Having decided to give the guitar another go, I bought one of these in early December. I've always loved the SG shape, and not wanting to spend a huge amount, and having read all the specs and watched the demo's a thousand times, it looked like a great buy. Now don't get me wrong, It's a thing of beauty (to me anyway), sounds great, and I love playing it. But.......(There's always a but). I can't play the thing standing up due to it being neck heavy. It wants to dive down to the floor if I don't consciously hold the neck up.
Is this an SG thing, or just an Epiphone thing. Do the Gibsons do the same? I appreciate the body is a small piece of wood when compared to a Les Paul or similar, so is never going to be as well balanced.
Here's a quote from Epiphone.
The Epiphone G-400 Pro is inspired by the late ‘60s era SG models, and utilises the same dimensions as that Kalamazoo factory legend, making it lightweight, yet incredibly robust. This helps to produce a well-balanced guitar,
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My Explorer was borderline to be fair and moving the strap button has totally cured it, but my G400 would've needed one halfway down the neck.
There are cures you can Google, from lead weights in the electrics cavity or on the strap, helium balloons on the headstock to wearing it Sister Rosetta Tharpe style.
They're good guitars on the whole, but balance is definitely a known issue.
Looks like she has a bit of bother with balance too
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjWr-iz6OjfAhUN1hoKHUIFBQAQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEdPND07fW4&psig=AOvVaw0D5JZWYrD7fH-dzmtlyOxs&ust=1547402150236269
I've had many Gibson SGs (7 maybe?) and none were neck heavy.
I think I've had 3 Epi's, and they all were.
It's not price either; I've had an £80 Harley Benton that had good balance.
I'd guess it's down to the choice of neck wood.
Wide, grippy straps can help. The alternative solution is to introduce a lump of metal between the bridge and the lower bout strap button - right where the Vibrola tailpiece was designed to be.