It looks like Gibson got a little bit tired of the Guitar of the Week program from last year and has changed this to the Guitar of the Month series that has a production run of 1,000 units instead of the 400 from last year’s guitars. The first one is the Gibson SG Diablo a guitar similar to the 1961 SG models but with some modern improvements.
The Gibson SG Diablo features carved mahogany body, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, 24 frets, 24.75″ scale length, Tune-o-matic bridge with stopbar tailpiece, 1 Burstbucker Pro 1 and 1 Burstbucker Pro 2 humbucker pickups, 3-way pickup switch and volume and tone controls. The guitar looks great but maybe the chrome hardware would fit better the overall design.
This guitar is only available in metallic red color, featured in the body and the headstock. The Gibson SG Diablo price is $2,200 and its now available.
I can almost not believe it, but I own this guitar. Ogled it for 18 months on the Gibson website, found a brand new one in a most unexpected outlet, tagged with a ridiculously low price. Took the wife and kids down to look at it. Paid what I suspect is the lowest price on the planet for one, less than used SG Diablos on ebay, or anywhere else. I could have never have afforded the list, or even the prices found around on the internet. My lucky day, and a dream come true. This guitar is so insane, and sounds so mighty and huge and fat. It is unspeakably gorgeous. I bought a ‘The SG’ brand new in 1979, and if you want to talk about the evolution of guitar, this thing is like peering thousands of years into the future. I have played a Wizard neck for the last 18 years, so Gibson necks feel a little narrow and deep in my long, skinny fingered hands, but I have always loved the 24 3/4″ scale. The action is a little higher than I have been used to, so I am going to lower the bridge a bit. My 79 SG is very buttery, but it really needs a fret job, as it has a few fret-out spots along the fretboard. 30 years of bends, it happens. Back to the Diablo: played it through a vox modeling amp, it was godhead. I felt like the king of the world. My wife loves the tones, she says it sounds much fatter and huger than my Ibanez (which frankly is a pretty spectacular guitar, custom built for me 19 years ago). Something that I am really struck by is the balance between the bridge and neck pickups. While there is a shift in tonality and harmonic overtones, the levels are perfectly matched. They really complement one another. The carved body is just stunning, the red/gold (diablo, perfect) color scheme, well… it is not something that I would normally go in for (more of an orange, black, or white person), but it is just so beautiful. It is the first guitar that I have ever been so swayed by its cosmetics before even hearing it. But what a growl! The SG Diablo just oozes rock, even bluesy rock. Some instruments kind of just take you over, dictate what or how you will play. I do not know if subliminally I am just returning to 1979 and my first SG, or if it is just the nature of the beast, but my inclination is to dig in and bend and hold those notes. A beautiful, musical breakup out of these pickups, so warm. I want to say crunchy, but it is so much smoother than that. It is a golden tone. This guitar does not have any single coil type vibe at all. I am not a huge humbucker fan, but this is just so right, it just rocks, the power in your hands when you play this guitar is astonishing, inspiring. Here is the caveat: I would never have thought once about playing this guitar if it were not for the 24 fret neck. It has always driven me out of my mind that SGs did not have 24 frets. For heaven’s sake, they put that little plastic Les Paul plate where they could have had the next two frets on the original models. The voluptuous carved top, the sexy metallic red finish with gold hardware (even the cream binding and pickup frames are all right), the tone for as far as the ear can hear, the 24 frets to take you to the nth level… I am so satisfied and delighted with this guitar. I always regretted not finding a way to buy a 24 fret Les Paul DC back when Gibson made them (not the 22 fret imposter of the same name that they sold recently). I could not let another masterpiece pass me by again. If you can get your hands on a 24 fret, carved top SG of any flavor, do yourself a sweet favor and do it. I am a deliriously satisfied guitarist. I have been jamming it through my vintage Fender Champ at home, was so inspired by it that I had to record a little tune that the Diablo muse brought on. Three tracks of this lovely devil sounding mighty fine. I am too giddy about my Diablo now (I guess I am in the infatuation phase of the relationship). I had best sign off. People, guitar people: This guitar rules. Sonically crushing, aesthetically breathtaking. I love it.