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1970 electric solid bodies catalogue The solid body guitars manufactured by Gibson in 1970 are shown here, with the exception of the Les Pauls, which had their own Les Paul catalogue. Models shown are the SG Custom, SG standard, SG Special, SG Junior, Melody maker D and Melody maker 12
1970 was a fantastic year for the Gibson SG, shipping 12914 instruments. In total more SG guitars were sold than in any other single year in the period 1961-1979, selling a third more than the next best year 1965 (8871 units). Most of these sales came from two models, the Standard (6677 - double the previous years sales) and the Special (4982). Perhaps it was the influence of popular bands of the time (Clapton with his SG standard, and the remarkable performances of the Who and Santana at Woodstock the previous year - both SG Special users). Walnut, a new colour option announced in 1969 became available, and almost 60% of the Specials were shipped in this colour. It became the default colour for the Custom, which sported a fetching white pickguard, and was also available for the standard, and Junior - though shipping figures for these models are not split by colour.
Despite the sales sucess of 1971, Gibson redesigned the SG in mid 1971; partially to decrease production costs (front routed control panels) and partially to improve the instrument (volute to improve neck strength). This resulted in a new Custom, and the Standard and Special renamed to Deluxe and Pro accordingly. The Junior and melody Maker models were dropped in favour of new budget models the SG100, SG200 and SG250. The very similar looking 1972 Gibson solid bodies catalogue shows details of these instruments
 1970 Gibson bass catalogue |
 1970 Gibson Electric Acoustics catalogue |
 1970 Gibson Les Paul catalogue |
 1970 Gibson electric solid bodies catalogue |
 1970 Gibson thinline catalogue |
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The 1970 Gibson catalogue consisted of 12 separate brochures, each concentrating on a specific area. This was the first time the Gibson catalogue had been split into so many sections
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