Gibson SG Supra - TBK

In a world where the Les Paul players usually get to gloat over custom appointments and figured woods, the SG Supra launches double-cutaway players into the gorgeously flamed stratosphere, with a beautifully attired, custom-equipped SG that is ready to take on all comers. New from Gibson USA, the SG Supra pairs an amazing Grade-AAA figured maple top and Grade-AA figured maple back beneath your choice of Antique Natural or Trans Black finish in high-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer, along with elegant mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays and a multi-bound headstock for showpiece looks. And to make it just as hot a performer as it is a looker, the SG Supra is loaded with three of Gibson USA’s most popular humbucking pickups, plus a piezo-loaded Fishman™ Power Bridge® for authentic acoustic-like tones. To top it all off, unbridled playability is ensured by a sublimely comfortable yet fast neck profile, and a 24-fret fingerboard. All together, it’s both one of the finest looking and most versatile performing SGs to come down the pike since the iconic double-cutaway design hit the scene more than 50 years ago, ready to rule the stage and studio no matter what kind of music you play.

A template of solid Grade-AAA and Grade-AA maple, top and back respectively, not only makes the SG Supra a stunner to look at, but adds a new tonal brew to the tradition, yielding clear highs, piano-like lows, and superb sustain. The glued-in neck is made from solid mahogany and carved to a rounded profile that measures .818” deep at the 1st fret and .963” at the 12th, with a 1 11/16”-wide nut cut on the PLEK from sustain-enhancing Corian™. An elegant looking and superbly hard-wearing Richlite™ fingerboard is loaded with 24 medium-jumbo frets, with easy reach right up to the top thanks to the SG’s revolutionary asymmetrical double-cutaway body style, and dressed up with white binding and classic split-block inlays. The package is topped with an elegant headstock wrapped in five-ply binding and inlaid with a mother-of-pearl Gibson logo and an abalone globe with commemorative “Supra” in mother-of-pearl ribbon. In short, the visual statement is nothing less than spectacular.

The SG Supra takes its firepower from a trio of ’57 Classic humbucking pickups, some of the most popular recreations of vintage PAF humbuckers available today. These great pickups use genuine Alnico II bar magnets and are wound with 42-AWG enamel-coated wire, for the characteristic blend of warmth and creaminess that made original PAFs legendary. But the sonic versatility doesn’t stop here: a Fishman™ Power Bridge® with piezo-pickup saddles accesses authentic acoustic-like tones, made all the more impressive when blended through the secret sauce of the SG Supra’s clever wiring setup. The controls look traditional, but hide a clever “TogPot” around the three-way pickup selector, which let’s you blend in the middle pickup as desired, enabling myriad sonic variations, while a Fishman™-designed piezo volume control with exclusive “smart switch” lurks in the position of the second tone control, and lets you blend in the acoustic tone as desired, and split your output to stereo with piezo and magnetic on separate sides (you will need a special cable that is not included to split the piezo and magnetics), or sum them in mono. To anchor it all down, Gibson USA loads in a traditional stopbar tailpiece, with a set of genuine Grover™ locking tuners. Add it up, and the SG Supra is undoubtedly one of the best-looking and most outrageous-sounding SGs ever created.