The Les Paul Junior was already a double-cutaway model when Gibson overhauled the entire Les Paul line in 1961 with a sleeker body and bold, pointed horns. Technically, the models were still Les Pauls until Paul’s contract ran out in late 1963 when they then became SG models.

The Junior maintained the same position as an SG that it had held in the 1950s as a Les Paul – an entry level guitar and the best-selling model of the four. With Gibson’s acquistion by the Norlin company in 1970, however, the entire SG line underwent a series of deisgn changes (none for the better) and, despite the Junior’s status as the least expensive, good-quality Gibson solidbody, it was absent from the new SG line of 1971.

While the original Les Paul Junior enjoyed a comeback, the SG version of the Junior made only brief appearances, in 1991-93 and 2000-02. Even when Gibson equipped it with a humbucker and renamed it the All American I (1995-97) or SG-X (1998-2000), the single-pickup SG guitar was short-lived.