Guitaripedia

Every guitar has a story.

Gibson

SG

SG Special

Townshend smashed them. Iommi stuck a monkey on one. Nobody was ever gentle with an SG Special.

Leeds University, 14 February 1970. The Who are recording a live album, and Pete Townshend is playing a Gibson SG Special with two plain single-coil pickups. He has been through a lot of these. He will go through a lot more.

Introduced
1961
Type
Solidbody electric
Class
Production
Read the story · 3 min

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The short version

  1. 1961

    Coming soon

    Gibson announces that the SG Special “will be available” in cherry red or light cream, at $195.

  2. 1962

    In the catalog

    The price is $210, and white Specials join the cherry ones.

  3. 1967

    “Light My Fire”

    The Doors’ first album, recorded with Robby Krieger on a red Special.

  4. 1968

    Townshend’s supply

    SG Specials become Pete Townshend’s stage guitar, and stay that way into 1971.

  5. 1969

    Two at Woodstock

    Townshend and Carlos Santana both play Specials on the same weekend.

  6. 1970

    The Strat quits

    Tony Iommi’s Stratocaster pickup dies during “Wicked World,” and a Special takes over.

  7. 1973

    Peak year

    Gibson ships 3,534 SG Specials, the most of any year.

  8. 2020

    The Monkey, cloned

    Gibson’s Custom Shop makes 50 copies of Iommi’s guitar, 25 left-handed and 25 right.

Side A

A1

The one in the middle of the price list

Every Gibson lineup has a guitar in the middle. Not the cheap one, not the fancy one. The one a working musician buys because it does the job and doesn’t cost the rent.

In the summer of 1961, Gibson announced that the SG Special “will be available” in cherry red or a light cream, for $195. By the next catalog it was $210. It had the new body, thin and light with two sharp horns, all mahogany, and two P-90 pickups. One P-90 made it a Junior. Swap in two humbuckers and fancier inlays and it was a Standard. The Special sat between them, with a bound fingerboard, plain dots, and a simple wraparound bridge.

Nobody bought one of these to keep in a closet. You bought it to play, and the people who played them were not gentle. They smashed them, rebuilt them, stuck decals on them, and lost them.

Keep that in mind. Most of what follows is people being hard on a guitar.

A2

“It rang, it sang”

A P-90 is a single-coil pickup, which means it hums a bit, and it bites. Pete Townshend didn’t think of that as a flaw. In 1972 he told Guitar Player the SG “rang, it sang,” and that it did it with “plain pickups.”

From late 1968 into 1971, the SG Special was basically the only guitar he took onstage. It was on the Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus that December, at Woodstock, at the Isle of Wight, and at Leeds University in February 1970 for Live at Leeds. It was on the Tommy sessions and “The Seeker.”

He didn’t own one SG Special. He owned a supply. He went through dozens, and a lot of them ended the night in pieces. Ask which smashed body was the one from Woodstock and you’ll get more than one answer.

Townshend didn’t own an SG Special. He owned a supply of them.

A3

A monkey on the body

In 1970, Black Sabbath were recording their first album, and Tony Iommi was playing a white Stratocaster. During “Wicked World,” its bridge pickup quit. The guitar he picked up next was a left-handed SG Special, a ’64 or ’65 depending on who’s reading the details, and it stayed his main guitar through the original band’s classic years.

A Les Paul didn’t suit him. It was too heavy, and after the factory accident that took the tips of two of his fingers, the high frets were hard to reach. The SG’s double cutaway put them right there.

He modified it heavily. Then, in the early ’70s, he added a decal of a monkey playing a violin, which is a funny thing to stick on a guitar that sounds like that. People called it the Monkey, and they still do.

Flip the record · By the numbers

  • $195

    The price Gibson announced in 1961. It was $210 by the next year’s catalog.

  • 30,000+

    SG Specials shipped from 1961 to 1979.

  • 3,534

    Shipped in 1973, the busiest year.

  • 50

    Custom Shop replicas of Iommi’s “Monkey.” The original isn’t going anywhere.

Side B

B1

Woodstock, and a guitar that walked off

At Woodstock, on 16 August 1969, Carlos Santana played a red SG Special with two P-90s. It wasn’t stock either. The vibrato had been moved back, a stop tailpiece added, and the tuners swapped for Grovers. A black Special followed in 1970.

Robby Krieger’s red Special, a ’63 or ’64, might have done the most with the least. By his own account he auditioned for the Doors with it, wrote “Light My Fire” on it, and played it on the band’s first two albums. Then it went missing, for years. Krieger has asked in public for help finding it. Whether it ever came home, nobody’s confirmed.

That’s four of the most famous guitar sounds of their day, and not one of them came from the top of Gibson’s price list.

B2

Behind glass in Times Square

Gibson shipped more than 30,000 SG Specials between 1961 and 1979. The busiest year was 1973, with 3,534. You can still buy a new one today, and it still has two P-90s, a wraparound bridge, and nothing you don’t need.

The Monkey ended up on display at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. In 2020 Gibson’s Custom Shop made 50 copies of it, 25 left-handed and 25 right. Nobody’s going to smash one of those.

It’s a funny ending for a guitar that got picked up because a Strat broke. Put on Live at Leeds, or the first Sabbath record, or “Light My Fire.” None of it sounds like it was made by anybody being careful.

Put this on

You’ve read about it. Now hear it. Here’s what this guitar sounds like, and what to listen for.

  1. The Who · 1970

    Live at Leeds

    Recorded at Leeds University on 14 February 1970, with Townshend on an SG Special. Two P-90s, a lot of volume, and nobody being careful.

    Find it on YouTube

  2. The Doors · 1967

    Light My Fire

    Robby Krieger wrote it on his red SG Special and played the same guitar on the Doors’ first two albums. That’s his own account.

    Find it on YouTube

  3. Black Sabbath · 1970

    Black Sabbath

    The session where the Special took over. Iommi’s Strat lost its bridge pickup during “Wicked World,” and the guitar that became the Monkey stepped in.

    Find it on YouTube

  4. Santana · 1969

    Santana at Woodstock

    A red SG Special with two P-90s, already changed to suit him. Watch his hands, then listen to how much it sings for a mid-priced Gibson.

    Watch it on YouTube

The cast

The people, and the specific guitars, that made the legend.

  • 1970

    Tony Iommi

    “Monkey,” a 1964 or ’65 Special

    Left-handed and heavily modified. Named for the decal he added in the early ’70s, a monkey playing a violin.

  • 1968–1973

    Pete Townshend

    Dozens of Specials

    His stage guitar from late 1968 into 1971, at Woodstock, at Leeds, and at the Isle of Wight. Many of them didn’t survive.

  • 1969

    Carlos Santana

    Red SG Special

    His Woodstock guitar, with the vibrato moved, a stop tailpiece added, and new tuners. A black Special followed in 1970.

  • 1967

    Robby Krieger

    Red SG Special, ’63 or ’64

    He auditioned for the Doors with it, wrote “Light My Fire” on it, and later lost track of it.

Liner notes

Specs, construction, rarity, value, and every source we used.

Pointed SG with P-90s — Iommi, Townshend, and Santana’s Woodstock guitar — not the two-humbucker Standard and not a Les Paul Special slab.

Body
Pointed double-cut SG. Solid mahogany; no maple cap. Unbound body. Single-ply cream fretboard binding.
Neck
Set mahogany. SlimTaper. Unbound headstock.
Fingerboard
Bound Indian rosewood; 22 medium jumbo; acrylic dots; 12.0 in / 304.8 mm radius.
Scale
24.75 in / 628.65 mm
Pickups
Two soapbar P-90s, neck and bridge.
Hardware
Compensated wraparound. Chrome. Vintage Deluxe tuners, white buttons. Black 5-ply pickguard.
Electronics
2 volume, 2 tone; 3-way toggle. Hand-wired Orange Drop capacitors.
Finish
Gloss nitrocellulose. Vintage Cherry (this SKU).
Nut
Graph Tech, 43.05 mm / 1.7 in
Open the full research fileConstruction details, the complete player record, production numbers, dated value estimates, and sources

USA Original Collection, Vintage Cherry, SGSP00VECH1, list $1,599. Ebony (SGSP00EBCH1) is the same SKU family. This table is the USA Special, not a Tribute and not Custom Shop Historic. Gibson Custom 1963 SG Special Reissue VOS Cherry Red (SGSP63VOCHNH1, list $3,599) is Historic — Lightning Bar wraparound, nickel, hide-glue long tenon, Custom soapbar P-90s — not the table. Vintage Kalamazoo differs — Construction.

Construction

Kalamazoo, 1961. Two soapbar P-90s on the pointed, thin SG body. Not the two-humbucker Standard. Not a Les Paul Special: that guitar is a slab (single-cut 1955–mid-1958, then rounded double-cut from late 1958). guitarhq: Special starts 1955 as a single-cut limed-mahogany slab; mid-1958 rounded DC slab; “by 1962” the pointed SG body in cherry or white. GuitarHQ SgSpR 1961 = 1,186 is already the pointed Special column; LpSp 1961 is ?. VGAB: Summer 1961 Gibson Gazette announces the SG Special at $195 in the future tense (“will be available” cherry-red and light cream). 1962 catalog $210. Do not file a late-50s rounded DC Les Paul Special here.

Les Paul leftover vs SG Special name. The pointed body and the SG name do not arrive together on every sibling. VGAB 1962 catalog (specs from May 1961): Custom, Standard, and Junior are still listed as Les Pauls; Special and TV are already SGs (SG-R Special cherry; SGC Special cream). Gazette 1961 already says SG Special. guitarhq / Duchossoir / MusicRadar: “Les Paul Special” comes off the peghead in late 1959 while the body is still the thick rounded slab — that blank-headstock slab stays on gibson-les-paul-special. September 1964 list: the Standard/Custom siblings have the SG name too. Date the guitar; do not pick one official reason Les’s name left.

What a Special is. Bound board, dots, two P-90s, wraptail (stock). One dog-ear = Junior. Two humbuckers + trapezoids = Standard. Three gold humbuckers + ebony blocks = Custom. Mid-1970s catalog Specials with small humbuckers (VGAB 1973 leaflet) are a later chapter, not the P-90 identity of this plate. Late-1960s batwing guard (pickups on the plate) is a production change on Specials as on Standards — Reverb: 1961–66 small-guard first run is the more collected window. Vibrola/Maestro examples exist; Reverb: never advertised in catalogs as the stock Special. White Specials ship 1962–68 (guitarhq SgSpW); dropped 1969 with the SG-TV (VGAB).

Current 2026. USA Original Collection — the table. Not a Tribute: the 2011–12 SG Special ’60s Tribute is discontinued (Reverb). The later SG Tribute (satin, maple neck, uncovered 490R/490T humbuckers) is a Standard-family cost-cut, discontinued on gibson.com, not this guitar. Historic 1963 VOS is Custom Shop, not Nashville USA. Iommi USA signature and the 2020 Custom Shop Monkey replica (50 pieces) are artist SKUs, not the table. Epiphone SG Specials are not this guitar.

Players

Special vs Standard vs Les Paul Special is the whole player story. Pointed SG, typically P-90s = this page. Two-humbucker teardrop/batwing = gibson-sg. Two soapbars on a slab = gibson-les-paul-special. Clapton’s Beano guitar is a Les Paul, not an SG. Do not steal Derek Trucks (Standard ’61 Reissue) onto this plate.

Tony Iommi, “Monkey” — 1964/65 Gibson SG Special (left-handed, heavily modified). Not a Standard. Iommi’s own site: originally identified by Gibson as a 1964/65 Special; nicknamed for a monkey-playing-violin decal added in the early 1970s. Became the main guitar after the bridge pickup on Iommi’s white Stratocaster failed while recording “Wicked World” on Black Sabbath (1970). Used through the original lineup’s classic era. Guitar World (NAMM 2020 / updated 28 October 2022): Gibson Custom Shop replica of the 1964 SG Special (50 pieces, 25 lefty / 25 righty). Original displayed at Hard Rock Cafe, Times Square. 1964 vs 1965: either is acceptable; “1964/65 Special” is the careful form. Guitar Player: Les Paul too heavy / hard to reach upper frets after the injury.

Pete Townshend — Gibson SG Special (multiple, 1968–1973). Not a Standard. Whotabs: exclusive stage guitar from mid/late 1968 to 1971; Woodstock, Live at Leeds (14 February 1970, Leeds University), Isle of Wight, Tommy sessions, “The Seeker,” Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus (December 1968). Townshend in Guitar Player May/June 1972: the SG “rang, it sang,” with “plain pickups” (P-90s). He went through dozens; many smashed. Treat Woodstock as model-level (SG Special), not as one surviving serial — Whotabs notes conflicting auction/Hard Rock claims about which smashed body is “the” Woodstock guitar. He did use a 1961-type SG Standard at least once, 2 May 1969 at Ronnie Scott’s — exception, not the famous live sound. Pete Townshend Signature SG (2000) is a later artist guitar, not a 1960s Special census.

Carlos Santana — red Gibson SG Special, Woodstock, 16 August 1969. Not a Standard. Not a Les Paul Special slab (he also used a TV Special around the first album — that guitar stays on gibson-les-paul-special). Ground Guitar: cherry Special with two P-90s at Woodstock; Maestro moved back, stop bar added, Grovers. Later a black SG Special in 1970. He later owned a 1961 Les Paul/SG Custom (Polaris White) — not the Woodstock guitar. Yamaha SG-type instruments are a later story.

Robby Krieger — red Gibson SG Special, serial 952727 (’63 or ’64). Not a Standard. Krieger’s own public appeal: the guitar used to audition for the Doors, to write “Light My Fire,” and to record the first two Doors albums; missing for years. Recovery not confirmed here.

Rarity

Volume mid-line SG; scarcity is year/guard/finish/headstock, not the name. Factory shipping, not production counts. guitarhq: TV Specials from 1958–65 are included in Les Paul Special totals on that page; guitarhq SgTv 1961–68 lumps Juniors and Specials — do not treat SgTv as a Special-only census.

GuitarHQ SgSpR (red) 1961–69: 1,186 / 959 / 1,017 / 1,704 / 2,099 / 1,841 / 1,517 / 1,269 / 2,378. SgSpW (white) 1962–68: 377 / 374 / 318 / 519 / 29 / 147 / 192. 1961 red 1,186 is the first pointed-body Special year in that table. Peak 1960s year in GH is 1965 (2,099 red + 519 white = 2,618) — VGAB’s 1965 peak matches. Joe’s SG Spec grid starts 1962 (same red/white cells as GH) and continues: 1973 = 3,534 (Joe’s / VGAB peak year); 1978 = 2. VGAB: over 30,000 shipped 1961–1979. Do not collapse Joe’s 1962 start with GH’s 1961 cell. Headstock breaks are common on SGs (Edgewater). Artist lots (Iommi, Townshend smashers, Santana Woodstock) are provenance objects, not a production count.

Value

Informal estimate, 25 August 2026. Not an appraisal.

Asks ≠ solds. Reverb 1961–66 public pages returned no numeric sold medians this pass. Don’t invent them. Iommi / Townshend / Santana lots are a separate provenance market, labeled not-a-comp. Humbucker conversion destroys two-P-90 identity. Don’t use Standard or Les Paul Special slab comps.

New / reissue. USA Original Collection Special $1,599 (gibson.com). Historic 1963 VOS Cherry $3,599 (gibson.com). Ultra Light Aged Classic White Historic $4,899 (Gazette related). Tribute / Faded / ’60s Tribute are used-only, not current list.

Used modern USA. Reverb Price Guide (SG Special 2019–present): $1,013–$1,333 estimated used, based on 622 orders, vs $1,599 new. AxeDB (updated 19 Aug 2026): typically $900–$1,250 FMV; ~29 sales/month. Rounded informal: about $900–$1,350 for common used USA Specials. Do not mix in satin Tribute humbucker sales.

Vintage / collectible. Edgewater 2026 dealer-comp, all-original excellent: Special 1961–65 $5,000–$10,000; 1966–69 $3,000–$6,000. Guide, not solds. VGAB live asks observed this pass from about $4,500 (1969 player) into the mid-teens (clean 1961 small-guard) — asks, not a 2024–26 sold median. Small-guard 1961–66 sits above late-60s batwing in the usual ranking. White and TV are scarcer cells, not a priced histogram here. Celebrity Specials are a different market.

See also

  • gibson-sg — two-humbucker Standard; Fool, Harrison’s Revolver guitar, Angus, and Derek Trucks live there
  • gibson-les-paul-special — two soapbars on a slab; rounded DC late-50s, not this pointed body
  • gibson-sg-custom — three gold humbuckers, white, ebony blocks; Tharpe’s Manchester guitar lives there

Sources

Guitars this one gets compared to, confused with, or descended from.