Gibson has relaunched its first ever signature pickup – the Tony Iommi humbucker: $229.00 for ONE PICKUP

GreatRedDragon said:
It came stock in his signature SGs. The pickup was designed to sound like the bridge pickup in his Jaydee Old Boy, but in a standard humbucker housing.

I think the first recording with that guitar was the Reunion live album. He used it for the songs tuned down to C#.

Any Gibson he uses has those pickups in it. He had two of his signature SGs, one in red and one in black. The red one was stolen at the Dio tribute concert. The black one was used on the 13 tour for the new songs. He also has a white two-pickup SG Custom and a black SG Standard with Floyd Roses, used for Mob Rules on the last Dio tours.


His only main guitar with P90s was his Monkey SG, which he only used on the first six Sabbath albums/tours. He retired the Monkey in favor of John Birch and Jaydee guitars, which use high output minihumbuckers. He had a brief endorsement using Patrick Eggle guitars with a Seymour Duncan signature humbucker, which is still available from the Custom Shop as the El Diablo, before getting in bed with Gibson with the signature humbucker.
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Yeah, and the first 4 of those albums are the tones most people after his vibe chase. Me included.

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'61 RI with a BG Pure 90 bridge + TV Jones T-Armond neck, and tuned to C#. Through my Keeley Java, and Hiwatt or Matamp it brings that vibe hard.
 
Honestly, why not.. if 100-150 gets you a duncan, well 150-200 is Duncan custom shop? Well, they are pricing themselves in with the cork sniffers so you need to start at the right price for that.
 
I love his mid 80's - 90's tone; Seventh Star is fantastic, Tony Martin albums & related live tours were great.
I assume this period would have been mainly the JayDee guitars & pickups?
 
Anje said:
I love his mid 80's - 90's tone; Seventh Star is fantastic, Tony Martin albums & related live tours were great.
I assume this period would have been mainly the JayDee guitars & pickups?
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Yes.

The Monkey, a 1965 SG Special, was his main guitar until 1975. The original bridge P90 was encased in a metal shell, potted in epoxy and possibly rewound, while the neck P90 was replaced with a John Birch P90. The wraparound bridge was also replaced with a TOM bridge. It was used on the first six albums, with a few documented exceptions: Wicked World was recorded with his white Strat, while Paranoid was recorded with his white SG Custom.

He replaced the Monkey with a black John Birch SG, which IIRC was actually built by John Diggins. This guitar was the first to have the silver cross inlays, and was loaded with John Birch Magnum and Hyperflux minihumbuckers. This guitar is easily identifiable by the metal pickguard. This guitar was first used in the studio on Sabotage, and was the primary instrument for Technical Ecstasy, Never Say Die, Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules.

John Diggins built a back-up for the Birch SG, which was first used on Heaven and Hell, with a custom dual-rail bridge pickup and a clear pickguard. This guitar became Tony's #1, the Old Boy, starting with the Born Again era and through the rest of his career. The Gibson signature SG from the 90s was based on this guitar and getting its sound into a production model.

For the 13 tour Tony had John Diggins build additional Old Boys. A replica of the original was made, as were red and white variations. The red was used for songs tuned to D Standard (songs from the first two albums), the replica was used for songs tuned to C Standard (most songs from Master of Reality and Volume 4), and the white was tuned to C# (for Children of the Grave and Dirty Women). He also had a version of the Monkey made by Lou Moritz, an Iommi superfan, with Monkey aesthetic but Old Boy features, and this used Jaydee's Old Boy pickups. The song Loner off 13 was recorded with this guitar, and it was used for the 13 songs on the first leg of the 13 tour, and as a backup for those songs on the rest of the tour (I followed its construction on the MyLesPaul forum, and then saw Tony play it live in 2013 - a trippy experience). He also used the Moritz SG in the recent footage of him jamming on Paranoid with Brian May. Pretty cool.

The Gibson Iommi humbucker was used in the Custom Shop, USA and Epiphone models, making the Epiphone models quite a steal. They've been out of production for a long time now, and used prices have gotten high, so that's likely a reason for the premium pricetag.

John Diggins died last year, but his sons carry on the business and will happily build you replicas of the Old Boy, John Birch and Monkey pickups. I've got a brand new Jaydee Old Boy bridge pickup I'm going to put in my 2004 SG Junior, I'm just waiting on a custom pickguard. The pickup was pricey but still less than the Gibson pickup, and IMO about a million times cooler.

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Thanks for sharing the details; I remember the sad news of John's passing. I got his book, looks nice I still need to dig into it.
That's great to know his son keeps the business alive; those pickups in the P90/miniHum size sure look great. Looking forward to your feedback on it.
Putting together a Tony inspired old SG Special has been on my project list for a long time.
 
Anje said:
Thanks for sharing the details; I remember the sad news of John's passing. I got his book, looks nice I still need to dig into it.
That's great to know his son keeps the business alive; those pickups in the P90/miniHum size sure look great. Looking forward to your feedback on it.
Putting together a Tony inspired old SG Special has been on my project list for a long time.
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One thing I can say so far, this pickup is heavy. It's a sealed metal case, not a cover, and there is definitely an aura to it as well.
 
GreatRedDragon said:
One thing I can say so far, this pickup is heavy. It's a sealed metal case, not a cover, and there is definitely an aura to it as well.
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That has fat rails on it just like the Lollar DB. I have the Lollar, the thing is like hitting a hammer against an anvil when you pick the notes. Incredible pickup and yes, very heavy also.
 
I picked up this 2003 Epi Iommi sig a few years ago with a hsc for $200 CAD. It has the Gibson USA Iommi sig pups and they sound great IMO. They were actually Gibson's first PAF pickup since the original "PAF" was made. They have both ceramic and A2 magnets and the neck and bridge are the same pickup. These versions have a black chrome finish.


"At the 1996 Musik Messe (the international trade show) in Frankfurt, Germany, Tony approached Gibson to see if we could duplicate the powerful, punchy sound of his custom pickups. Gibson's R&D head J.T. Riboloff successfully duplicated the complex combination of tones that makes Tony's guitar so instantly recognisable. Tony says he actually likes the sound of these pickups better than his originals, and he's had several new custom-made Gibson SG's loaded with them. The Tony Iommi signature is easily recognisable by its closed chrome cover, which adds a clean, distinctive look. On the underside, it carries Gibson's famous "Patent Applied For" decal, indicating Gibson's intention of protecting its unique construction."


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