Just about every Angus Young guitar is iconic for one reason or another. The word ‘timeless’ is seldom more apt than when it’s used to describe AC/DC guitarist Angus Young. Even now, in 2019, you will hear his music licensed on major movie and television releases.
Beloved by old school rock fans to the youngSpiderman kids who have heard his music in the latest movie. Angus Young and his work in AC/DC can truly appeal to everyone.
Born on March 31st, 1955 in Glasgow, Scotland. Then moving to Australia at the age of 8. Angus formed the band AC/DC in 1973 along with his older brother Malcomb.
AC/DC are one of the biggest heavy rock bands of all time. Selling over 200 million records worldwide and garnering an induction into the prestigious Rock and Roll hall of fame. Their style is loud and in your face. Boasting iconic, catchy guitar riffs and solos that flirt between hard rock, blues, and metal.
Angus himself is known for his high energy live performances. Wearing his signature school uniform outfits, playing through blisteringly loud 100watt Marshall amplifiers and using a vast range of Gibson SG guitars.
Angus owns a very substantial guitar collection, always leaning towards Gibsons’ SG models. But of these many guitars, he has a few personal favorites that he’s been known to use time and time again, both live and in the studio.
Today we will take a detailed look at the guitars which this legendary rock icon decided to use as his weapons of choice.
Ultimate List of Angus Young’s Guitars & Gear
Contents
Here’s the full list of Angus Young’s guitars that he used on every AC/DC album, recording, tour, and on guitar player magazine cover.
- 1970-1971 Gibson SG Standard
- 1960 Gibson SG Standard
- 1970 Gibson SG Custom
- 1970 Gibson SG
- Jaydee Custom SG
- 1960 Gibson SG Standard
- Gibson SG Angus Young Signature
Angus Young Electric Guitars
1970-1971 Gibson SG Standard
After originally beginning his guitar journey playing on a banjo. Angus’s first ‘real’ guitar was Gibson SG Standard. He purchased it as stock, exactly how it would have been sent from the factory. It featured a walnut finish, a Lyre Maestro tremolo bridge, and PAF pickups.
By 1975 he had made numerous changes to the guitar, based on his needs and preferences.
Firstly the standard SG PAF pickup covers were removed. It’s said that this introduced additional bite and high end pick attack into the tone.
He also had the guitars input jack moved to the bottom of the guitar where you would normally find it on most modern guitars, covering the original hole with tape.
Very often you would also see tape covering any gaps or spaces around the pickups. This was to stop sweat (which Angus did a lot of when playing live) from entering the guitar and damaging the electronics.
I played [the guitar] until it got wood rot because so much sweat and water got into it. The whole neck warped.
Due to fans accidentally ripping the wireless pack off of his strap as they would grab at him. He had a large hole routed in the middle of the body where he would actually store the wireless pack. However, profuse sweating and electronic equipment, unfortunately, do not mix. So it was later removed, the hole filled in and then the body was refinished.
Angus has said that he used this guitar in the studio on every AC/DC record.
1960s Gibson SG Standard
Back in September 1978, Angus went and purchased several guitars from a small music store on the corner of 48th street, New York.
Out of those guitars, there was one in particular that he became especially fond of. The clerk who sold it to him mentioned there was a number ‘2’ stamped on the back of the guitar. Which was apparently put on rejected models. Angus replied to the clerk “Yup, that’s me!” then went on to use the guitar on Highway to Hell.
The number 2 actually just means there is a minor flaw on the guitar and as a result is sold at a slightly cheaper price.
The guitar in question was an early 60’s Gibson SG Standard with a cherry red finish. With a mahogany body and neck which would have given it a heavy, bulky feel and tone. The guitar also featured a Maestro tremolo bridge.
Unlike his first SG, this one did not go through such radical modifications. The tuners were swapped out for metal ones. Like before, you would see any cavities plugged up with tape to protect it from sweat. Which didn’t always work by the way as there are several videos around where Angus needed to swap guitars mid-set, due to some kind of electronic malfunction as a result of the moisture interference.
1970s Gibson SG Custom
Angus was first seen using this guitar in 1979, A Black Gibson SG Custom. It was mainly played in conjunction with his ‘Highway to Hell’ SG standard. Possibly as a direct backup or perhaps it was another preferred guitar that made the cut and became one of his ‘regulars’.
The guitar features a black finish with gold hardware, which wasn’t standard for the SG series. The regular production Gibson SG Custom models also featured 3 humbucking pickups at that time, but this guitar only had two. Which would technically make it a customized, Gibson SG custom.
Just like the Highway to Hell SG this also had a large block cut out of the body for the wireless pack to fit in which, similar to the others, would later be filled in and refinished.
There are also a few pictures floating around the internet that were taken during the process of having the body refilled/refinished for this guitar. The pictures also show some significant cracking just below the headstock. This kind of wear and tear is to be expected considering the energy Angus put into his playing in live performances.
But it does let us know that a lot of work would go into maintaining this guitars. You have to admire Angus’s loyalty to his special few guitars that he would take the time/money to get them fixed up rather than just immediately using a brand new one every time something was significantly damaged.
This guitar can best be seen used in the ‘Let There Be Rock’ movie.
1970s Gibson SG
Another addition to the Angus collection is a 1979 Gibson SG Standard. Unlike some of his other SG’s, this was purchased brand new and would become one of his main touring guitars during the subsequent years.
This one is bereft of some of the extreme modifications that you can find on his earlier guitars. But you will still see the signature taped pickups to stop water entering the guitar.
There is not too much to differentiate this from the earlier SG models during the late ’60s. But one thing to note is those older SG’s had a larger pickguard which extended from the bottom of the body to well above the two pickups. This was commonly referred to as the ‘batwing’ style pickguard.
However, on this model, Gibson reverted back to the smaller style pickguard that was used on the earlier models. Angus generally preferred these smaller style pickguards to the larger ones.
You can see him using this guitar on the ‘For Those About to Rock’ tour of 1981.
Jaydee Custom SG
In 1981 AC/DC were scheduled to play at Donington Festival (which most people now know as Download Festival) in the UK on August 22nd.
This date fell at the end of the Back in Black tour. Then they would have to go straight back out for the ‘For Those About To Rock’ tour.
Because of this heavy touring cycle and the rigorous use and wear on his equipment, members of the AC/DC road crew contacted British luthier John Diggins. Who had previously done a lot of work for Angus from small repairs to almost rebuilding an entire guitar. He was very well trusted by both Angus and the AC/DC crew.
John Diggins would build this guitar for Angus in secret and then present it to him as a gift backstage, before their show at Donington Festival.
Angus, both extremely grateful and also genuinely loving how the guitar played, took it straight out on stage that night and performed with it. After only owning it for a matter of hours!
The guitar is essentially a Gibson SG in terms of its aesthetics. But it also featured lightning bolt inlays, gold-plated hardware and custom-wound Jaydee ‘Hooligan’ pickups.
Angus would use this guitar intermittently throughout the 1980s, elements of it would also be used on his eventual signature model.
1960s Gibson SG Standard
Throughout Angus’s career, he has amassed a vast collection of guitars. From exclusive custom builds, gifts from other world-class musicians, luthiers and everything in between.
Yet between all of these rare and/or expensive guitars that one might deem more fitting for a guitarist of Angus’s prestige and fame, lies the Gibson SG standard. Bar minor customizations any other consumer would make to their guitars they were kept very close to factory stock specifications. Angus leaned towards the 60’s era of SG’s because of the neck joint and some other minor details that were altered by Gibson as the model evolved.
Both a testament to what Angus was able to achieve tonally without specialized equipment. And also to the robustness and versatility of the famed Gibson guitar line.
One of the SG standards Angus used was in 1983 on their ‘Flick the Switch’ tour.
Unlike previous SG standards, he kept the original tuners on and also did not rout out the back to store the wireless pack this time.
The only real thing he swapped out was the neck pickup which people believe to be a Seymour Duncan SH-PH1. Which Angus grew fond of around this time. So fond in fact that this pickup would later be used as the base model for his signature series which we will cover next.
Gibson SG Angus Young Signature
With over 25 years of playtime on the SG under his belt. Finally, in 2000, Angus Young decided to collaborate with Gibson in order to create a signature guitar that captured the tone and feel of his very first, original 1970’s SG.
This was a great way to commemorate their long-standing relationship together and an opportunity to offer a truly old school, classic rock experience to a new generation.
By and large, the guitar was made to the specifications of his earlier SG’s. From the neck profile, the mahogany body and neck combination which had become less common. Along with a 12’’ fretboard radius.
However, there were a few different models produced with some, mostly superficial, variations in order to make it more ‘Angus’ and not just a straight SG with no real association to Angus or AC/DC.
Some would have the previously mentioned larger ‘batwing’ pickguards, while others would have the smaller one. Some would feature the ‘devil schoolboy’ inlay on the headstock while some would have the regular Gibson one.
Now, most notably the guitar featured lightning bolt inlays which were a first for a Gibson production model. These were taken from the custom SG John Diggins (the Jaydee Custom) had built for Angus. The guitar also featured a bridge pickup designed by Angus and Seymour Duncan based on the model mentioned above in his SG standard. Along with a ‘57 Classic humbucker in the neck.