[downwithbass]

I played around with one of the new Gibson SG reissues at a guitar shop. I gotta say, I think it is 100% LAME that they did not include the Vari-Tone on it.. What are they thinking?

And another thing, why doesn't the new Gibson Les Paul double cut away have a toggle switch.. That to me does not make it a Les Paul..

[Christov]

I like the new SG, but will not buy one because it is a short scale bass. The varitone switch would have been a nice option however. On the new Les Paul basses I personally don't have a problem without the switch. It is one fewer thing to go wrong. My last Les Paul LPB-3 had one, it was a '98 model. My older '94 Les Paul LPB-3 5 string does NOT have the switch, it has the active electronics instead. I am not going to complain much with Gibson basses, I am so glad that they are still producing basses!!!

[doom]

I have the SG RI and the LP DC and for me the toggle switch is unnecessary. I rarely use it on my Rickenbacker (maybe when I start using the Ric-O-Sound though). Reissuing the Varitone on the new SG RI would be pointless IMO since none of the pickups share the characteristics of the old. The new pickups have a more even frequensy range and output so for me there's no point in using a choke. Maybe they could have installed a toggle switch though but for me rolling off the volume control works since I don't need to do it Warp Speed fast mid songs.

[thunderbird]

The varitone is the single most unreliable part of the old EB3s - doing without is probably a good thing in the long run

Even with it, I doubt those pickups would deliver the same bassiness of the old ones

[doom]

Even with it, I doubt those pickups would deliver the same bassiness of the old ones

Actually the Varitone does not add bass which to my knowledge is impossible without an active circuit instead having the opposite function. The main function apart from the obvious pickup switching is it enables the tone choke which is a mid notch filter actually cutting the low end (there's not really any treble to cut) from the mighty sub bass neck pickup hence my questioning the necessity of it in the SG RI. Jake (Granny Gremlin) explains these tone filters way better than me.