SG types that do not neck dive?

Tall_martin

Is it's sg a likes 

I love my PRS Mira X. No neck dive for me.

Not mine, but there is a similar one on eBay at the moment.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155949742825?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6eggpscVQGW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=a9M6NJdMTVq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

NelsonP

Reverend sensei, yamaha revstar and hagstrom pat smear all in the sg wheelhouse. Not sure if they neck dive but the designs look as though they might have better balance? 

Bigsby

fretmeister said:

relic245 said:

stickyfiddle said:

My SG doesn't dive. You just need to find a good one and use a non-slippy strap. And make sure it doesn't have heavy tuners. 

This....

I had a standard that suffered from neck dive so I bought a wide leather strap and it cured it completely.

I don’t find that comfy. The weight still pulls on the strap in the direction of the dive. I prefer a properly balanced thing in the first place.

If any guitar really has neck dive a strap that grips clothing won't do much to help - it'll simply drag your clothing with it. But if it's just a case of poor balance, enough to cause the neck to gradually creep downwards as you move around, then a grippy strap will make a difference. The trouble is people used the term 'neck dive' for both experiences, and as a result there's a lot of cross talk online about what works or whether neck dive is a problem, or just guitarists being wimps... 

For me neck dive is when you let go of the neck in a standing playing position, and within a second the neck is pointing at the floor and the lower frets are out of reach. The guitarist doesn't need to move (apart from releasing the neck). It really is a dramatic dive... and the SGs that do this tend to have heavy tuners, such as Grovers, especially locking ones. Reducing weight at the headstock is the simple solution, and should result in just having 'neck creep' or even good balance, if you're lucky.

Mike58

This wee Xmas present does not neckdive, it weighs… 5lb.
get a Jnr

JohnS37

Supportact said:

Get one with a bigsby! It will balance it out, and you will be cool. 

Yup.  I had one, Chinese copy but good, with a Bigsby and the weight of the vib cancelled any tendency to neck dive.  I did move it on, but I can’t remember why.

PLOP

I used to play a firebird for a short time until I realised it was unwieldy, far too big, I didn’t like the pickups or feel, and it didn’t actually look cool, and it would also neck dive. I solved the neck dive by using a coiled cable, plugged in then looped through the lower strap. Unfortunately, while it solved the neck dive, it didn’t solve any other problem I had with it! 

Perhaps the SG might be the same? 

Moe_Zambeek

A Gretsch Corvette might be an option?

AK99

Mike58 said:

This wee Xmas present does not neckdive, it weighs… 5lb.
get a Jnr

You'd have to be careful with that - I heard the left handed ones dive upwards ..(or maybe that's just when you play them right handed..)

stickyfiddle

Bigsby said:

fretmeister said:

relic245 said:

stickyfiddle said:

My SG doesn't dive. You just need to find a good one and use a non-slippy strap. And make sure it doesn't have heavy tuners. 

This....

I had a standard that suffered from neck dive so I bought a wide leather strap and it cured it completely.

I don’t find that comfy. The weight still pulls on the strap in the direction of the dive. I prefer a properly balanced thing in the first place.

If any guitar really has neck dive a strap that grips clothing won't do much to help - it'll simply drag your clothing with it. But if it's just a case of poor balance, enough to cause the neck to gradually creep downwards as you move around, then a grippy strap will make a difference. The trouble is people used the term 'neck dive' for both experiences, and as a result there's a lot of cross talk online about what works or whether neck dive is a problem, or just guitarists being wimps... 

For me neck dive is when you let go of the neck in a standing playing position, and within a second the neck is pointing at the floor and the lower frets are out of reach. The guitarist doesn't need to move (apart from releasing the neck). It really is a dramatic dive... and the SGs that do this tend to have heavy tuners, such as Grovers, especially locking ones. Reducing weight at the headstock is the simple solution, and should result in just having 'neck creep' or even good balance, if you're lucky.

Yeah this. Mine doesn't naturally dive anyway, but the geometry of the guitar means it's naturally going to settle in that direction a tiny bit if you jump around a bit. 

The non-slippy strap just helps it sit more comfortably if I lean forward or whatever. 

Bigsby

JohnS37 said:

Supportact said:

Get one with a bigsby! It will balance it out, and you will be cool. 

Yup.  I had one, Chinese copy but good, with a Bigsby and the weight of the vib cancelled any tendency to neck dive.  I did move it on, but I can’t remember why.

How bad was the neck dive before you fitted the Bigsby?  I fitted a B3 to the white Standard in the photo below. Didn't change the neck dive at all, not in the slightest. But moving the rear strap button pretty much eliminated it. Removing the Tronical tuner and replacing with lighter weight machine heads would also have worked, but unlike most people I didn't want to do that.  



FWIW, as an experiment, I removed one Grover from an SG once and found it dramatically reduced the neck dive; you only have to make a small change at the headstock to make a big difference, (basic physics). I then bought a set of Ratio tuners that weighed the same as 5 Grovers (the reason for the experiment). A Bigsby doesn't weigh that much, and it's in the wrong place to make a big difference to the balance (between he strap buttons).

Everything related to SGs and neck dive seems to come with a lot of YMMV.

ICBM

Yamaha SG2000.

Doesn't neck dive.




It is true that the body constantly tries to cause a gravitational singularity…

TimmyO

ICBM said:

Yamaha SG2000.

Doesn't neck dive.




It is true that the body constantly tries to cause a gravitational singularity…

Haha - yes I played one once - it played brilliantly but wore a groove in my shoulder and reduced my height in about 5 mins! 

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

Yamaha SG2000.

Doesn't neck dive.

It's a Les Paul though, isn't it?  The "SG" is just a (slightly odd) coincidence of names.

Actually I suppose the SG1000 is a Les Paul, the SG2000's it's own thing due to the neck-through.

roberty

The Reverend Bob Balch is SG-like with its bevelled edges, especially in violin brown. It balances better and just feels better to play than a typical SG. The pickups are properly great as well. The bottom third of the body is essentially hollow, the control cavity is oversized and then the underside of the pickguard is hollowed out from the front. I feel like the reduced mass makes it resonate more like a typical SG. Balch played SGs before moving to Reverend so they were perhaps trying to capture some of the feel of his old SG. Reverend frets are just okay from the factory, I would budget for a level and setup



Also +1 for Yamaha SG. I got a early 80s SG1000 for around the same price as a used SG Standard. It needed a refret, and I found the stock pickups a bit bleh, but it's as good as any Gibson I've played after sorting

Philly_Q

Tall_martin said:

Is it's sg a likes 

I love my PRS Mira X. No neck dive for me.

Not mine, but there is a similar one on eBay at the moment.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155949742825?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=6eggpscVQGW&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=a9M6NJdMTVq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

My Mira X has both neck dive and what I can best describe as "guitar rotate" - as the headstock heads floorwards, the neck sort of pulls around like it's trying to hide behind me, and the bridge end of the body pulls forward, away from me.  I've experienced similar with Thinline Teles.  The Mira X does weigh about 5 pounds though, and although I like light guitars it's just too light.

Kurtis

Has anyone mentioned a The Paul?

Quite SG like for thickness weight feel etc but normal/lp strap pin arrangement.

Looks quite different mind. 

fastonebaz

No one has mentioned the amazing Feline Gothic SG yet.   

Mike58

AK99 said:

Mike58 said:

This wee Xmas present does not neckdive, it weighs… 5lb.
get a Jnr

You'd have to be careful with that - I heard the left handed ones dive upwards ..(or maybe that's just when you play them right handed..)

Imagine being a lefty SG in the southern hemisphere, near a lay line convergence….. the guitar would be all over the place!!

TimmyO

roberty said:

The Reverend Bob Balch is SG-like with its bevelled edges, especially in violin brown. It balances better and just feels better to play than a typical SG. The pickups are properly great as well. The bottom third of the body is essentially hollow, the control cavity is oversized and then the underside of the pickguard is hollowed out from the front. I feel like the reduced mass makes it resonate more like a typical SG. Balch played SGs before moving to Reverend so they were perhaps trying to capture some of the feel of his old SG. Reverend frets are just okay from the factory, I would budget for a level and setup



Also +1 for Yamaha SG. I got an early 80s SG1000 for around the same price as a used SG Standard. It needed a refret, and I found the stock pickups a bit bleh, but it's as good as any Gibson I've played after sorting

When people go that close to the look
of something classic imo it can only end up looking a bit wrong/knockoff.

The Mira (again imo) just about gets away with being different enough to not look like it’s just trying to avoid complaints but with something of the same vibe. 

roberty

TimmyO said:

When people go that close to the look
of something classic imo it can only end up looking a bit wrong/knockoff.

The Mira (again imo) just about gets away with being different enough to not look like it’s just trying to avoid complaints but with something of the same vibe. 

Other views are possible. The classic designs are nice but I'm not so much bothered by boomer cosplay these days