<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In guitarist-speak, RR has become a shorthand reference for the late Randy Rhoads.\u00a0 Though Rhoads passed away when the small airplane he was a passenger in crashed (while on tour with Ozzy Osbourne in Florida) on March 19, 1982, his legacy remains strong today. Volume 43, No. 07 of <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> commemorated the 40th anniversary of his tragic passing by putting him on the cover under a banner noting it as a <\/span>Special Collector\u2019s Edition:\u00a0 RANDY RHOADS.\u00a0 GW <\/span><\/i>is sometimes criticized for \u2018over using\u2019 some artists for their cover features, but Editor-inChief Damian Fanelli notes that in this case, \u201cRhoads is seen as one of those guitarists who\u2019s \u2018always on the cover,\u2019 but this issue marks his very first cover appearance since July 2011.\u00a0 I remember it well, it was the first issue to come out after I\u2019d started working here that April.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Naturally, <\/span>GW <\/span><\/i>collected numerous anecdotes and tributes about Randy\u2019s extraordinary guitar playing.\u00a0 I love the sounds he coaxed from his instrument, but the articles included that explained the technical aspects of his playing were far beyond my meager guitar playing skills.\u00a0 Randy\u2019s lifelong obsession with learning how to be a better guitar player was another part of his story that astounded many of the guitar players interviewed.\u00a0 As an educator, the time Rhoads spent teaching at his mother\u2019s music store and on his eternal quest to learn more about playing the guitar was much easier for me to understand.\u00a0 That said, no one needs to even be a guitar player to appreciate what he accomplished or to marvel at how he played as he did.\u00a0 RR is 40 years gone, but as this issue of <\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> illustrates, he is still influencing music in many ways.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Imagine you are a seventeen year old working in a music shop in 1984 and you suddenly have a rare prototype guitar land in your lap.\u00a0 Imagine the stir it would cause when you realize it is a guitar designed for (and partly designed by) Randy Rhoads.\u00a0 It sounds far-fetched, but that is exactly what happened to Sean Michael Clegg, a young guitarist himself and a huge Randy Rhoads fan.\u00a0 Before we can delve into how the guitar now known as RR3 ended up in his hands and why he is now ready to set it free after 35 years, we have to go back to how it came to be in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The guitar in question was made by the hands of noted luthier Grover Jackson.\u00a0 Jackson was working for Charvel guitars when Rhoads approached him with a cocktail napkin sketch of the guitar\u2019s shape on December 23, 1980.\u00a0 It was an angular design similar to a Flying V but the upper bout was somewhat asymmetric to the lower one giving it a shark\u2019s fin-like appearance.\u00a0 The headstock was reminiscent of an upside down hockey stick blade and the neck-through-body construction was similar to a Gibson Firebird.\u00a0 After they compared notes, Jackson turned the plan into a white ax nicknamed \u2018The Concorde\u2019 (perhaps due to a futuristic shape that reminded him of the SST jet of the same name or because Rhoads had just returned from the U.K. aboard the same aircraft).\u00a0 Rhoads took the guitar (now known as RR1) on tour with Ozzy Osbourne and after it received an extensive trial by fire, he returned to Jackson with some tweaks he wanted made for RR2.\u00a0 Randy was not a large bodied fellow like a Zakk Wylde so the first suggestion was a smaller, sleeker body shape.\u00a0 \u201cWith higher frets and an adjustment to where the neck and body came together, RR2 was produced in black, thus kicking off the \u201cera of \u2018pointy\u2019 metal axes,\u201d according to <\/span>GW.\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>As he put RR2 through its paces touring with Ozzy, Randy kept sending Jackson suggestions for RR3.\u00a0 The body of the third guitar was already cut out. \u00a0 Grover was just waiting for Rhoads to come off the road and give his final feedback before it was assembled.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sadly, Randy Rhoads never returned from his last tour and in his grief, Jackson set the unfinished guitar aside until 1983.\u00a0 Having recently left Charvel to form his own company, Jackson Guitars, he decided the completed RR3 guitar would be a great display piece for the up-coming Winter NAMM Trade Show scheduled for Anaheim, California in January of 1984.\u00a0 As the new kid on the block and a purveyor of guitars aimed at the emerging \u2018hair metal\u2019 band market, the Jackson booth at the expo was mobbed.\u00a0 In the confusion, one of the overwhelmed assistants mistakenly sold RR3 to an attendee only known as \u2018Mike\u2019.\u00a0 Once Jackson he noticed the error (\u201cWhere\u2019s Randy\u2019s Guitar?\u201d), he had a, \u201ctotal, freak-out panic attack\u201d when he realized this one-of-a-kind prototype he had designed with Rhoads had gone Elvis (as in, \u2018left the building\u2019).\u00a0 RR3 could have ended up a missing piece of heavy metal history, but its new owner didn\u2019t realize what he had just purchased and what happened next was certainly a twist of fate.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A few months later, \u2018Mike\u2019 brought RR3 to a music store in Long Beach, CA aiming to trade it in for what would turn out to be much less valuable gear.\u00a0 Sean Clegg happened to be teaching guitar at the shop and as a big Randy Rhoads fan, he knew immediately what they had.\u00a0 The shop swapped RR3 for a Neal Schon model Aria Pro II guitar, a Roland Jazz Chorus amp, and some other small accessories.\u00a0 After he had popped his eyes back into their sockets, Clegg knew immediately he needed to own this guitar.\u00a0 He also knew he didn\u2019t have the capital to purchase it.\u00a0 Clegg said, \u201cI was 17, and my boss was sort of a father figure and mentor to me.\u00a0 He and my mother pitched in and helped me get the guitar.\u00a0 I felt like the Lord had brought me a magic sword to fulfill my destiny.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Guitar World<\/span><\/i> tracked down Clegg in 2007 and Alan di Perna wrote an extensive article detailing how Clegg became the owner of RR3.\u00a0 As a studio musician and a member of the prog rock band Accomplice, Clegg has certainly put the instrument to good use.\u00a0 Unfortunately, he now has \u2018financial challenges\u2019 that make it necessary for him to part ways with his beloved guitar.\u00a0 Now valued between $100,000 and $150,000, Clegg says, \u201cI suppose I always knew this guitar was an incredible investment and it still will be for someone else.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lucky miracle that I can lean on the sale of this guitar when I need it the most.\u00a0 I am thankful for my time with it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n