Gibson SG

The Gibson SG is a solid body electric guitar.

Stewart Copeland owns a cherry-finished Gibson SG, which is of unknown vintage but is thought to be a late 60s/early 70s model. It's also been fitted with Humbucker pickups, which replaced the original PAF pickups at some point. He bought the guitar as early as 1973, which he used frequently for home recordings over the next few years. which he played a lot on the early Klark Kent records (e.g. "Don't Care") as well as home recordings during the mid-to-late 1970s.

His earliest use of the SG for professional recording was playing rhythm guitars on "Fall Out" & "Nothing Achieving", which The Police cut on 12 February 1977 at Pathway Studios for their first single. Their original guitarist, Henry Padovani, experienced nervousness in the studio during the session, so he only contributed solos to both songs on his Jacobacci guitar while Stewart did the rest. In terms of Police tracks, he likely used the SG once again for self-penned song "A Sermon", an Outlandos outtake which resurfaced as the B-side to "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" in 1980.

Besides that, the Gibson SG also became part of the Stewart's 'Klark Kent' sound, heard on "Don't Care" (where it was matched with a Fender Tweed amp) amongst other early Klark Kent singles.

It's possible Stewart had also played the SG (or the Fender Stratocaster) on "On Any Other Day" and "It's Alright For You" from the Reggatta De Blanc album. They originated as Klark Kent numbers but were being used for The Police in the end due to a shortage of material.

Stewart still owns the Gibson SG and it belongs to his Sacred Grove studio amongst his prized instruments.