It might be a familiar profile now, but the sharp-pointed Gibson SG was entirely radical when it arrived in 1961 to replace the single-cutaway Les Paul, foretelling an aggressive rock style that was years ahead of its time. The SG Gothic Morte makes this double-horned rock icon radical once again. This outrageous new offering from Gibson USA points the way forward both for extreme style and unprecedented depths of tone and power, and embodies the SG's evolution into a 21st century rock weapon. Employing a sustainable new tonewood variety, and carrying Gibson USA's powerful new GEM active humbucking pickups—all dressed in extreme black styling—the SG Gothic Morte pushes the boundaries of tone and esthetics, while honoring half a century of SG tradition. The beating heart of the SG Gothic Morte is represented by a pair of Gibson USA's amazing new GEM (Gibson Electronics Manufacturing) active pickups. Made in the image of the greatest traditional passive pickups of all time, Gibson's own PAF ("Patent Applied For") humbuckers, the GEMs have Alnico II magnets and coils wound with 42 AWG enamel-coated wire. They also include active electronics for greatly improved output and extremely low-noise performance. The GEMs are powered by a single 9v battery that yields approximately 1500 hours of service. They have a voice and playing feel akin to Gibson's popular Burstbuckers, with all of that humbucker's characteristic "smooth with edge" tonal response, and they are immune to the loading effects of volume and tone potentiometers. They offer an extremely fast transient response for unprecedented articulation (yet with all the classic humbucker warmth and smoothness), and are extremely compatible with both effects pedals and clean amp settings. Suitable for all styles of music, the GEM active pickups represent a huge leap forward in performance and versatility. Comprising the traditional solid-mahogany body and neck that has provided a rich, resonant platform for SG models for 50 years, the SG Gothic Morte introduces an exotic new fingerboard wood, African Obeche. A dark, dense alternative to Ebony, African Obeche is fully sustainable. As used on the Les Paul Gothic Morte, the African Obeche fingerboard carries no inlays or binding to extend the model's "none more black" styling. In addition to the guitar's Satin Ebony nitrocellulose finish, the SG Morte wears a black Tune-o-matic bridge with a black stopbar tailpiece, black Grover tuners, and a black Corian nut which has been precision cut on the PLEK for optimum intonation. Add it up, and it's a radical reincarnation of a guitar that was born to be wild a full half a century ago—but is now propelled to greater extremes than ever with new active pickups, sustainable exotic woods and all-black styling.