Tony Iommi wanted to buy his legendary “Monkey” SG back from the Hard Rock Cafe but they wouldn’t honour the original deal
When Tony Iommi sold his iconic Gibson “Monkey” SG to the Hard Rock Cafe, he did so under the condition that he could buy it back whenever he wanted for the same price, he reveals in a new interview with Guitar World.
However, when he did try to get it back some years ago, the Hard Rock “knew nothing about the deal”, because the man responsible for procuring memorabilia for the company, and with whom Iommi dealt to finalise the sale, had passed away.
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“The guy who used to buy memorabilia for the Hard Rock came to England and visited me,” he says. “He wanted to buy some stuff and I said it should be fine. I’d retired the Monkey SG because it was too valuable to me; I didn’t want to take it on the road and risk it getting damaged.
“He offered to buy it and it seemed like a good idea because the guitar could be displayed for people to see and kept safe, instead of sitting in a case somewhere in my storage. But the deal was if I ever wanted it back, I could let him know and buy it back for the same price. It seemed fair enough, a good deal.”
He continues: “Anyway, he passed away, so that was it. We tried to get in touch with Hard Rock to get it back and they knew nothing about the deal.”
Hard Rock did, however, allow Gibson to temporarily take the guitar in order to “copy it exactly” for the Tony Iommi SG Monkey, which arrived in 2020.
“They made the replicas; I think we did about 50 of them and I own two of those. I have to say they are exactly like that one I owned and they are what I used in the studio. They have the same knocks and bumps as the original, plus the little monkey sticker. It’s the same guitar, basically.”
Speaking to Guitarist in 2020, Tony Iommi said he’d used the “Monkey” SG on “all the first four or five” Black Sabbath albums, “and bits on the others after that.
“Eventually, I retired it, because I was worried about taking it on the road,” he said [via Ultimate Guitar].
“It used to always travel with me in the room and I would never lose sight of it; I wouldn’t leave it on its own, you know, in case somebody nicked it. [Chuckles] Because that was, for me, I couldn’t just pick up another guitar – it had to be right.
“So it was really precious for me and I was really worried about it. If I left it in a room and if somebody took it, that’s it, I’m finished, you know? No gigs. Because I didn’t have a backup of it.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
