Some of you have been following my son's progress over the past two years and I wanted to share a pretty cool update for Christmas!

My son has caught the VGB (vintage guitar bug) and he has been looking for a 60's SG for a while since I made a bet with him (set dollar amount) regarding his ACT and SAT scores.  Well, he won the bet and ended up in the 98th and 99th percentile for his testing results, which I figure since he won, my bet will more than pay for itself considering college tuition.   We are waiting for the academic scholarship details to three schools right now but it looks like he will likely receive a full academic scholarship!!!

The 60's SG Standards were out of my price range and he already has a 2012 SG Standard, but wanted "vintage".   He has also been wanting a guitar with p90's and had been focusing on the 60's SG Special models since many of those were within my budget.  We have looked at quite a few of them and to be honest, most have been messed with and changed around, refinished, beat to shit, broken, etc...    He found a 1968 Special online but it was in Iowa and we had no way to look at it before buying.  This particular one was being sold through Guitar Center so it had a 3 day money back guarantee so we went for it.   We both had a lot of reservation in the purchase because the thing looked WAY too good to be true.  He was dead set on wanting one in factory original configuration including the finish but most important for him were the electronics and hardware.  With the money back promise for 3 days I figured it was time to make a leap!

He had one exam on Thursday morning and I took the day off to go with him after his test to go inspect it and take it to a local (Central Ohio) luthier that I scheduled an appointment with to have it looked over.  I was certain that we were in for a huge disappointment and was trying to get him ready for that - and I was scrambling on what to do if it turned out to be a turd....    When we got there it was still in the shipping boxes and I think I had a minor anxiety attack when they were unpacking the thing!

It shipped in it's original case (not a factory Gibson case but he thought it was the case that has been with the guitar it's whole life, even had an extra set of old Gibson strings - but they were used....LOL.  I am guessing they were the strings it originally came with?)  As soon as my boy opened the case it was like he saw his first set of nekid bewbies.  He immediately plugged in and started jamming at the store.  The luthier spent over an hour going over the guitar and talking to my son and everything checked out.  The finish is original, although it does not have nearly the about of finish checking that his 68 Mustang has. Serial number checks out, all of the pickups are original, no breaks, appears to have original frets that still have plenty of life in them.  When the guitar guy got done looking everything over, plugging it into an amp and checking all of the electronics, he said "sir, what you have here is an exceptional example of an 60's SG Special!  When we told him what we paid for it he took his glasses of and said that we "stole this guitar"!

The experience that I have had watching my son start to play and being completely consumed with guitars has been a blessing for me to share with my son.  I thank my father for lighting the fire in him that has turned into an inferno, I am just pissed that the ability to play like he and my son do must have skipped a generation....  :-(    My son has not put the thing down since we brought it home and I do have to admit that the P90's do have a really distinct sound to them.  He also said that it is the first guitar that he loves the neck pickup on....it sounds amazing!

I would love to post a picture of his "new" guitar but the hosting site that I used to use is no longer around.  If any of you would like to see it, please let me know how to get a pic on here/where I can upload the picture, etc.

As always, thank you all of the information that you all are willing share on this site and encouraging people to keep pushing forward.  Thank you for listening to the next chapter of my son's journey!

@solodallas  I told him that he still owes you a video of jamming some Angus and now he does not have an excuse!

Timber.

Sounds like a spoiled brat

Well..that is just like your opinion man.  He has been working his ass off at school and playing guitar and in my opinion he earned it.   People get rewarded for hard work.   Merry Christmas and thank your for your valuable input.

You are right I was short and shitty. What I should have said is sometimes making children's dreams come true robs them of being able to say they did that for themselves. First world problems I know. But think about it.

KIller story. In my experience spoiled brats don't make for good students. Keep doing you Dad!!

Damn, I thought you were being Ironic/Funny, but I guess I was overly optimistic.  

OP’s Son is gonna do just fine if he’s getting  98%+ on his SAT/ACT.

Unless of course, he joins a stoner band and spends his College years Rocking Out.

Now, That would be ironic.

But maybe not funny.  

Congrats, OP.  My son’s been wanting an SG too.

And what I should have said is that sometimes showing your children that regardless what adversity they have experienced in life, if they focus and work hard and do what is right, they will prosper.  I am in no way insinuating that my son is not blessed to be in a situation to have a family that is actually involved in his life, loves him and pushed him to work hard and in the end has inherited guitars from his grandfather and the opportunity to experience what many other have not is truly a blessing.  By accomplishing the academic goals that we put in place two years ago, in my opinion he DID if fact sir accomplish that dream on his own.

***Edited to add..... I guess an integral part of the story that I should have included but my son looks at this forum and I did not want to ruin his Christmas present....but I was not expecting anyone to rag on a 17 year old kid.   He paid for it out of his own money that he earned working.  (something that is somewhat rare in today's society of the free shit army).   His actual Christmas present is a deposit statement into his savings account (that he cannot touch yet) reimbursing him for the full price + shipping and tax.   Merry Christmas son!!!  LOL ***

Merry Christmas everyone!

That's the coolest thing I've heard in a long while

Being a big AC/DC fan I know what a SG is

Whatever you spent on the guitar, think about how much you saved on 4 years of tuition at University.

Good investment. Good luck to the kid!

Exactly.  Best $2,800 I have EVER spent!!!!

Congrats to your son for knocking it out of the part on the scores and for finding a sweet guitar. Sounds like you have a good kid there and it sounds like he has a cool father. Well done sir.

I guess I don't know how to post an image anymore....  

This is a super cool story.  You are an awesome dad and you have an equally awesome kid with great taste in guitars.  Good job and I hope you both have many many years of enjoying his playing.  Well done.

That’s awesome! There’s nothing better in this life than watching our children learn and grow in my opinion.

I'm in same camp as Op. My son did really well this year academically and in athletics ( despite having a cardiac issue) so I got him a Morley Cliff Burton signature Fuzz /wah pedal since he's a huge CB/Metallica fan. Musical prowess is tied to high academic performance so no reason not to feed that monster.  The spoiled brat comment was uncalled for under any reasonable interpretation.  I'd buy my son a Warwick bass tomorrow if I could afford it as a reward for what he's accomplished.