1961+ Gibson SG Special

When Black Sabbath entered the studio to record their monumental first album in 1969, guitarist Tony Iommi faced a serious setback early in the session.

After tracking the first song, “Wicked World,” the pickup went out on his favorite guitar, a Fender Stratocaster he’d heavily modified to accommodate the thimbles he had to wear on his fretting hand after he’d lost his fingertips in a freak industrial accident. “In them days, you couldn’t go, ‘Oh, I’ll go and get another one from the guitar shop,’ or get somebody to bring one over,” Iommi tells Rolling Stone. “They didn’t do it like that.” So he picked up his standby guitar, a red Gibson SG.

“Because we were in for only the day to record, I had to use the Gibson,” he says. “I thought, ‘Oh, no. It’s just typical.’ ” He laughs. “But I had worked on the Gibson a bit, so it felt normal for me to play. So I ended up doing all the rest of the songs from the first album on the Gibson. And that was it. I never looked back. I just stuck with the Gibson then.” It became the instrument he’d use for much of the Seventies.

Iommi made several changes to the original 1964 Gibson SG with the most significant one the replacement of the standard Gibson humbuckers with John Birch P90 style single-coil pickups, wrapped in a humbucker casing. This alteration resulted in a sound with more bite, rawness, and a character crucial to the ‘Black Sabbath’ sound.

The modified Gibson SG became Iommi’s primary instrument throughout his early career with Black Sabbath, influencing the design and specifications of his later signature models

 

 

From 1965 until the recording of Black Sabbath’s first album in 1970, Iommi's main guitar was a '60's pre-CBS Stratocaster with rosewood fretboard, which originally featured a sunburst finish. He modified the guitar over the years, and tried to make it easier to play since he had an accident where he lost the tips of his two fingers on his right hand while he still had this guitar.  He filed the frets down and lowered the action, played with the pickups, and repainted the whole body white.  .  Unfortunately, one of the pickups on the guitar stopped working and Tony only ended up using it on one song of their debut album, “Wicked World”.  The rest were recording with a Gibson SG "Monkey" which Tony used as a spare up until this point.  After he switched to the SG, he traded the Strat for a saxophone, and it's current whereabouts are unknown.  Sabbath’s bassist, Geezer Butler, at one point spotted the Strat in a pawn shop in Birmingham, England, and intended to buy it for Iommi as a surprise, but it was gone by the time he got there with the money. “I would have loved to have got that back,” Iommi says. “I never even heard of it or seen it since. But the Gibson became my guitar.”

 

 

The Iconic Tony Iommi Signature Guitar: A Comprehensive Guide - FretterVerse.com

 

2020 Gibson Custom Shop Tony Iommi “Monkey” ‘64 SG Special Replica MSRP $19,999

• While Tony Iommi's innovative tuning and playing styles were a major part of his monstrous tones, a Gibson SG named "Monkey" was at the center of it all. This heavily-modified 1964 SG Special was used extensively with the original lineup of Black Sabbath, heard on every album and tour of the 1970s.
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• The Gibson Custom Shop claims that the Tony Iommi “Monkey” 1964 SG Special Replica is an exact copy of the iconic instrument.  Gibson reverse-engineered the instrument, studying its construction and aging, and mimicking details like a polyurethane-coated fingerboard, its zero fret, “stop tailpiece brushings,” and, of course, the primate decal that gives it its name.  The pickups were handmade by an apprentice of the late pickup guru John Birch, with whom Iommi had collaborated.  “It’s an exact, exact replica of my first Gibson, the red one, which I had on the first four albums,” Iommi says. “I’m really amazed how they’d done it.”
• 50 exact replicas have been created, 25 right-handed and 25 left-handed like the original, each signed and numbered by Tony Iommi himself.

 

2021 Gibson Artist Collection Tony Iommi “Monkey” ‘64 SG Special Replica  Model SGTI21VECH1 MSRP $2399 

• The Gibson Artist Collection version of the "Monkey" is based on the iconic original that launched countless heavy riffs, with a mahogany body, bound mahogany neck with a rounded profile, Indian rosewood fretboard with 22 frets, a Graph Tech® nut, Grover® Rotomatic® tuners with contemporary style buttons, and chrome-covered P-90 pickups.
• A reproduction of Tony's "Monkey" sticker is included in the case, along with two longer intonation adjustment screws in case you need additional adjustment range. 

 

2001-03 Gibson Tony Iommi Signature SG

Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi Talks New Gibson Signature Guitar

• Only 50 replicas - 25 left-handed models and 25 right-handed ones, each are signed and numbered by Iommi.
• They feature the ultrathin '61 Les Paul SG Custom body style with its slim-tapered neck, with a 24-fret ebony fretboard inlaid with Iommi's trademark sterling silver crosses.
• Electronics feature Iommi's high output Humbucker pickups, and his signature is emblazoned on the headstock.
• Tony himself regularly plays the #1 and #2 prototypes Gibson built for him.

 

Epiphone Tony Iommi G-400

 

 

2015-18 Epiphone Limited Edition Tony Iommi Signature SG Custom with Gibson USA Humbuckers  Model EGTIEBNH3

•             ○ Limited Edition with only XXX produced, made in China
              ○ Lightweight, thin 1 pc Solid Mahogany body in Ebony (EB), Gloss Polyurethane, B/W/B multiply pickguard, nickel hardware
              ○ 24.75" Scale  1960 Slim Taper Set-in Mahogany Neck , Gloss Polyurethane, 1 ply white neck binding, Long Tenon, Hide Glue Fit neck joint, 
              ○ 12"radius Ebony with Pearloid "Cross" Inlays, 24 Medium-Jumbo frets
              ○ LockTone™ Tune-o-matic / Stopbar tailpiece, 1.685" black graphite nut, nickel Premium Die-Cast, 14:1 Ratio, Metal Tulip Button tuners, Headstock Back: "Tony Iommi" Signature in Silver, "Epiphone Limited Edition" 
              ○ 2 Nickel Silver covered active Gibson USA Tony Iommi Signature Humbucker pickups, Epiphone All-Metal 3-way Pickup Selector w/ Black Toggle Cap 
              ○ 2 Volume and 2 Tone Black Top Hats w/ Silver Inserts, with CTS 500K Audio Taper Potentiometers, Black Beauty Capacitors
              ○ Custom Shop Hardshell case, Certificate of Authenticity Booklet, Historic Reissue Hang Tags
   

 

The Mach Five Guitar is a 2021 Gibson Artist Series Tony Iommi ‘64 SG Special P90 “Monkey”  SN 217410201

The Guitars of Tony Iommi: A Short History