The Untold Truth Of Todd Rundgren

Eric Clapton's Psychedelic SG guitar, also known as the "Fool" guitar, has a special place in rock 'n' roll history. Clapton played the guitar in Cream, including on the albums "Disraeli Gears" and "Wheels of Fire, Goodbye." What truly embedded the axe in the eyes of rock 'n' roll fans was the paint job, which was the handiwork of Dutch design collective and onetime band the Fool. The resulting design depicted a winged sprite on a cloud, among stars and flames and alongside a grassy, mountainous landscape.

According to Gibson, Todd Rundgren first admired Clapton's guitar on March 25, 1967, while Cream was playing at the RKO Theater. Shortly thereafter, Clapton left the guitar with George Harrison, who loaned it to fellow musician Jackie Lomax in 1968. In 1972, after bumping into Rundgren in Woodstock, Lomax sold the guitar — now a little worse for wear — to Rundgren for just $500, with the condition that Lomax had the option to buy it back. He never returned for the guitar. Rundgren repaired it, and continued to play it as his primary guitar until the late '70s.

Then, in the 1980s, a Japanese fan gave Rundgren a handmade replica, which Rundgren told Vintage Guitar was "a bit better-sounding than the original." Rundgren sold the original guitar at a Sotheby's auction for $150,000 in 2000. Years later, the Fool was re-sold for half a million dollars.

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