"The Fool"

1963 Gibson Les Paul SG Standard "The Fool"

This 13-inch-wide SG Standard weighs just 6.90 lbs. Solid Honduras mahogany body with beveled edges, one-piece mahogany neck with a nut width of 1 5/8 inches, a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4 inches and a typical '63 medium-to thick profile. Recently hand painted to "The Fool" by artist Rick Daskam. Brazilian rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and inlaid pearl trapezoid (crown) position markers. Headstock with inlaid pearl "Gibson" logo and pearl crown inlay. Individual chrome-plated Grover Roto-Matic tuners with half-moon metal buttons. Three-layer (black over white) plastic bell-shaped truss-rod cover with "Les Paul" engraved in white. Serial number "97531" impressed into the back of the headstock (now covered by 'The Fool' paint job). Two original Gibson patent-number humbucking pickups, each with remnants of original rectangular black labels on  the underside with "Patent No 2,737,842", with outputs of 7.56k and 7.75k. Original "MR 491 / M-69 7" and "MR 490 / M-69 8" black pickup rings. Five-layer (black over white) plastic pickguard with six screws (now covered by 'The Fool' paint job). Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch, all on lower treble bout. The potentiometers are stamped "134 6241" (Centralab October 1962). Black plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic 'retainer' bridge with metal saddles. Period 'stud' tailpiece. All hardware nickel-plated. Housed in its original Gibson five-latch "Faultless" black hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.00).

As per the specifications of the original guitar, which was given by Eric Clapton to George Harrison, who then gave it to Todd Rundgren in 1974, the following changes have been made: the tuners have been replaced with mid-sixties chrome-plated Grover Roto-Matic tuners with half-moon metal buttons and the original trapeze-style vibrato tailpiece has been replaced with a correct period 'stud' tailpiece. And now for the best part... the guitar has been hand-painted with a brush exactly like the original. It was painstakingly researched from every angle before setting out to create the ultimate SG ''Fool'' reproduction. This guitar is as close to the original as you are going to find, period. Every inch of this guitar was hand-painted by artist Rick Daskam, and then 'clear-coated' to protect the artwork. We took detailed photographs of this guitar before the 'Fool' paint job and we instructed the artist to leave the original serial number "97531" (ca. Feb 1963) showing through a small rectangular 'window' on the back of the headstock - unfortunately he did not follow our instructions and he painted over the original serial number. Fretted Americana herby guarantees that the guitar is an original 1963 Gibson SG Les Paul serial number "97531". Rick Daskam has signed the body under the pickguard "Rick Daskam # 16" and also the underside of the control cover. Simply amazing…

Eric Clapton's famous psychedelic SG is illustrated on p. 48 of Fuzz & Feedback, edited by Tony Bacon. "He bought the guitar probably in early 1967 to replace his stolen Les Paul Standard. Soon Clapton had a Dutch group of artists known as The Fool paint the guitar. They set a fiery-haired angel amid clouds and stars, added an idyllic landscape to the pickguard, and put an explosively 1960s version of a sunburst finish on the back... Clapton used the guitar widely with Cream, both on-stage and for recordings such as the Disraeli Gears and Wheels Of Fire albums. Sometime around late 1968 Clapton gave the guitar to George Harrison who gave it to Jackie Lomax who sold it to musician/record producer Todd Rundgren for around $500. Rundgren sold the guitar at auction in 2000 for around $150,000. 'The Fool' was sold to a private collector a few years later for around $500,000. In November 2023, 'The Fool' was purchased by Jim Irsay and the Jim Irsay Collection.

Rick Daskam is an acknowledged artist and landscape painter from Southbury, Connecticut. He has won many awards including The Salamagundi Club NYC (2010), The Society of Creative Art, Newtown, CT (2010), the John N. Lewis Memorial Award (2009) and the Frank and Marjorie Van Steen Award (2007), etc., etc. This is the sixteenth "Fool" that he has painted - and probably only the second or third 'original SG Standard'.

"The Fool were three Dutch artists: Simon Posthuma, Marijke Koger, and Josje Leeger, with a Canadian, Barry Finch, added for their album. Moving to London in the 1960s, The Fool painted the exterior of the Apple boutique, as well as a car and a piano for John Lennon. They worked on Eric Clapton's SG in 1967" (Tony Bacon, Fuzz & Feedback, p. 49).