Gibson: SG Standard (4)

Showing you Gibson's inner self, so to speak. This one's my Gibson SG with the pickguard removed. The true worth of good production is the hidden parts. If the manufacturer is serious about QC, the covered parts shouldn't be 2nd rated & with Gibson- plain to see here- it's all good.

Moving on to the control cavity, we see an equal measure of neatness. Perhaps we can be critical about the surface presentation; why didn't Gibson level it, make it smooth to the touch? If the body surface receives stellar treatment, shouldn't those parts be treated equally? You'd see Japanese manufacturers giving more attention to such situations with the higher tier models & this is the reason why, at a certain point in time, the industry looked east to understand the standard. But Gibson did fine here.

Foam support

Direct mount pickups (such as the humbuckers in my Ibanez SV5470) are not spring mounted, in lieu of this, foams are used to prop the pickups up. Replacement pickups which would go into these cavities require such foams which aren't sold in any guitar shops, you have to make do with whatever foamy substitutes you can acquire. The material to be considered shouldn't be too soft, otherwise it won't spring the pickups up.

Neat inside

Ibanez's Prestige range of guitars represent the manufacturer's fine craftsmanship. However, cost cutting sloppiness are left in unseen places where owners have the least access for inspection. We sometimes hope the unseen aspects of our very costly piece of equipment live up to the classy external appearances which isn't always the case.

The SV5470 cavities here are proof of the manufacturer's extension of quality; there is neat application all round & we feel good knowing quality exists beyond the reaches of our general inspection.