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Gibson "Fool" SG?

pit_s_xroad

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Sep 6, 2005
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aaah...OK... thanks... :salude
guess the paint turned out to be too sticky...

PIT...
 

Cream Fan

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aaah...OK... thanks... :salude
guess the paint turned out to be too sticky...

PIT...

That was EXACTLY the problem. There's even a bit about that on page 64 in the Chris Welch CREAM book. For one thing oil paints never truly dry and artists usually shellac their canvasses to speed that along. Not a good choice of paint for a working instrument. The really surprising thing is that it held up as well as it did. However, if you ever see the real one up close, you will see that nearly all of it has been heavily retouched.
 

Tonebender

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May 19, 2004
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That was EXACTLY the problem. There's even a bit about that on page 64 in the Chris Welch CREAM book. For one thing oil paints never truly dry and artists usually shellac their canvasses to speed that along. Not a good choice of paint for a working instrument. The really surprising thing is that it held up as well as it did. However, if you ever see the real one up close, you will see that nearly all of it has been heavily retouched.


Retouched and renecked. Almost a totally new guitar.
 

Cream Fan

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Not exactly a re-neck, per se. The board is the original board. but the mahogany from the headstock to about the eighth fret was replaced because it had turned to cork from all of Clapton's sweat.
 

zosolp

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Oct 12, 2007
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hey does anyone know where the orginal is?
pictures of its current state would be nice
 

j45

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Todd Rundgren auctioned the original Fool SG thru Christies about 4 years ago. He has a replica of it now.

My close friend was Todd's guitar player for the "Nearly Human" tour and also played on the record. He got to play The Fool on occassion. Can you imagine? This guitar would thrill me 100 times more than seeing the Green/Moore.
 

redb

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Aug 18, 2007
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My close friend was Todd's guitar player for the "Nearly Human" tour and also played on the record. He got to play The Fool on occassion. Can you imagine? This guitar would thrill me 100 times more than seeing the Green/Moore.

Man, I dont know how you can distinguish between the beano, the moore burst, pagey's number one, hendrix's white strat, joe walsh's burst, clapton's fool sg etc.

All I know is, if I ever got the chance to play an instrument that was that important in the developement of rock and role, I would be very happy!
 

Tonebender

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May 19, 2004
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Nice job!
What does it say on back of the neck plate?
Sorry if this is off topic.

It's a quote from that `77 guitar player interview.
It says "I don't deal in technique, I deal in emotions." Jimmy Page


It's not an exact replica as I was going to be giving it as a gift to someone who plays alot. I wanted it to be bulletproof and able to take a massive pounding. The prototype that Jeff did was a dead on version and he's made others that are as well. In fact he's just finishing up one as we speak. I will say this though, he does the only dead on version of the Dragon around. Don't be fooled by others.

In any case I'm glad you like it.
 

j45

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Man, I dont know how you can distinguish between the beano, the moore burst, pagey's number one, hendrix's white strat, joe walsh's burst, clapton's fool sg etc.

All I know is, if I ever got the chance to play an instrument that was that important in the developement of rock and role, I would be very happy!


I know what you mean. I would put Clarence White's Tele near the top of that list, too. Still, I was able to hold the Green/Moore guitar and for some reason I didn't get any feeling of awe whatsoever. At one of the last Texas shows, they had Clapton's actual 335 along with Blackie on display in a glass case. I really didn't expect what happened next but I stood there for about 20 minutes just looking. It was like time stood still and I started to envision all of the history associated with the guitars. It was a real trip. I know it's all in our minds but that thing seemed to just radiate vibe.

gratuitous pics:

clapton335-1.jpg


clapton335blackie.jpg
 

Cream Fan

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It's interesting that there are Nylon saddles on that bridge. Usually, Gibson only put those on guitars with Vibrolas. Makes me wonder if Clapton put them on before, during or after Cream. Those would make a difference in the tone. Very interesting. I'll have to get out my jeweler's loop and see if I can spot those in any of the old pictures.
 

TM1

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Jun 27, 2003
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Gibson put nylon saddles on most of the guitars they made between `63-`66. Having worked on and seen well over a thousand early Sixties Gibson's, most of the ones I've seen had nylon saddles. I use to get requests back in the `70's to install the brass/nickel plated ones on guitars with the nylon saddles.
Jeff does incredible work! He did a "Rocky" Strat for me about 3-4 years ago.
 

TM1

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BTW, the reason Gibson went to nylon saddles was because they got complaints that their guitars were too bright sounding. The nylon was more mellow...
 

TheMiz

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Sep 2, 2002
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Anyone know what the duck bros are?

The name comes from Eric Clapton and Albert Lee messing around on the tour with a couple of Duck Callers. The name stuck, and the motif was stencilled onto all the flight cases on those tours. It was also thought that this might deter theft. In '83, Eric christened his record label 'Duck Records'. So there you go the rest is
rock and roll history !
 

Cream Fan

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BTW, the reason Gibson went to nylon saddles was because they got complaints that their guitars were too bright sounding. The nylon was more mellow...

Don, that's very interesting to know. That would explain why his 335 had that "pillowy" sound to it. I don't think the Fool SG had the Nylon saddles, though.
 

slikwili

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Dec 25, 2001
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Hey Tonebender... that DRAGON is pretty sweet! I bet that I know who you were wanting to gift it to! I just got my DRAGON from Jeff last Thursday; #JP005, "I'm just looking for an angel with a broken wing... " -Jimmy Page

Jeff is quite the artist & a hell of a nice guy!

Here's a thread I posted over at FMIC's site:

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?p=34542#34542

http://www.cqbarms.com/photos/albums/userpics/rhoda_page6.jpg

http://www.cqbarms.com/photos/albums/userpics/rhoda_page4.jpg
 
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