Tony Iommi's Red special

During 2023, I was asked by Brian May's guitar tech Pete Malandrone, whether I would be interested in making Tony Iommi a custom Red Special. Obviously I said yes! - The only stipulation with the guitar was that the neck had to have the same overall feel as Tony's Jaydee 'Old Boy' guitar. So, I organised with Tony's management a date to go and see Tony, measure the neck on his famous guitar and gather a full spec for his custom Red Special.
I've been a massive fan of Tony's work since I first heard the first Black Sabbath album when I was a child, so it was a huge privilege to not only meet Tony, but to examine the guitar that was built and used for 'Heaven and hell' and the 'Mob rules' onwards. Tony's spec was that the guitar had to follow Brian's RS construction as close as possible, but it had to have the neck shape/dimensions, fingerboard radius and fret size of the 'Old boy' and had to have a built in Treble booster by Knight Audio Technologies.
Specification
  • ​​Blockboard body with Oak core and mahogany veneer.
  • Mahogany neck with black lacquered oak fingerboard with MOP dot markers.
  • 24 fine frets.
  • Black acrylic pick-guard, tremolo cover, pickups rings, truss rod cover and truss rod cover.
  • Switchcraft pickup on/off, phase switches.
  • Push button treble booster switch with red anodised switch button.
  • 3 Yonderbosk 'Tri-Sonic' pickups.
  • CTS Volume and Tone pots.
  • PureTone output jack socket.
  • Cybershop knobs, tremolo and bridge.
  • KAT treble booster.
  • Hoffee carbon fibre case.