Tony Iommi and Angus Young are probably the two main reasons I grew up loving SG's. I already loved Black Sabbath, and then I found out about his fingers. Amazing. I agree with you, John, there is no way to say enough great stuff about Tony Iommi. This guitar is beautiful. I don't think there is a single thing I don't like about it.
I have the Gibson version, it’s a beast of a guitar! The neck is even bigger than that one (.89-.10) and a drop bigger than my R8 LP. It’s cool Epi is making a more affordable version, pretty good bang for the buck.
I have the previous edition of Tony's Epiphone guitar. Jet black, chrome hardware, crosses on the frets, and Tony Iommi signature humbuckers made by Gibson. Love it!
That’s the Replica of his Ol’ Boy guitar that was built for him by a friend so the real version isn’t even a Gibson. They and Epiphone just wanted to make replicas
I have the Gibson version and the first thing I did was rip those weak P90s out and replace them with Bare Knuckle Pig90s at 20k bridge and 16k neck reversed wound. Sounds close to Tony’s with his custom p90s. I’m looking for a Schaller 456 Bridge to bring it home.
And later those pickups were also humbucking. A different version of the humbucking pickups (with P90 shape) were used on "old boy" the other guitar he used the most over the years. The one made by John Diggings. Before that one he had some John Birch guitars who was the guy who made all those pickups originally before JD started making them as you already said
I just bought a used one at our local big-chain store. I can confirm that the P90s sound better than the $499 SGs, which have too much high-end on the bridge pickups. I've been playing a slim tapered neck Les Paul for decades and the beefier C-shape neck on this Tony Iommi SG is not a big deal. I got used to it quickly. I was disappointed to see that the "chrome" pickup covers are plastic! And the neck binding appears to be a paint job, not actual binding. in the end, I'm happy with my purchase and I'll be keeping the guitar. GREAT REVIEW!
I believe he went back and forth from the wrapover bridge to a tuneomatic and back to wrapover. Makes sense as a special originally has a wrapover bridge. Also, this is not a small pickguard per se, it is the pickguard of a special that is one piece with the necktenon cover, but because he used pickup rings, it got cut in two, leaving a separate piece for the neck tenon and another piece for the guard.
Because of Tony’s physical situation, he tried to make the guitar playable as possible. Lighter gauge banjo strings, thinner neck, clear lacquer fretboard and a one piece bridge that could be intonated accurately. One piece bridge helps palm muffle the strings more economically, which is a big part of Tony sound also he did not use P90’s …he used hotwired humbuckets that were custom-made. If I got this Guitar and probably will the only thing I’ll change is the pick ups to nail down his older and newer sounds at the same time… Tony is the godfather of heavy metal guitar, they should write a movie about this guy. He overcame so much after such a tragedy, thanks for teaching me how to play heavy metal guitar tony, it’s been an inspirational experience in my life anyway, keep on rockin
Very nice guitar! I have a similar Sg, a 2015 Epiphone G400 pro and its a very nice guitar. The Tony Iommi model is a nice guitar to have, its an awesome guitar with a reasonable price. Thanks for showcasing this guitar!
great review, thanks. i'm definitely in the market for this, now that the price dropped. i've never played a "chunkier" neck like that, i'm just wondering if it will be too big for my smaller hands. i have an ESP EC-1000 now and love it. i just want the p-90 and the fact that this is an iommi, even better.
Love the fact that this has a real neck, not that slim taper popsicle stick every other SG has. Only thing that bothers me is I wish it had the bat wing pickguard and not those pick up rings.
I have an Epiphone ES335, that i bought with a hard case. 700 euro. Tony special profile neck, p 90s and so on, are all special production and throw things a bit off at the assembly line. Time is money. Price tag for the Toni...spot on. Question. I've never had a wrap around bridge. Id run 11s on it. Will i have any tuning issues?
Actually Tony Iommi did not chrome out the p90’s himself! Actually a man named John Diggins (Eventually “Jaydee”) would come up to him after a gig and ask him (Tony Iommi) to help make the guitar sound better (I could be mistaken). Tony Iommi later admitted in an interview with Gibson that he just let John take the guitar without thinking twice of whether he would have stolen the guitar from him. John Diggins would then configure and develop pickups of his own with a custom magnetic array called “Simplux”. “Simplux by John Diggins” with 12 magnets on one to increase the sustain or tone. John Diggins would then contact Tony Iommi and actually give the guitar back with modified pickups, a lower string tension (To make pressing on the fretboard easier with the thimblets. This would cause some problems however, as the guitar would frequently detune and is evident as if you listen to the 1970’s shows, recordings of Black Sabbath in the earlier days you can silently hear him tuning his guitar or checking the tuning after each song. Tony Iommi would then experiment with various bridges to prevent this problem, however it would work at slight success.) The wrap around bridge is called the “Lee Quan” Bridge.
I have one and it is a great guitar! Great playing and awesome breakdown of the guitar! But if you’re doing an Iommi guitar, you should’ve really thrown some Sabbath riffs in there.🤘🏻
Thank you! Copyright makes that hard, but I just dug this BS Paranoid riff medley out from our early videos haha: ua-cam.com/video/Na4HmE_qYUU/v-deo.html
There is very little difference in sound between Gibson and Epiphone P90s. I have one and it sounds awesome. I also like the Epi case better than the Gibson. It's black with gold plush lining and golden latches! It is a three piece mahogany guitar just like the Gibson with Gibson electronics.
Hey that's awesome, thank you so much! I'm glad to hear you enjoy it, and thank you for watching and supporting the channel. I love the 50s Standard, great choice
SG are the best looking rock guitar for me, I have one G 400 EPI whith Seymour Ducan pick ups ( Pearly gate in bridge position), but they are unbalanced, thin, and not very good in clear sound, my Strats are far better, you can play any music whith them.
Randy Rhoads #36 while Eddie Van Halen was at #8? Yeah right. Also, no Steve Vai, Joe Satriani or Yngwie Malmsteen on that Rolling Stone top 100?? This tells me that this is a completely biased list.
I sometimes kick myself for buying the Gibson. I am on my third one and hoping this is a good one with out defects. I have never gotten a bad Epiphone. I hope I did not miss it but I am hoping for a review on the Gibson. Also your Epiphone is lighter in weight.
@@PlayandTradeGuitars I thought "was? 😯" And the vide had only been up for half an hour 😆 About £650-700 here for the Epi, about £2000 for The Gibson. Is the USA made version worth £1.3k more?
Thank you for this review! I would have loved to won that guitar that's a sweet guitar (the Gibson)... I am so angry at Epiphone! Bc I was so happy when I heard they were coming out with this guitar I'm a lefty and would have loved to have bought it you know I don't have a lot of money everything sounded perfect but that neck is god-awful! That cannot be historically accurate, because his was a 64 and those were "the thinnest neck guitars" advertised it that time. I mean seriously, who would buy a 1960s style SG and want a thick neck? Gibson makes so many other guitars with thick necks why did they have to ruin this one!?
Neck is not all that "thick" to me. I have sg's with slim taper necks and this one is not all that much different. If anything it's a little rounder, but not fat or anything at all like a '59 Les Paul or something. It is a very comfortable neck to me.
Tony Iommi and Angus Young are probably the two main reasons I grew up loving SG's. I already loved Black Sabbath, and then I found out about his fingers. Amazing. I agree with you, John, there is no way to say enough great stuff about Tony Iommi. This guitar is beautiful. I don't think there is a single thing I don't like about it.
I have the Gibson version, it’s a beast of a guitar! The neck is even bigger than that one (.89-.10) and a drop bigger than my R8 LP. It’s cool Epi is making a more affordable version, pretty good bang for the buck.
I have the previous edition of Tony's Epiphone guitar. Jet black, chrome hardware, crosses on the frets, and Tony Iommi signature humbuckers made by Gibson.
Love it!
That’s the Replica of his Ol’ Boy guitar that was built for him by a friend so the real version isn’t even a Gibson. They and Epiphone just wanted to make replicas
@@irondeathgaming9032 Maybe so, but it's beautiful ❤️
Yours is much better than this one
I just bought myself one for my birthday this year. If you don't know, those pickups are incredible!
I have the Gibson version and the first thing I did was rip those weak P90s out and replace them with Bare Knuckle Pig90s at 20k bridge and 16k neck reversed wound. Sounds close to Tony’s with his custom p90s. I’m looking for a Schaller 456 Bridge to bring it home.
Super late but Iommi didn’t simply put nickel covers on his p90s they were a John birch pickup and the stock p90 rewound by John birch
And later those pickups were also humbucking. A different version of the humbucking pickups (with P90 shape) were used on "old boy" the other guitar he used the most over the years. The one made by John Diggings. Before that one he had some John Birch guitars who was the guy who made all those pickups originally before JD started making them as you already said
Your playing alone completely promoted that guitar no joke. The music just flowed right out of you.
Thank you I really appreciate that!
@@PlayandTradeGuitars Yeah I loved your playing too. What scale/mode is that? Sounded a little different than a plain pentatonic.
One big issue is that the monkey sticker they include is for the left handed one. The monkeys violin should be pointing towards the strap button
Who cares....it's a sticker
@@donkeevneypeople who want it to be like Tony's
I ordered one from Etsy.
Just turn the sticker upside down
I just bought a used one at our local big-chain store. I can confirm that the P90s sound better than the $499 SGs, which have too much high-end on the bridge pickups. I've been playing a slim tapered neck Les Paul for decades and the beefier C-shape neck on this Tony Iommi SG is not a big deal. I got used to it quickly. I was disappointed to see that the "chrome" pickup covers are plastic! And the neck binding appears to be a paint job, not actual binding. in the end, I'm happy with my purchase and I'll be keeping the guitar. GREAT REVIEW!
The man, the legend, the Godfather of Metal! Yes! You guys killed it again!
I believe he went back and forth from the wrapover bridge to a tuneomatic and back to wrapover. Makes sense as a special originally has a wrapover bridge. Also, this is not a small pickguard per se, it is the pickguard of a special that is one piece with the necktenon cover, but because he used pickup rings, it got cut in two, leaving a separate piece for the neck tenon and another piece for the guard.
I ONLY buy my gear from zzounds for years. I just got my Epi Special p90 the other day! Keep up the great reviews!
I have one of these guitars i was wondering what is the difference between the pickups in this guitar and the gibson version .
Because of Tony’s physical situation, he tried to make the guitar playable as possible. Lighter gauge banjo strings, thinner neck, clear lacquer fretboard and a one piece bridge that could be intonated accurately. One piece bridge helps palm muffle the strings more economically, which is a big part of Tony sound also he did not use P90’s …he used hotwired humbuckets that were custom-made. If I got this Guitar and probably will the only thing I’ll change is the pick ups to nail down his older and newer sounds at the same time… Tony is the godfather of heavy metal guitar, they should write a movie about this guy. He overcame so much after such a tragedy, thanks for teaching me how to play heavy metal guitar tony, it’s been an inspirational experience in my life anyway, keep on rockin
Iommi used P90s. What are you talking about??
He had a Gibson P90 and a John Birch Superflux P90 in the bridge.
Very nice guitar! I have a similar Sg, a 2015 Epiphone G400 pro and its a very nice guitar. The Tony Iommi model is a nice guitar to have, its an awesome guitar with a reasonable price. Thanks for showcasing this guitar!
Just got one. I have two Gibson sg’s so this is the first Epi I have ever owned. My Sg’s have really thick necks so I’m pretty excited about this one.
How do you feel about this Epi now?
great review, thanks. i'm definitely in the market for this, now that the price dropped. i've never played a "chunkier" neck like that, i'm just wondering if it will be too big for my smaller hands. i have an ESP EC-1000 now and love it. i just want the p-90 and the fact that this is an iommi, even better.
great playing, love your reviews!
Love the fact that this has a real neck, not that slim taper popsicle stick every other SG has. Only thing that bothers me is I wish it had the bat wing pickguard and not those pick up rings.
I have an Epiphone ES335, that i bought with a hard case. 700 euro. Tony special profile neck, p 90s and so on, are all special production and throw things a bit off at the assembly line. Time is money. Price tag for the Toni...spot on.
Question. I've never had a wrap around bridge. Id run 11s on it. Will i have any tuning issues?
Excellent review and playing. Sounds Great.
Actually Tony Iommi did not chrome out the p90’s himself! Actually a man named John Diggins (Eventually “Jaydee”) would come up to him after a gig and ask him (Tony Iommi) to help make the guitar sound better (I could be mistaken). Tony Iommi later admitted in an interview with Gibson that he just let John take the guitar without thinking twice of whether he would have stolen the guitar from him. John Diggins would then configure and develop pickups of his own with a custom magnetic array called “Simplux”. “Simplux by John Diggins” with 12 magnets on one to increase the sustain or tone. John Diggins would then contact Tony Iommi and actually give the guitar back with modified pickups, a lower string tension (To make pressing on the fretboard easier with the thimblets. This would cause some problems however, as the guitar would frequently detune and is evident as if you listen to the 1970’s shows, recordings of Black Sabbath in the earlier days you can silently hear him tuning his guitar or checking the tuning after each song. Tony Iommi would then experiment with various bridges to prevent this problem, however it would work at slight success.) The wrap around bridge is called the “Lee Quan” Bridge.
I have one and it is a great guitar! Great playing and awesome breakdown of the guitar! But if you’re doing an Iommi guitar, you should’ve really thrown some Sabbath riffs in there.🤘🏻
Thank you! Copyright makes that hard, but I just dug this BS Paranoid riff medley out from our early videos haha: ua-cam.com/video/Na4HmE_qYUU/v-deo.html
Blue Cheer started heavy metal.
IMHO it's overpriced....it should have Gibson pups at this price point. Beautiful guitar and nice review as always !!!
150 Dollars for the monkey sticker... ;)
@@OliverAmberg 😆👌
I'm glad it's not Gibson, with only extra 300 dollar pickups, it would "worth" 2K now; being the "budget Gibson SG"
There is very little difference in sound between Gibson and Epiphone P90s. I have one and it sounds awesome. I also like the Epi case better than the Gibson. It's black with gold plush lining and golden latches! It is a three piece mahogany guitar just like the Gibson with Gibson electronics.
@@kimmontgomery6671 I own both and agree but, IMHO lacquer wins .
Great video as usual, used your link for a 50's Standard, very happy. Will continue to do so.
Hey that's awesome, thank you so much! I'm glad to hear you enjoy it, and thank you for watching and supporting the channel. I love the 50s Standard, great choice
I always enjoy the reviews, stay for the playing!
I appreciate that thanks for watching!
SG are the best looking rock guitar for me, I have one G 400 EPI whith Seymour Ducan pick ups ( Pearly gate in bridge position), but they are unbalanced, thin, and not very good in clear sound, my Strats are far better, you can play any music whith them.
Witch way does monkee sticker go
The tone of them P90s screams Robbie Krieger , another Sg player
Randy Rhoads #36 while Eddie Van Halen was at #8? Yeah right. Also, no Steve Vai, Joe Satriani or Yngwie Malmsteen on that Rolling Stone top 100?? This tells me that this is a completely biased list.
Vol 4 has p8cture with p90s smokin sound
Epiphone likes jipp. Putting knockoff Schaller tuners on that guitar
50s neck i like it damn monkee sticker goes wrong way mu son
Shame about the pup's... Should've had wax-potted overwound stacked P-90s instead of the standard Epiphone ones
Imagine being the bloke that swapped his lefthanded SG - I wonder what became of him?
I sometimes kick myself for buying the Gibson. I am on my third one and hoping this is a good one with out defects. I have never gotten a bad Epiphone. I hope I did not miss it but I am hoping for a review on the Gibson. Also your Epiphone is lighter in weight.
What all was wrong with the first two?
@@jordanpratt3821 Bad Paint problems.
@@garyp5522aha, I see. So you're waiting on the 3rd one to arrive?
No finally number three was a winner.
SWEET!!
It was his fretting hand that was injured
include monkey sticker ❓
Tony Iommi *IS* left handed
Correct! Thanks for watching
@@PlayandTradeGuitars You'll send folks rushing to Wikipedia with comments like that 😆
I did say he was left handed though lol, I always strive for perfect accuracy because yes I know I will hear about it in the comments otherwise haha
@@PlayandTradeGuitars I thought "was? 😯" And the vide had only been up for half an hour 😆
About £650-700 here for the Epi, about £2000 for The Gibson.
Is the USA made version worth £1.3k more?
The sky is blue
Thank you for this review! I would have loved to won that guitar that's a sweet guitar (the Gibson)... I am so angry at Epiphone! Bc I was so happy when I heard they were coming out with this guitar I'm a lefty and would have loved to have bought it you know I don't have a lot of money everything sounded perfect but that neck is god-awful! That cannot be historically accurate, because his was a 64 and those were "the thinnest neck guitars" advertised it that time. I mean seriously, who would buy a 1960s style SG and want a thick neck? Gibson makes so many other guitars with thick necks why did they have to ruin this one!?
Neck is not all that "thick" to me. I have sg's with slim taper necks and this one is not all that much different. If anything it's a little rounder, but not fat or anything at all like a '59 Les Paul or something. It is a very comfortable neck to me.
rolling stone sucks
Uneeda treble booster by black country
Man, this is a signature of a god and it looks lame. I'm bummed about this one, the one with crosses for inlays was sick.
It's a replica of his original guitar. It's historical significance is obviously lost on you. I guess you had to be there.
@@toddmoore2324 oh I’m very aware of the historical aspect, but for the cost not worth it.
Plastic pickup covers and the same pickups as used on the basic sg model ? Thar's a real cheap touch on a guitar at this price.
That fretboard looks awful