Crayon Sky Music

difference between standard and faded gibson SG?

hi i’m looking to buy a gibson sg and i noticed the faded is a lot cheaper than the standard, and im only 16 so i dont have a lot of money. So i looked both of them up and noticed the standard has 490 and 498 pickups while the faded has two 490, but if i buy an SG i was gonna put EMG actives 81/85 in anyway so pickups don’t matter to me. So is that the only difference or is it different wood in the body or neck or anything else like small details i might have missed?
And would the SG sound good with EMG 81/85s?
um i think you have it backwards because the faded SG is cheaper than the standard.
Faded SG= $900
Standard SG= $1400

You are right – the faded is cheaper. Its made with cheaper materials and no glossy finish, to sell at a lower price than their standard models. If you are firm on your EMG pickups, just buy a guitar with the active pickups already installed. I think there is an SG model with EMGs. You don’t want to try and install active pickups on a guitar (brand new) that was not made for them. The installation requires additional body routing for the pups and battery compartment.

Edit: I did some research on the Gibson website and retailers because I questioned my own answer. While I will not modify my original text in an effort to change my answer, I will additionally state that I found no evidence that any special wood is used for enhanced tone. The descriptions all seem to state that the faded is a lower cost option to higher end models and thats it. I couldn’t find the Gibson SG model that has EMGs, but I do know of an Epiphone “Prophecy EX” model that comes with EMGs. I actually have the Les Paul version and it is a quality guitar. For around the same price as the faded SG, look at the ESP EC-1000 with EMGs – great guitar. They also have a “Viper” model which is a copy of the SG and comes with EMGs.

Gibson SG Standard