“When the Strat went, I couldn’t believe it. We went in to make our first album and the pickup went. I had to use the backup I kept on the side…” Tony Iommi was a Fender Stratocaster player before fate intervened – and he had to reach for his Gibson SG

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath performs at Ozzfest 2016 at San Manuel Amphitheater on September 24, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.

Tony Iommi is synonymous with the Gibson SG, but if it weren’t for an electronics mishap on the very first day of recording Black Sabbath’s debut album, he might have ended up playing a totally different electric guitar altogether.

As the heavy metal guitar legend explains in the new issue of Guitar World, he didn’t actually go into the studio that day armed with an SG. The SG he owned then was only his backup.