Frank Zappa’s storied ‘Baby Snakes’ SG is headed to auction for the first time, more than 50 years after he bought it off a budding luthier backstage in Phoenix.
The once-damaged SG copy was revived and Frankenstein'd by 19-year-old Bart Nagel, a student at Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery, before it was sold to Zappa in July 1974. Before the sale, Nagel replaced its neck for a three-piece mahogany construction, capped it with a 23-fret ebony fingerboard – an upgrade from the 22-fret original – and gave its body some elegant inlays and detailing.
