BREAKING: Black Sabbath Guitarist Tony Iommi C…read more.
As a teenager, Tony Iommi suffered a serious accident while working in a sheet metal factory, losing the tips of the middle and ring fingers on his fretting hand. Taking inspiration from jazz legend Django Reinhardt, he created homemade thimbles to cover the injured fingers a unique adaptation that would go on to shape his groundbreaking guitar tone.
“I couldn’t reach the higher frets, but the SG fit me perfectly,” Iommi recalls. “It was comfortable I loved the shape, the lighter weight and over time, a lot of players started using it. Back then, everyone wanted a Les Paul, that was considered the top guitar.
“But for me, a Les Paul just didn’t work. It was too heavy, and I couldn’t easily play the upper frets. The SG felt right in my hands, and that’s why I’ve stayed with it ever since.”
Iommi originally began his journey in Black Sabbath with a Fender Stratocaster. But during the recording of the band’s groundbreaking debut album, the Strat gave out. After a sketchy guitar trade in a car park, he ended up with his first Gibson SG the instrument that would become inseparable from his name and career.
