The 1952 Gibson Les Paul was followed in 1961 by the solid-body Gibson SG electric guitar model. It is still being produced today in numerous iterations of the original design. The SG in the name is an acronym for "solid guitar". The SG is still Gibson's best seller.  The SG was given a thinner, more contoured body than a Les Paul, and a double cutaway. This made the frets more accessible and it was further eased by moving the neck joint outwards by three frets. The simple guitar body reduced production costs and was advertised as the "fastest neck in the world".

The SG body is made from mahogany, birch laminate, or maple wood. The neck is made of mahogany, laminate, or maple. The fretboard is made of rosewood, ebony, or maple. The bridge either consists of a Hardtail (Tune-O-Matic) or a Gibson Vibrato. The are different options of pickups based on the version of your guitar. they can feature 1,2, or 3 Humbuckers; 1,2 or 3 P-90s; certain entry-level versions have smaller single coil pickups.

Gibson released four SG models when the SG was first introduced in 1961: the SG Junior, which was a more basic SG model similar to the Les Paul Junior, the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-tier SG Custom. Gibson's basic models as of 2010 were the SG Standard and the SG Special. Gibson has released numerous SG models throughout the years, and it is still producing limited editions of the Special and Faded Special, Supreme, Artist Signature SGs, Menace, and Gothic, in addition to the expensive VOS reissues of the 1960s SG Standard and Custom. 

• Angus Young - Is there any guitarist more synonymous with Gibson’s famous double-cut electric than Angus Young? Young has been using SGs for live performances and studio work with AC/DC for almost 50 years. He first fell in love with the instrument in 1971 when he bought his first model, a Vibrola-equipped SG from the 1960s with an exceptionally thin neck, from a Sydney guitar store. 

• Sister Rosetta Tharpe - One of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century may be Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a gospel legend who is now regarded as the originator of rock 'n roll guitar as we know it today. Her use of heavily distorted amplifiers, call-and-response phrasings, and lightning-fast fretboard runs set the standard for the hard-edged guitar sound that would become popular in the 1960s and beyond. Her playing was an inspiration to everyone from Chuck Berry and Jeff Beck to Elvis Presley and Eric Clapton. 

• Gary Clarl Jr. - Gary Clark Jr., a contemporary blues master known for his blazing tone and elegant approach, has been observed utilizing a number of different SGs both on stage and in the studio. In the past ten years, he has combined a more traditional P-90 equipped SG Standard and a vintage 1961 Les Paul Tribute model with a vibrato to produce his vicious lead tone on songs like "This Land" and his blues opus "When My Train Pulls In," which has some of the meanest lead work of any song from the previous ten years. 

• Eric Clapton - Eric Clapton may have only owned a Gibson SG for a brief two-year period as his primary guitar, but in those two years, the electric guitar underwent a permanent transformation. Shortly after joining Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, Clapton's Les Paul Standard was stolen. In 1967, he bought a 1964 Gibson SG for the blues rock trio, having the guitar painted in a surreal manner and dubbed it "The Fool."