Originally Posted by: LordathestringsThe SG was, and remains, a very, very bad design, from a mechanical point of view. The neck/body joint has been a significant weak point in all of the various versions of this model. Lester was quite right in insisting that his name be removed from this part of the Gibson lineup. His advice was ignored - his design concepts were overruled - and his name was gratuitously applied to a sub-standard product that he had no part in bringing into production. Of course he was outraged. The SG has been a big seller, but that does nothing to counter the fact that it's a POS. Anyone who listens to the radio can tell you that popularity has [u]nothing[/u] to do with quality! :p

Betcha this will open a can of worms, for sure. The initial SG design definitely had problems from the neck joint and the neck pickup and needed to be redesigned, including repositioning the neck pickup back as part of the weakening problems.
As far as quality goes, the SG has been played by many greats since it was introduced back in the early 1960's. Clapton's famous SG nicknamed "Fool" was used extensively throughout his career with "Cream".
A few others that play/played an SG;
George Harrison
Hendrix (Dick Cavett show appearence)
Buckethead
Buck Dharma
The Edge
Pete Townshend
Tony Iommi
Angus Young
Although I personally play a Les Paul Standard, The SG must have something behind it with those heavy hitters using em, IMO.