After much begging, Tony Iommi eventually persuaded Jaydee’s John Diggins to be his guitar tech for a US tour. Diggins thought a spare guitar might be handy, so he built what was to become Tony’s most iconic SG. It was also to function as a test bed for pickup designs, and Diggins came up with a number of bespoke designs. His humbuckers were narrower than Gibson’s but with huge output, and Tony eventually settled on a bridge pickup with blade polepieces. Iommi had struggled with poor intonation on his SG Specials, so Diggins went for a Schaller Badass bridge. His ebony fingerboard marked a shift towards 24-fret necks for metal, and the crucifix inlays gave Iommi his visual signature.
Completed in two weeks before a tour, the Old Boy flew to America with the lacquer still soft. The paint bubbled and flaked in the US heat, creating the battered, rusty appearance all metal fans recognise. It took some time to find the pickups Iommi liked, but the guitar finally made its recording debut on Heaven And Hell. From there it became Tony’s number 1, making it arguably the most metal guitar there has ever been.