my cranked Marshall Origin 50. Much better than I thought they would sound. I might keep them. The pots are pretty good, no function issues at all. I just don’t like audio taper for volume. The PCB construction had no issues and was silent without crackles or pops. Might swap this out for hand wired Emerson pots and orange drop caps. Maybe not. The guitar really did sound great right out of the box. I made no pickup adjustment yet and they sounded really nice. My only complaint is that the frets are not as nicely dressed as my SG Standard. I guess I should not expect that since the ‘19 is sans neck binding but there were a few frets that had sharp ends. Nothing a fret dressing and setup won’t fix. But my ‘17 Standard didn’t need any such work. The reason I sent back the ‘18 Standard is because it’s exactly like my ‘17 except the color. I wanted a different SG so I sent the ‘18 back for this ‘19. Although I feel it’s a slight step back (price wise they were the same since I got a good deal on the ‘18) I like the neck on the ‘19 better, only because it’s different. The Standards came with nicer picks up (Classic 57 and 61s) and a much thinner neck. Plus a much more glossy finish. They also came with locking tuners. Feature wise the Standards are a step up. But it’s the neck that makes me want to keep the ‘19 because it’s different. If you want a lower cost SG with a traditional thicker neck this is your axe. If you want all the bells and whistles for your SG then the ‘17 and ‘18 Standards are the best value Gibson SGs you can buy. Here’s my ratings: Mostly 4’s because it’s doesn’t have the Standards features obviously. Quality is great but frets need to be dressed. Never had a problem with a Gibson support. The pickups sound great and acoustically the guitar is wonderful. Easy to use but that full face pick guard is a lot of work to remove when changing pickups (even requiring the removal of the bridge). Value is great but older NOS Standards are now the same price. Wow factor is always high when I get a Gibson.

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