Although he’s best known as lead guitarist for the world’s biggest metal band, in guitar circles Kirk Hammett has become as synonymous with collecting as he is with Metallica.
His prize piece is Greeny, the famed 1959 Gibson Les Paul named after Peter Green and formerly owned by Gary Moore. But his collection runs the gamut of vintage collectables, from ’50s Goldtops to Korina Flying Vs and, of course, his own stage-used guitars.
Now a new book, The Collection: Kirk Hammett catalogs Hammett’s rarest and most iconic pieces over 400 pages, including new and archive photography from Ross Halfin, and the history behind the guitars from Hammett himself and author, Gibson Editor-in-Chief Chris Vinnicombe.
One of many notable examples in the tome is a 1959 ES-335 in a then-almost unheard-of factory black finish. This is its unlikely story.
The following is an extract from The Collection: Kirk Hammett, now available from Gibson Publishing and reproduced with permission.
Now here’s something you don’t see every day. Although black guitars are plentiful today, back in the vintage era, unless your Gibson guitar was a Les Paul Custom, a black finish would either have to be purchased through a dealer by special order or the result of an employee request.
And when it comes to models such as the ES-335, original factory black examples are vanishingly rare, with perhaps as few as two or three known to exist.
For a collector like Kirk, these are the guitars to get really excited about. “The super-rare Gibsons, maybe one of two or three known to exist, that’s the type of stuff I tend to gravitate to,” he says.
“Low supply, high demand. As a collector since I was five or six years old of like, comic books, toys… I just know that things like that will always hold their value. There will always be a demand, and as time goes on the demand gets bigger and bigger, which means more value or more worth.
“But I don’t really think about the value or worth; I just like to think about how cool the instrument is.”
And what is Kirk’s favorite custom color from the 1950s and ’60s? None more black, of course. “If we’re talking old-school? I love black Gibsons. They’re just epic… there’s nothing like a black guitar. A black guitar is like black clothing; every time you put it on, it goes with whatever you are wearing and it just means business.”
Even the case for this guitar means business. Housed in a huge custom-fitted flightcase known as “The Monolith,” Kirk has begun referring to his black ’59 ES-335 by the same nickname, “Because it’s so big-sounding.”
You can tell I’ve played it onstage because it has sweat stains all over it!
Other than the addition of some gaffer tape to protect Kirk’s picking hand from the sharp bottom corner of the pickguard, which has become characteristically warped with age, the guitar is in remarkable original condition.
“When I first got it, there wasn’t as much yellowing as there is now,” he says of the guitar’s body and fingerboard binding.
“It’s only gotten more yellowing because it’s seen more time out of the case. You can tell I’ve played it onstage because it has sweat stains all over it! But it’s a killer. When I really think about it, and I’m really, really honest with myself, it’s probably my second-best-sounding guitar.”
Kirk bought the guitar from a friend in London, but its previous home in Chicago provided a breadcrumb trail leading back to the Gibson stand at the NAMM Show (the annual convention held by the National Association of Music Merchants) in 1959.
“There’s a famous picture of the 1959 NAMM Show in Chicago,” Kirk explains. “There’s a Flying V, a Les Paul, and right behind them is this guitar, sitting in the background. I’m 99 percent sure it’s the same one, because the one I have came out of Chicago.”
Thanks to a famous Luis Vuitton advertising campaign in 2008 featuring an iconic Annie Leibovitz portrait of Keith Richards in a hotel room with his original factory black ES-355, it’s impossible to talk about rare black Gibsons without Keith coming up in the conversation.
“I wanted a black ES-335 ever since I saw Keith Richards’ black ES-355,” Kirk admits. “I suspect this is the guitar Keith has been looking for all of his life! It’s one of my favorite guitars and it doesn’t feed back. I’ve played it onstage, full fucking volume, hitting tremendous powerchords – super-full, no feedback. It holds up, man.
“Great rhythm sound, great lead sound, great clean sound. You can’t go wrong with a 335. It sounds so big and full. It sounds like two guitars, really!”
- The Collection: Kirk Hammett is available now from Gibson Publishing in Standard hardcover, Deluxe slipcase and Custom boxset editions. See Gibson.com for more info.
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