Eric Clapton has not often played Gibson SGs, but he did in Cream’s
18-month existence from mid-’66 to late-’68. His SG became a trippy-rock
icon and helped birth Clapton’s fabled “woman tone.” Here’s the tale of
Eric Clapton’s psychedelic “Fool” SG.
From Blues Breakers to Cream
Eric Clapton was known for playing a Les Paul Standard in John
Mayall’s Blues Breakers but his favorite “Beano” LP was famously stolen
from an early Cream rehearsal. To replace it, Clapton acquired an SG.
There are long-standing rumors that Clapton got the SG from his friend
George Harrison - the Beatle had famously played an SG on the Fabs’ “Day
Tripper” among others, but stopped playing SGs around the same time
Clapton got his. Was it Harrison’s same SG? Neither party ever confirmed
it.
Another mystery surrounding EC’s SG is its year of manufacture. Some
have thought that the SG is a 1961 - however with six screws in the
pickguard, it likely wasn’t, as six screwed pickguards were fitted to
SGs from the beginning of ‘64. It was likely a 1964 (or a ’65), but
we’ll never know - when the guitar was painted, the serial number was
sanded off.
According to Gibson, Th Fool was Clapton’s guitar was a 1964 regular issue SG Standard
In his 2007 autobiography, Clapton described how he linked up with
"The Fool" and approached them to add their own spin to his SG. "The
Fool were... two Dutch artists, Simon and Marjike, who had come over to
London from Amsterdam in 1966,” said Clapton, “and set up a studio
designing clothes, posters, and album covers. They painted mystical
themes in fantastic vibrant colors and had been taken up by The Beatles,
for whom they had created a vast three-story mural on the wall of their
Apple Boutique on Baker Street, London.
“They had also painted John Lennon's Rolls-Royce in lurid psychedelic
colors. I asked them to decorate one of my guitars, a Gibson Les Paul,
which they turned into a psychedelic fantasy, painting not just the
front and back of the body, but the neck and fretboard too.”
Clapton’s mention of a “Les Paul” adds to the understandable
confusion – ’61-’63 SGs were known as Les Paul SGs, but all other
evidence points to it being a ’64 SG. And, technically, Clapton is
wrong. The Fool artists didn’t paint Lennon’s Rolls-Royce, it was
English artist Steve Weaver, albeit based on an idea suggested by
Marijke Koger. And The Fool didn’t exist as a collective name when they
painted EC’s SG - Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger only adopted the Fool
alias later, when working for The Beatles’ Apple organisation.
The Fool Artwork
That said, The Fool duo’s work for Cream was not limited to just
Clapton’s SG. When Cream left the U.K. for a ’67 tour of the U.S, all
three members - bassist Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker, and Clapton -
had instruments with Fool finishes. The duo also designed clothes and
album covers for The Hollies, Procol Harum, the Move, and The Incredible
String Band around the same time.
Clapton’s SG was covered in white primer then painted with oil-based
enamel paint – not a recommended finish for any guitar. Marijke Koger
described the overall theme of the design as “good versus evil, heaven
versus hell, and the power of music in the universe to rise above it all
as a force of good.”
The Fool’s graphic was as weird as it was wonderful. There’s that
winged cherub with curls of fire sat astride a candy cloud: the big hair
on the head of the cherub, the centerpiece of The Fool’s artwork, was
inspired by Clapton’s own white-‘fro of the time. The cherub’s left hand
is grasping a triangle, while his right hand holds a spoon-shaped
beater. The arch of his right foot is balanced on top of the rear tone
control. Six-sided yellow stars orbit around him. Swirling circles of
blues, greens, and yellows adorn the rest of the body, with a sun and
mountain range on the pickguard.
Mods And Tones
When Clapton first began playing the SG, it was still fitted with the
original Deluxe Vibrola arm; Clapton simply fixed the mechanism in
place with arm reversed. The vibrato bar was eventually removed and
replaced with two other tailpieces: another Gibson tremolo with a
flexible piece of metal instead of springs; and a non-tremolo
trapeze-style unit. The tuners were changed from the factory-issue
Klusons to Grovers.
Vibrola Arm and Antique Grover tuners
But armed with The Fool SG, Eric Clapton hit upon what’s become known as “the woman tone.” In 1967, Clapton told Beat Instrumental,
“I am playing more smoothly now. I’m developing what I call my ‘woman
tone.’ It’s a sweet sound, something like the solo on “I Feel Free.” It
is more like the human voice than the guitar. You wouldn’t think it was a
guitar for the first few passages. It calls for the correct use of
distortion.”
Essentially, it was originally the sound of his PAF-loaded Gibson SG,
plugged into a Marshall amplifier with the tone setting(s) on the
guitar turned almost all the way down and the volume full up. “Sunshine
of Your Love,” “Tales of Brave Ulysses,” and “Strange Brew” are also
classic “woman tone” tracks. Listen to Cream’s Disraeli Gears for maximum Fool SG action.
The Fool SG looked stunning, but was that finish practical? No. The
guitar made its debut in 25 March 1967 at the RKO Theater in New York
City, Cream's first U.S show. But in time, paint chips flaked off the
neck as Clapton played. Eventually, all the excess paint was gone.
Before long, Clapton began using Gibson ES-335s and Firebirds and one
day, he reportedly left the guitar with George Harrison, and never
returned for it.
This further adds to the rumor the SG was an original of Harrison’s,
but perhaps not? After all, Harrison was another fan of psychedelic
finishes. What is known is that Harrison’s main ’64 Gibson SG Standard
(red) for Revolver sessions and onwards was given to Pete Ham,
the front man of Badfinger. It was auctioned for $570,000 in 2004. You
can see Harrison’s primary red SG in the video for The Beatles’ “Rain.”
The Fool SG Beyond Eric Clapton
If the Fool SG did go to Harrison, it was only very briefly, and the
Fool SG was soon in the possession of Jackie Lomax – George and Eric
were then both working with the Liverpool singer-songwriter on his album
Is That What You Want? Lomax owned the Fool SG for four years
before selling it to Todd Rundgren for $500. Rundgren played The Fool
live a lot in the ‘70s, but it was bruised and battered. Lomax had been
using it as a lap guitar, even adding a wooden bridge. Todd restored
paintwork and replaced the bridge, but the Fool SG wasn’t fit to
regularly tour long-term.
Of when he acquired The Fool, Rundgren told Vintage Guitar,
“The neck was all beat up, especially near the headstock. Eric had
played the guitar so much that he had worn the finish off the neck, so
it was just bare wood and was rotting, essentially, because so much
sweat had gone into the wood. It was like balsa wood at that point.”
Todd had replicas made that he called “Sunny,” after Cream’s
“Sunshine of your Love.” Rundgren was no stranger to the original,
though – he was in the audience when Clapton and Cream debuted with the
original Fool SG in NYC, ’67.
In 2000, Rundgren auctioned the Fool SG guitar for $150,000, with 10
percent of the proceeds going to Clapton's Crossroads Antigua
Rehabilitation Center. But Rundgren was angered by the low auction price
– Todd even took legal action (later settled) against the auction house
for poor promotion of the sale.
It was later re-sold to a private unknown collector for $500,000.
Even one of Rundgren’s Sunny replicas has become famed – it was recently
on display at Rick Nielsen’s exhibition in Rockford, Illinois: “Rick’s Picks: A Lifelong Affair With Guitars & Music.” Sunny is now back with Rundgren for his 2013 appearances with Ringo’s All-Starr Band.
And Clapton’s original Fool SG? It was last publicly available for
viewing at various Hard Rock Café exhibitions in the U.S – though some
still dispute whether the guitar on display was the bona fide original, or more replicas. Only the Fool’s current owner knows for sure.
To some, The Fool SG may just be another guitar with a wacky paint
job. But to Clapton, it was a key guitar in his sound and the
flourishing of ‘60s psychedelic rock. To many, it’s the guitar that gave
Eric Clapton’s greatest-ever tone.
Here’s Eric Clapton interviewed in 1968 with his Fool SG talking about “woman tone.”
Courtesy of GIBSON
The best original Re-Issue avalable to be customized with the Fool Artwork, currently is:
Introduced more than a half-century ago, the Gibson SG Standard achieved
legendary status almost from the moment it hit the scene in 1961. This
sleek double-cutaway rocker had a slim, light body but no shortage of
power and sustain, and the kind of fast playability that the guitar
world had not previously experienced. Originally introduced as a
replacement for the single-cutaway Les Paul, the SG held firm even after
the LP’s return in the late ’60s, and has retained its iconic status
with rock and blues players ever since, while displaying its versatility
by making inroads into virtually all other types of amplified music. To
pay homage to the original image of the 1961 SG Standard, Gibson
introduces the SG ’61 Reissue Satin, a guitar that packs all the most
desirable features of vintage SGs, with a great “satin” finish that
gives it the look and feel of a well-aged classic, in your choice of
Worn Cherry, Worn Brown or Satin Ebony, all in hand-sprayed
nitrocellulose lacquer.
Like the original 1961 SG and all of the classic variations since, the
SG ’61 Reissue Satin has a body crafted from solid mahogany in the
asymmetrical “double-horned” deep double-cutaway design. A light and
supremely resonant wood, mahogany gives this guitar outstanding tonal
richness and depth, with plenty of clarity and sustain. Coupled with the
SG’s characteristic beveled edge—a big part of this model’s distinctive
styling—the mahogany’s light weight also enhances playing comfort, and
the fine grain of the Grade-A timbers used beneath the semi-transparent
Worn Cherry and Worn Brown finishes look superb, too. The guitar’s
quarter-sawn mahogany neck is carved in a slim tapered profile that
measures .800” at the 1st fret and .890” at the 12th. It is glued into
the body with Gibson’s acclaimed mortise-and-tenon neck joint, and
topped with a rich, brown baked maple fingerboard with 22 medium-jumbo
frets and vintage cream binding. Acrylic trapezoid fingerboard inlays, a
mother-of-pearl headstock logo and holly inlay, and the smaller
five-ply early ’60s pickguard round out the package visually.
Making this reissue the best tonal performer it can be, Gibson USA loads
the SG ’61 Reissue Satin with a pair of the most accurate PAF-styled
humbuckers available today. The 57 Classics in the neck and bridge
position are made with genuine Alnico II magnets, and wound with 42-AWG
enamel-coated wire just like the originals. To make them more versatile
for today’s high-volume music, the coils are wax potted to combat
microphonic squeal. Routed through the classic configuration of an
independent volume and tone control for each pickup and a three-way
toggle switch, this pair gives you warm yet articulate voices from the
neck position, crunchy and singing bridge tones, and sweet round sounds
in between. It’s all anchored by the classic pairing of ABR-1
Tune-o-matic bridge and stopbar tailpiece, with a set of TonePros™
vintage-style tulip-button tuners installed at the other side of the
PLEK-cut Corian nut. Add it up, and the SG ’61 Reissue Satin is one
powerful and elegant slice of vintage Gibson.
Each guitar includes a Gibson hardshell case and owner's manual, and is
covered by Gibson's Limited Lifetime Warranty and 24/7/365 Customer
Service.
ANOTHER CUSTOM SG OPTION
Gibson SG Standard VOS Reissue Features:
- Color: Faded Cherry
- Body Type: Solidbody
- Neck Wood: Mahogany
- Neck Shape: Slim-taper profile
- Top Wood: Mahogany
- Back Wood: N/A
- Side Wood: N/A
- Machine Heads: Vintage tulips
- Scale Length: 24 3/4 inches
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
- No. of Frets: 22
- Position Markers: Acrylic trapezoid
- Pickups: Burstbucker 1 and 2
- Controls: Two volume, two tone
- Pickup Switching: Three position toggle
- Bridge/Tailpiece: Tune-o-matic with stop tailpiece
- Hardware: Nickel
- Case: Custom Shop hardshell
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