When Zakk Wylde’s famed “The Grail” Gibson Les Paul – unmistakable for its black and white bullseye finish – fell off the back of a truck, he feared it was lost forever. Then, against the odds, he got it back.
The guitar featured prominently throughout his career as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist. He used it to write and record some of the Prince of Darkness’ biggest tracks and remains the guitar he’s perhaps most synonymous with. Alas, it nearly met a tragic end.
“A friend of mine, Scott Quinn, who used to work at Garden State Music in New Jersey, made a deal with me,” he tells Guitar World of his origins with the instrument. “I was endorsed by Gibson after I'd gotten the gig with Ozzy. Scott, a huge John McLaughlin fan, said that if I could get him a double-neck, he'd trade the Grail for it.
“Gibson hooked me up, and I made the trade. I'd played this guitar and been knocked out by how amazing it sounded and how well it played. It was one of those moments where you just really connect with an instrument.”
A big part of its ear-blasting sound was its EMG humbuckers. Wylde had discovered the might of active pickups after one of his guitar students let him rip on his EMG-laced Fender Jaguar, and from there, there was no looking back. Even if he was baffled about them needing batteries.
“I wrote my first Ozzy song, Miracle Man, on this one,” Wylde adds. “Most of the records I did with Ozzy featured this guitar.”
Then, after more than a decade with the guitar by his side, disaster struck.
“Around 2000, it fell out of our gear trailer,” he recalls. “It came with one of those tough chainsaw cases, so it survived crashing onto the highway. It turned up in a pawn shop. Someone bought it, realized it was mine and, three years after I'd lost it, contacted me and sold it back.”
Wylde has previously opened up about Ozzy's oddly specific gear rules, and how the singer expected his appointment to be met with backlash from certain fans. Fortunately, he never saw any animosity.
The Osbourne-Wylde partnership is one of heavy metal's most heartwarming pairings, with the guitarist ending Ozzy's search for a guitarist who could “kick Eddie Van Halen's ass.”
To read Zakk Wylde’s Guitar World interview in full, pick up a copy of the magazine from Magazines Direct.
