Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Tony Iommi and Epiphone Reveal Updated Tony Iommi SG Special

Tony Iommi and Epiphone Reveal Updated Tony Iommi SG Special

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and Epiphone partner on a new version of his beloved SG.


The Epiphone Tony Iommi SG Special features a two-piece mahogany body, a bound one-piece mahogany neck with a rounded profile, an Indian laurel fretboard with 22 frets, a Graph Tech nut, Grover Rotomatic tuners with contemporary style buttons and chrome-covered Epiphone PRO P-90 pickups that are wired to CTS potentiometers and Orange Drop capacitors. A static cling reproduction of Tony’s “Monkey” sticker is in the included hardshell case. The new Epiphone Tony Iommi SG Special is available in both left and right-handed versions.

Tony Iommi's riffs, heavy tones, and influential albums helped creat the blueprint for heavy metal and many other genres to follow. After an early accident that almost ended his career as a guitarist, Tony persevered to become universally revered. And while Tony’s innovative tuning and playing styles have always been a major part of his monstrous tones, his original, heavily--modified 1964 Gibson SG Special, nick-named "Monkey" was at the center of it all.

Tony Iommi is synonymous with heavy rock, his innovative, de-tuned, dark riffs are considered to be the blueprint for hundreds of bands that followed. Born on February 19, 1948, in Birmingham, England, left-handed Tony picked up the guitar after being inspired by the likes of Hank Marvin & the Shadows as a teenager. Iommi’s musical career was nearly derailed prematurely as he suffered a horrible accident at a sheet metal factory, when a machine sliced off the tips of the fingers on his right hand. Figuring that his guitar playing days were behind him, a friend turned him onto guitarist Django Reinhardt (who lost use of two fingers in a gypsy caravan campfire accident), inspiring Tony to give the six-string another go, with soft plastic tips attached to the ends of his fingers. By 1967, he had played with several blues-based rock bands one of which evolved into Polka Tulk (later titled Earth and then Black Sabbath), with bassist Terry “Geezer” Butler, drummer Bill Ward , and singer John “Ozzy” Osbourne.

Epiphone Tony Iommi SG Special

$999.00 USD. More info at epiphone.com.

Day 12 of Stompboxtober means a chance to win today’s pedal from LR Baggs! Enter now and check back tomorrow for more!

Read MoreShow less

Mastodon's lead guitarist teams up with the Does It Doom creator Steve Reis to make a dream V come true with a sleek silverburst finish and alnico-V PAF humbuckers.

Woodrite Guitars, alongside with Dirty B himself, proudly presents the 'Dirty B' Signature Vagabond, a high-performance guitar that delivers on both craftsmanship and tone. The instrument's mahogany body and bound mahogany neck a repaired with a sleek Macassar ebony fingerboard, featuring distinctive custom "Mastogyph" inlays. Its silverburst finish adds to the guitar’s striking appearance, while stainless steel frets, Tonepros hardware, and Grover tuners provide the durability and precision expected in a professional-grade instrument.

Read MoreShow less

With its ability to dial in custom reverb, delay, and chorus settings without needing any extra equipment and intuitive looper and Bluetooth audio functions, the TAG3 C is designed to make it easier than ever to write, practice, and perform.

Read MoreShow less

Classic guitar face, courtesy of the author.

Ever watch a video of yourself playing guitar and wonder why you do “that thing” with your face?

When I was 16, my parents came to see me play in a bar. (Montana in the ’80s was pretty cavalier about the drinking age.) On a break, I sat with my parents, and my father said, “Boy, you really move your mouth a lot when you play. Why do you do that?”

Read MoreShow less