MY NEW ARRIVAL

I just receive my Fool Reproduction from Guitar Hangar (thanks Rick!). Had only time to open the box, drool over the beautiful and unique artwork and plug it a few minutes to the Marshall. Even without playing it, I am already jumping of joy.

 Do I have a face of delight? LOL

Close up of the baby

My FB Timeline

BTW: I dislike the Harmonica Bridge! (I'm in the process of changing it for a Tune-o-matic): Oohps.. confirmed, cannot change it.

THE UNIQUE FOOL GIBSON SG

New findings on the creation of The Fool:

Clapton had purchased the guitar only a few months earlier at the beginning of 1967. This would become his main axe for the next two years. Eric would use the cherry finish double cutaway for both live and studio work; it would be featured prominently on Disraeli Gears and would also appear on Wheels of Fire, Goodbye, and on the subsequent live albums, Live Cream and Live Cream Volume II. 

Clapton plays the Fool during his Albert Hall reunion in 2005

The legend of the Psychedelic SG ― as it was sometimes referred to ― was oft-told and varied from telling to telling. Clapton’s Les Paul Standard had been stolen and replaced with this Gibson. Initially, everyone referred to it as a Les Paul SG. But they were wrong. Les Paul did not like the new SG design and asked that his name be taken off the model. By 1963, the guitars were known simply as SG Standards.

There were no Les Paul SGs in 1964.

Not only was it identified incorrectly model-wise, but everyone also goofed up the year. Originally, everybody thought it was a 1961; a close examination of the body revealed a sixth screw hiding just under the lower left corner of the bridge pickup. Prior to 1964, only four screws were used. That was the giveaway.

Clapton’s guitar, then, was a 1964 regular issue SG Standard.

When he first began playing the Gibson, the guitar was still fitted with the original Deluxe Vibrolo tremolo arm; Clapton simply fixed the mechanism in place. 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 tuning heads were switched out from the standard-issue ivoroid Klusons to Grovers.

And then there was that trippy acid-influenced paint job by the Fool. A Dutch design collective and band (they released one eponymous album produced by Graham Nash), the original members were artists Simon Posthuma and Marijke Koger. The hippie pair had designed clothes and album covers for the Hollies, Procol Harum, the Move, and the Incredible String Band. But it was after seeing what they’d created for the Beatles pals that Eric fell under the influence.

Simon and Marijke had psychedelicized one of George Harrison’s Stratocasters and transformed both John Lennon’s piano and one of his Gibson acoustics. They’d also illustrated an astonishing three-storey mural on one of the exterior walls of the Beatles' Apple Boutique in London.

Eric saw that and knew immediately he wanted his recently-acquired Gibson SG turned Fool-ishly psychedelic. The original cherry finish was given a coat of white primer and then the oil-based paints were applied on top. Brushed-on enamels. Every inch of the instrument was painted including the back of the neck and even the fretboard.

Maybe not such a great idea at the time.

The psychedelic graphic was as weird as it was beautiful. A winged wood sprite with curls of fire sat astride a cotton candy cloud. His left hand grasped a triangle while his right hand held a spoon-shaped beater about to strike it. The arch of his right foot balanced gently atop a tone control, while the toes on his left pointed delicately downwards towards a pickup’s toggle switch. Yellow six-sided stars sprinkled against a sky of azure and aqua orbited him. Swirls, flames and gradient shades of blues, greens, and yellows danced across the instrument’s body. An orange orb dipped behind a burnt sienna mountain range that floated across the pickguard.

During live performances, paint chips literally flaked and flecked off the neck while Clapton played. Eventually, all the excess paint was permanently removed. Soon, Clapton began using Gibson ES-335s and Firebirds. One day, he simply left the guitar with George Harrison, who was a friend, and never returned for it.

Around June 1968, the Beatle, in turn, loaned it to Jackie Lomax. The singer was signed at the time to Apple Records and George knew he needed a guitar so he gave Jackie the legendary SG.

In 1971, while in Woodstock, New York, Lomax and Rundgren met at a session and became friends. Rundgren was astonished when he learned that Lomax owned that very same guitar he’d seen hanging from Eric Clapton’s neck. He told Jackie about seeing the guitar back in ’67 and what an impression it had made on him.

A year later, in 1972, to Rundgren’s shock, Lomax offered to sell him the guitar for $500. Lomax’s only caveat was that he had the option to buy the guitar back. A year passed and not a word was heard.

Rundgren restored and sealed the body to prevent any further deterioration, replaced the rotting headstock, and retouched the paint. A fixed stop tailpiece was installed along with a Tune-o-matic bridge, Strap Locks, and new knobs. The guitar’s guts were left intact and none of the electronics, wiring, or pickups were touched. He named Sunny as a nod towards the instrument’s appearance on the Disraeli Gears track, “Sunshine of Your Love.” The Fool SG became his main instrument until it was retired in the late ’70s.

“Todd never played the guitar after we told him we found it,” Waldo said.

In 2000, Rundgren sold the Psychedelic Fool Gibson SG at a Sotheby’s silent auction, where it  brought $150,000. This anonymous buyer re-sold the instrument several years later for an estimated $ 500.000

CREDIT: The Fool 2010 Facebook page. 

 

Eric Clapton made the Fool Gibson SG famous.

THE BASIC GIBSON SG GUITAR

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

 

THE CREATORS OF THE FOOL ARTWORK

THE DUTCH FOOL COLLECTIVE

artwork from their 1967 Vinyl  

Thanks Sharon: It's thanks to  persons like you that history can be kept and shared.
Visit Sharon's website. 

Drop by George Harrison's place in Surrey and your eye is drawn to his fireplace, opulently decorated all over with highly-coloured painted scenes of lush reclining figures and drooping vegetation. The same fauna and flora bustle over John Lennon's piano and the guitars and drums of The Cream. The same style is apparent on the dream-like covers of the new LPs of The Hollies and The Incredible String Band. Should you wonder where The Procul Harem got their scarlet performing clothes or what Marianne Faithfull can have been wearing as she rushed through airport customs, the source is the same: The Fool.

The Fool: Simon (left), Marijke, Barrie and Josie, at home in Montagu Square, London.

Since The Fool (they take their name from the joker in tarot cards) arrived in Britain a year ago from Holland via North Africa, they have found that the way they dress, paint, and the way they think have become an influential part of the pop scene. In the new year, for the first time, their clothes and paintings will be on sale to everyone. The four who are 'The Fool' live and work together behind a pretty midnight-blue door decorated with six-pointed yellow stars in Montagu Square. Simon Posthuma, at 28, is the eldest: tall, Van Dyck featured, with long, black, curling cavalier hair. He is painter and mentor to the group. Marijke Koger, 23, with long blond hair, was a commercial artist in Amsterdam and she now designs posters and clothes along with Josie Leeger, 24, who formely marketed her own fashions in Holland. The only British member, Barrie Finch, 24, met the others when he was working in publicity for the Saville Theatre and got them to do a poster for a pop concert. Impressed with their exotic talents, he found it easy to settle down as their full-time organiser, promoting their ideas of hippy 'love' along with them.

Tall and curly haired, Josie Leeger wears clothes of her own design which always pile layer upon layer of exotically shaped garments upon one another, each in a sumptuous material. The Fool group love to buy many of their fabrics from Liberty's furnishing department.

Visit them any day of the week, even on a monday morning, and they open the door caparisoned in splendour. In the living room, hung with fringed shawls, their own paintings, and musical instruments and heavy with the scent of joss sticks - Barrie is wearing a blue silk trouser suit, rajah-collared, with bright silk collages on the chest. Simon is in dark-red knee-high boots with patterned Turkish pants billowing over the tops. His blouse is full-sleevd, of patterned silk with a jewelled chain over it. Marijke wears a blue-patterned headscarf held on by a narrow shaped cap that has a Hans Anderson flavour. Over her flared, red and orange mini-skirt she wears a multi-coloured blouse; over the blouse a green brocade jerkin; and over the jerkin a silk coat with long wide sleeves. Josie with short, dark, curly hair has on red tights and sandals, a different red mini-skirt with a gypsy flavour. Over her indian silk blouse a patterned bodice and over that an embroidered neckband and collar. It's like a non-stop production of 'Scheherezade'.

Simon and Marijke appear to be figures from a fairy tale. With his cavalier locks Simon carries off the red velvet Turkish cape and brocade pants with ease. Marijke goes in for a delicate green and blue silk coat with wide flowing sleeves, Designs like their clothes will be on sale at their new boutique opening at 94 Baker Street, London W1, later this month.

VIDEO: The Fool'sappearance in the film 'Wonderwall' 1968

So effectively do they wear these romantic clothes that in less than a year they have become cult figures on the London pop scene. The ultimate proof of this was when they were asked to appear in a forthcoming film, 'Wonderwall', as themselves. It was clothes like these that made the Beatles' wives envious when they met the Dutch group. These surely were the most beautiful people of all. The Fool group made a number of outfits for Cynthia Lennon and Patti Harrison, so that by the time the Maharishi arrived on the scene the girls were already dressed for the part. Their clothes were such a success and so unlike anything else around in the summer that the Beatles decided to set up the Dutch group in a shop, financing it from their company called 'Apple' which has a moneyed finger in a number of pies. The shop open this month at 94 Baker Street, is wholly designed by the Fool. Simon says "It will have an image of nature, like a paradise with plants and animals painted on the walls. The floor will be imitation grass and the staircase like an Arab tent. In the windows will be seven figures representing the seven races of the world, black, white, yellow, red etc. There will be exotic lighting and we will make it more like a market than a boutique." It will sell their paintings as well, and the jewellery they are going to import from Morocco, children's clothes in the same style and birthday cards and posters. It will even sell small musical instruments. 

The Fool's costume for a forthcoming ballet, 'Adam and Eve'

The clothes that Marijke and Josie have designed for the shop - they completed about 100 new outfits - are already in production. Some of the samples are an orange, embossed-velvet coat with long sleeves, narrow at the wrist but puffed above the elbow. It is aimed to sell at about 10 guineas. There are brocade trouser suits and heavy tapestry outdoor coats, mini-skirts with long skirts to add for evening at about 7 guineas. The Patterns are a little less riotous than the Fool wear themselves but, says Marijke, "It's a gradual evolution for the people who will wear our clothes as it was for us. We have been dressing like this for eight years but gradually we  have added things. Boys and girls can't go to the offices dressed quite like we are. But we have made velvet suits for boys and dresses for girls that they could begin to wear everywhere. And gradually they will add extra things - a pretty bodice on top of something they may already have  - and they will learn to be more creative. That's how it should be for them to do something too."  All four believe that bombarding their generation with exotic colours and clothes is a missionary work, and part of spreading their view of life. Says Simon in expressive if sometimes Dutch english, "When they used to open shops it was just after the bread of the people, not turning them on. We want to turn them on. Our ideas are based on love. If you're doing things for people you must be part of the people. Not set yourself up as something extraordinary." They believe fashion reflects the fact that the world is shrinking. Marijke says, "All the people of the earth are forced to come together now and this expresses itself in fashion. Our ideas come from every country - India, China, Russia, Turkey. And from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first centuries. There's a bit of everything.

  Elements of many lands, many periods, mix in Marijke's designs

Charming and high minded, they are vegetarians and tee-total. "We believe in reincarnation," Simon asserts. "It is the only logical idea. Once we thought about it we just knew that it was true. You are what you made yourself. And every race and nationality is joined. There is a general spirit of revival going on. And we should be governed by people who have regard for own spiritual life. In future people will have more leisure and they will have to develop their inner eye. They will want to get to know the supreme power, love." Though their flat is scattered with books by Rudolf Steiner and a dutch medium, Josef Rudolf, the Fool feel the pull which the whole pop world is experiencing from the Orient, "a fund of spiritual strength", they say. Then they must have been among those who went to hear the Maharishi on his last visit to England? For a moment an expression of sinful pride, like that of a bourgeois who has bought a colour television, crosses their faces. "No," they say quietly. "We have our own swami."

Fashion drawing by Marijke: like all her designs, it has a hothouse, flower child appeal.