1963 Gibson SG Special Electric Guitar

Appraised on: August 13, 2011

Appraised in: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Appraised by: Richard Johnston

Category: Musical Instruments

Episode Info: Pittsburgh, Hour 3 (#1609)

Originally Aired: February 27, 2012

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Appraisal Video: (1:00)

GUEST: Well, it was my grandfather's. He played in a local band. My father played with him as well. And it eventually got handed down to me about 20 years ago.

APPRAISER: Well, it's a Gibson SG Special, and the serial number on the back of the headstock puts it at 1963. What makes this one so exceptional is that it has survived without any breakage. They have a fatal flaw, which has meant that an awful lot of them haven't survived. If you look at this part of the joint here, there's a big cavity for the pickup.

GUEST: Right.

APPRAISER: And the heel is extremely small. Usually if you tell someone that you have a Gibson SG from the early '60s, the first question is, "Does it have a heel crack?" Yes, they made a tremendous number of them, and it's the SG Special, so it wasn't as expensive as the SG standard. But because so few of them have survived without being broken, it's made them quite valuable. In this condition, the guitar probably has a retail value of $5,000.

GUEST: Very good. Dad was good to me.