Gibson Sonex
| Gibson Sonex | |
|---|---|
 Gibson Sonex 180 Deluxe (under repairing) Note: knobs, PU covers, bridge & tailpiece are temporally detached to repair. Also lockable nut may be latter addition. | |
| Manufacturer | Gibson |
| Period | 1980–1984 |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Bolt-on neck |
| Scale | 24.75" |
| Woods | |
| Body | Resonwood |
| Neck | Maple |
| Fretboard | Rosewood |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | tune-o-matic adjustable |
| Pickup(s) | Zebra Humbuckers |
| Colors available | |
| Offwhite, Silver, Candy Apple (Red), Ebony (Black) | |
The Sonex guitars were a range of budget Gibsons launched in 1980. They were made from a material called Resonwood, and manufactured with Multi-phonic body construction. There were four models: Deluxe, Standard, Custom and Artist.
They replaced the Marauder and S-1 guitars. Like these two instruments, the Sonex took its styling from the Les Paul guitars that had been popular for the previous decades, but using Resonwood instead of mahogany, bolt-on necks instead of set (glued-in) necks, and far less ornamentation.
- note: "The Sonex Multi-phonic™ body is composed of Resonwood surrounding an inner tone wood core. The tone wood core not only acts as the anchor point for the neck, it also adds acoustic resonance and exceptional body resilience. The Sonex body is so resilient, that it's structural properties survived extreme testing in temperatures ranging from 40° below to 180°F."
Meaning the Resonwood was a coating used on a solid, usually mahogany body.
At its launch in mid 1980, the Sonex 180 Deluxe cost $299 which was Gibson's cheapest instrument. The Standard was $375, Custom $449.
There were four guitar models to choose from in the Sonex Series, all with the Gibson single cutaway design. The Sonex-180 Deluxe featured a rosewood, dot inlayed fingerboard and adjustable exposed Zebra dirty-fingers Humbuckers. All came with a three-position pick-up selector switch, Tune-0-Matic Bridge', stop bar tailpiece and volume/tone control speed knobs.
In 1981, the Standard had been dropped replaced by the Artist series, which was priced at $749. By 1982 the Custom had been discontinued. By 1984 only the Deluxe was left priced at $419.
The Standard and Custom models fepickup the same dirty fingers pickups with a coil tap switch. The Custom has a three-piece maple neck and ebony fingerboard. The Custom was available in white finish, as well as ebony.
External links
- The Vintage Guitar Website - Gibson Sonex
- Sonex Guitars at Zuitar Guitar DataBase
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COIL TAP SWITCH