Humbucker Guitar comparison: Les Paul and Gibson SG.

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If we were to take an example of each humbucker-armed guitar, the LP and the SG, and take them from the same production year, do you think you could do a blind test and, by hearing alone, distinguish one guitar from the other?

Assume that the test conditions are using the same amp and comparing the two models from the same production years.

For example, a 1959 LP vs the "SG version" of the SG from the early 1960s; a 1970 LP and a 1970 SG; and more recent years.

Do you suppose you could by hearing alone tell the difference between a LP and an SG?

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Are you talking about playing it through a completely clean channel? If so, probably.

I think I can hear the difference in pickups more than the guitar itself. If the LP had PAFs and the SG had more modern pickups, I'm pretty sure I could tell the difference. If they were both PAFs it would be harder. Maybe the LP sustains longer.

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The test conditions use guitars from the very same year, except for those years in which the LP was either not manufactured OR was manufactured with the SG body style (1961-1963).

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Yeah I get that. I was just saying that if the pickups were the same, I'd probably have a hard time telling the difference. If the pickups were different then I could probably tell them apart.

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Do you think you could, using a Marshall stack with volume up enough for tube distortion, ace a sound comparison test, LP vs SG for, say, ten comparisons using guitars from similar years? Say, 1979 LP vs 1979 SG?

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It's not about the guitar really as how much it is about the type of pickups. A 2010-2012 SG was loaded with Classic 57's (I think) and a Les Paul Standard was loaded with Burstbuckers. Through a clean amp, I could tell you right away which one was which. Both guitars are made of mahogany, both use rosewood fretboards, both have the same bridge, same scale, same fret wire, same tone pots, etc. If the pickups are different you would notice this difference.

I think this is an interesting subject though. An even more detailed question would be would someone be able to tell the difference between two guitars of the exact same model and time period. Let's say you got to the music store and pull two Gibson Les Paul Studio Pro's off the wall. They are both 2015 models and have 490R and 498T pickups. Identical guitars and they even weigh within an ounce or two of each other. If you were given the opportunity to sit down with both guitars for about 30 mins and play through a deluxe reverb, do you think you'd be able to tell which is which through a playback recording of each? I don't think I would be able to honestly unless one had a really distinct character.

I played an SG Standard Cherry at Guitar Center in Lafayette a few weeks ago and that thing was absolutely screaming. SOOOOO many harmonics and just a beautiful midrange grind. There was an ebony SG right next to it that had nowhere near the amount of character. Now, the strings could have been newer on the cherry one, but if I wouldn't have had my senses, I would have bought that one on the spot.

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Through a clean amp, I could tell you right away which one was which.

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Most rock music is played with the tube amp driven to clipping on the oscilloscope. Do you think you can tell the difference? How about in a band setting with bass and drums?

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Most rock music is played with the tube amp driven to clipping on the oscilloscope. Do you think you can tell the difference? How about in a band setting with bass and drums?

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With myself playing, I prlly could through an overdriven amp because I know exactly what I would be looking for and that's harmonic content. Let me clarify, through my amp I would be able to. I have a Victory Red Dwarf through an Avatar cab with Eminence Governer speakers and I know exactly what my setup sounds like. I would know right away a different guitar through it. With the rest of the band mixed in, probably not while standing in the room. MAYBE on a recording, but I doubt it.

I'm focused on the question of whether the ear can tell the difference between a LP and an SG.

I agree with everything ya'll say AND I did not know that Tom Scholtz used broken equipment to get the "Boston sound".

I DO know that in the late 1950s some guitarists would use a razor blade to cut their amp speaker's paper cone to get distortion. Stories like this are why I'm fascinated by this stuff.

Tell the difference between LP and SG? No one's mentioning that thick maple cap that's present in the LP. It adds some high end (the maple itself) and some low/boom (the increased mass). A/B a SG and a LP with identical pickups back and forth acoustically or clean through a small amp in a small room and the SG is typically midrange-focused and not as tonally complex as the LP.

Notice I said A/B (you playing) unplugged or in a controlled and clean amplified environment.

Tell the difference by ear between LP and SG in a rock band trio with a Marshall? I'd say no. LOL

Ace, I don't know how much guitar players in 1961 really rebelled against the LP's body style change. The LP was a poor seller by 1960 and that's one reason why they changed the body style. There was no LP in production at all for the years 1964, 65, 66 and 1967. They started making LPs again for 1968 with the "classic" body style. I suppose that by then Peter Green and Eric Clapton's work with the 59 and 60 LPs caused the demand.

But, as I said, I've never read anything indicating that there was an immediate outcry for the classic Les Paul as soon as the 1961 SB/LP hit the stores. Les Paul himself didn't like the SG body style so that's why it was discontinued. Mr. Paul didn't like the way it looked, I don't think he said anything about objecting to the different sound, because the pups were the same: either Patent Applied For or the very first Humbuckers with an actual Patent number. I could be wrong, though, because not much of this is precisely documented history.

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The LP was a poor seller by 1960

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True, but part of that was cost.

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I suppose that by then Peter Green and Eric Clapton's work with the 59 and 60 LPs caused the demand.

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Yeah, the '59 eventually earned the name "Holy Grail" and Page's "No. 1" is the reference model for such lofty title.

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But, as I said, I've never read anything indicating that there was an immediate outcry for the classic Les Paul as soon as the 1961 SB/LP hit the stores.

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I didn't mean to imply it was immediate. From a business standpoint, the suits at Gibson were correct -the SG became (remains) the company's best selling product.

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Les Paul himself didn't like the SG body style so that's why it was discontinued.

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Mainly he asked his name be taken off it. This was the beginning of the end for the "SG posing as a Les Paul" façade. They ultimately complied by 1964.

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I don't think he said anything about objecting to the different sound

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By contract, he was photographed with it. I don't think he ever cared for it because it felt cheap and looked cheaper (to him) - he was already old as hell, then. He helped them design the original and felt slighted, I think.

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because the pups were the same: either Patent Applied For or the very first Humbuckers with an actual Patent number.

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As this thread confirms, there are - at most, subtle differences in the guitars' tone, but owning more to physical considerations, rather than electronic makeup. They are extremely similar sounding guitars and are probably the "most" interchangeable for most purposes, possibly excepting a Strat and a Tele with identical pickups (and that's right, I just opened that can of worms ).