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TOTAL GUITAR
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MARCH 2005
GEAR EPIPHONE T
ONY IOMMI G
-4
00
EP
IP
HO
NE
TON
Y I
OM
MI
G
-4
00
£5
95
HA
S E
PI
PH
ON
E J
US
T R
EL
EA
SE
D I
TS
G
RE
AT
ES
T R
O
CK G
UI
TA
R Y
ET?
TG T
HI
NK
S SO
… WORDS
: ED MITCHELL
You call this a rock guitar? There’s
no locking trem!
Wash your mouth out with soap, foolish
young whippersnapper! Your tart’s handbag,
lollipop stick-necked, sad little widdle plank
is no match for this mighty beast. This guitar
sounds like a truck load of whup-ass and will
keep on delivering its evil-hearted goods
for years to come. Can you really say all that
about your guitar? In fact, this Epiphone
Tony Iommi G-400 is like every Rocky fi lm
ever made compared to your guitar’s Karate
Kid III. Locking trem, indeed…
Er, OK. So who’s this Tony Iommi geezer
supposed to be then?
He’s only the bleedin’ Godfather of metal
riffery. Look, years before he began
shuffling around his Los Angeles mansion,
dodging dog shit and shouting at the
kids for his reality TV show, renowned bat
muncher and self-styled Prince of Darkness
Ozzy Osbourne was in a rather important
band. We’re talking about the mighty
Black Sabbath, of course. We say important
because these guys pioneered that particular
brand of grumpy metal – all doom-laden
riffs and ‘you’re all gonna die’ lyrics – that
keeps guys like Slayer’s Kerry King in protein
bars and Bic razors to this day.
The engine of Black Sabbath was guitarist
Tony Iommi, a genius with a heavy riff and
pretty nifty lead playing ability to boot. Tony
always liked to keep his riffs simple; just a
few notes played with blinding intensity. You
must’ve heard the blistering opening salvo
from Paranoid? And surely all you metal
guitarists out there are familiar with the
awesome sludge-fest that is Sweet Leaf? If
not, go to the back of the class and write ‘Nu-
metal has rotted my brain’ 1000 times on the
blackboard. The rest of you, walk this way…
OK, I’m now up to speed with Sabbath,
what’s the deal with Tony’s new axe?
Sabbath’s line-up may have changed over
the last 30-odd years but two things
have always remained the same: the man
himself, Tony Iommi, and his ever faithful
SG. Although he occasionally played
SG-style guitars from the likes of Patrick
Eggle, Jaydee and John Birch, Gibson’s
classic twin cutaway weapon of rock has
always been his favourite. It’s now as
much an Iommi trademark as the man’s
fearsome facial hair and false fi ngertips.
Sorry, his false fi ngertips?
Tony lost the tips of his middle and ring
fingers on his right hand in an industrial
accident in the 1960s. But before you accuse
us of being sick-ass gore-hounds, there is a
very good reason why we’re dredging up this
gruesome nugget of trivia. Put simply, that
unfortunate injury greatly infl uenced Tony’s
choice of guitar, his set-up and his unique
‘dungeons of hell’ tone.
Go on, I’m listening…
Tony needed a guitar with a slim neck
and an easy string tension – it had to be
comfortable for his digits. Anyone who has
played a Gibson or Epiphone SG will know
that the strings are pretty easy to bend;
even a set of 10s presents little trouble. Tony
lowered the string tension on his guitars
even more by fitting an unusual mix of light
gauge strings (9, 9, 12, 22, 28 and 38) and
tuning down to C#. Tuning low gives his
guitar the booming voice that has become
synonymous with Sabbath songs. Only thing
was, such a low tuning and light strings
had to be coupled with a meaty pickup
to boost the signal to his Laney amp. A
few years ago Gibson came to the rescue
with the Tony Iommi humbucker – its fi rst
ever signature pickup.
His new Epiphone has that pickup
fi tted, right?
Yep, for your £595 you’re getting a kick-
ass SG loaded with two of Tony’s US-made
Gibson humbuckers. Now that’s what we call
value for money, and no doubt great news
for Black Sabbath fans on a budget.
What’s the guitar like?
Probably the best Epiphone electric we’ve
ever tried. The quality of finish is top class
and the guitar has all the classic elements
that we’ve come to expect from the SG.
Underneath that glorious ebony finish – it
should be called Sabbath Black, of course
– is a mahogany body: a nice thick slab with
those iconic devilish contours and sexy
curves. The neck is glued to the body, as
it should be, and is also fashioned from
mahogany. The fingerboard is rosewood with
funky crucifix inlays and 24 frets. Yes, that’s
right folks, this is a full two octave SG! Every
other SG has 22 frets, natch.
This guitar comes full
y-
loaded with a pair of
US-made Tony Iommi
humbuck
ers – an
d t
he
y
sound awesome
It’s classic SG all the
way with a tune-o-
matic br
idg
e and a
stop tail-piece
We love the headstock
on t
his guitar
. It
finishes the Iommi off
beautifull
y and look
s
almost as good as t
he
Gibson version
TGR133.gear_dps 134TGR133.gear_dps 134 19/1/05 6:04:51 pm19/1/05 6:04:51 pm