Hammett remains big daddy to the Mummy, one of his favorite instruments. It also evokes his love of classic horror films.
In a lavish new coffee table book from Gibson, The Collection: Kirk Hammett, Metallica’s lead guitarist shares some of his most spectacular vintage instruments and the stories that go with them, as well as his love of Hawaii.
Like his tone and fire-breathing technique, Kirk Hammett’s guitar collection is legendary. It’s also in motion–and not just in the sense that guitars come in and out of Hammett’s flotilla. He is keenly aware of all its core instruments and plays them in the studio and onstage when the occasion beckons.
For Hammett, having an armada of amazing vintage guitars at his convenience is a dream come true–as it would be for any of us. “When I first started playing, I would go to the guitar store and all the vintage stuff was on the very top racks where you needed a ladder to get to them,” he relates from his home in Hawaii. “I would stare up at these guitars that were literally untouchable and unattainable, but right in front of me. And I remember seeing a korina Flying V and thinking, ‘My god, that’s the most beautiful V’ … thinking ‘it’s so different from modern Vs, and it has so much class.’ Then, when I got my first korina V … I was so happy. I brought it down to the studio while we were recording Reload, and I said to [producer] Bob Rock, ‘I have to put this on a track.’ He goes, ‘Okay, plug it in.’ And it’s on ‘Fixxxer.’”
More stories, and more photos of historic guitars, pack the new book The Collection: Kirk Hammett, from Gibson Publishing. The 400-page volume comes in three configurations. The 300 copies of the autographed custom edition ($799) check in at 19" x 14 1/2" and come in a case, with a portrait of Hammett signed by the guitarist and photographer Ross Halfin, plus a mini replica of Hammett’s beloved 1979 Flying V, a tin with six of Hammett’s signature Dunlop picks, and a certificate of authenticity. The deluxe edition ($299) has a run of 1,500 autographed copies and comes in a slipcase with Greeny–Peter Green’s legendary Les Paul–on the cover and a certificate of authenticity. And the standard edition ($149) will have greater availability.I asked Hammett if he knew how many guitars were in his collection. “I don’t like counting,” he replied. That roughly translates into a lot! But he noted, “I have a core collection that’s about 35, 40 guitars that I play pretty regularly, and most of them are vintage and I just love them for whatever little discrepancy or uniqueness or customization they have. Then there’s a whole host of guitars I own because I needed them to play certain songs on tour, and people have a tendency to give me guitars, which I always thought was frustrating. I can’t say, ‘No, I can’t take your guitar,’ because sometimes that is more insulting than anything else to a person. So over the years I’ve acquired guitars that I just don’t use. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of guitars anonymously, so there’s a lot of guitars out there in the market that I used to own that people don’t know I owned, and I love that.”
And now, it’s time for the Big Three. I asked Kirk which guitars in his collection are not the most famous or valuable, but closest to his heart.
1979 Gibson Flying V
Kirk’s 1979 Flying V with his signature EMG pickups installed. “That guitar that enabled me to flesh out the elements of my style of playing,” he says.
Photo courtesy of The Collection: Kirk Hammett, Gibson Publishing
“My 1979 black Flying V, that I’ve had ever since I was 16 or 17, is obviously very close to my heart,” he says. “Some of the very first heavy riffs I ever wrote, I wrote on that guitar, like the ‘die by my hand’ part of ‘Creeping Death.’ That came out of that guitar. I was sitting there when I was 17 years old in high school, and that riff came out, and I was thinking, ‘That doesn't sound like anything that’s on FM radio right now. And I love it.’ And it was that guitar that enabled me to flesh out the elements of my style of playing. And so that guitar will always be very, very close to me.”
The Mummy
Hammett remains big daddy to the Mummy, one of his favorite instruments. It also evokes his love of classic horror films.
Photo courtesy of The Collection: Kirk Hammett, Gibson Publishing
“The Mummy guitar is very close to me, too, because when I got that guitar in 1995 or 1996, man, it was a triple threat. It looked fantastic, it played fantastic, and it sounded fantastic,” observes Hammett. The guitar also features a legend taken from the poster for the 1932 film The Mummy, featuring Boris Karloff, reading, “It comes to life!” And indeed the 6-string did.
“I was like, ‘Okay. I think I have an extraordinary guitar in my hands right now.’ And I use the Mummy guitar just as much as I use Greeny in the studio.”
Greeny
Kirk Hammett with the guitar he calls his Excalibur, Greeny, which was formerly owned by both Peter Green and Gary Moore. “All I have to do is sit there with Greeny in my lap and the music comes,” he says.
Photo courtesy of The Collection: Kirk Hammett, Gibson Publishing
So, what was it like for Hammett to have Greeny, which he purchased in 2014 after it was used by legends Peter Green and Gary Moore on a host of historic recordings, in his hands for the first time?
“It was confusion,” he offers, “because I knew that a bunch of major players had played Greeny and passed on it. And a couple of those major players were James Hetfield and Joe Bonamassa–people that I know love Gibson Les Paul Standards as much as I do, but for some reason or another, they passed on it. I was confused by that because when I played Greeny, within the first minute I was like, ‘Oh my god, I think this is the guitar I’ve always been looking for,‘ because it had so much mojo and so much tone and such a unique sound, and, of course, the history of it was not lost on me either. I thought, ‘Why hasn’t anyone else bought this guitar? I’m buying it.’ I told the guy who was selling it, ‘You're not getting this guitar back. Let’s work out a deal. I’m going to hold onto it forever.’ I feel like I didn’t choose Greeny; Greeny chose me, and it’s my Excalibur.“
It’s had such a big impact on me, and I wasn’t expecting it. All I have to do is sit there with Greeny in my lap and the music comes. It is a beautiful, wonderful thing. I used to have to really work hard at composing music and making music parts fit, but not anymore. With Greeny, stuff just comes to me spontaneously, and if it doesn’t work, I just move on, because more stuff comes.
“It had a large, large, large part in helping me recognize the power of inspiration in myself. It had played the most amazing songs and the most amazing shows before me. So to have it in my hands it’s like, I don’t want to say a separate entity, but almost like a freaking partner in music. I’m so thankful, and so lucky.”
On Creating the Book
“It was my idea to do the book,” Kirk explains. “I’ve been wanting to do a guitar book, because I did a book about my horror movie poster collection about 10 years ago. And man, that was so much freaking work, but it was worth it. And it opened up a whole range of opportunities I never thought or I could never see coming. I'm hoping that the same thing happens with this book. I have no idea what those opportunities are, but I'm hoping that they're great musical opportunities.
“I hope this book inspires people to just go out and look in pawn shops; go over to their grandmother’s house, look under the bed and in the closet; look into the attic. Because there’s a lot of vintage guitars still out there that have not been found. I mean, when you think about the production of electric guitars, how many were produced from 1952 on, of all models? That’s a shitload of guitars that absolutely have not been accounted for in the vintage market. You just got to do the hard work and be lucky as fuck. Things can be found.”
Hammett feels the book not only echoes the inspiration and passion he has for guitars, but also for his adopted home of Hawaii. “These guitars are beautiful. They’re unique. Some of them are one of a kind, and I love that. They are also the tools that are in my toolbox. But this book is also a love letter to Hawaii. It’s the place where I love to be with my guitars–a beautiful backdrop to these wonderful guitars.” In fact, the Hawaiian landscape is often the setting in which Halfin photographed Hammett and his collection. Ross and I didn’t want this to look like a catalog or your average coffee table book that you would see in a doctor’s office or a hotel lobby or something. We wanted the approach to be a little bit more homegrown. And for me, I like being outdoors all the time. I might go inside to sleep at night, but usually from the time I get up, even at night, I’m just outside. The landscape and sky and ocean here is always gorgeous and always changing.”
The Sequel
Hammett mentions that another guitar tome might be on the horizon. “I have at least three or four essential guitars that didn’t make it into this book,” he says. “They need to make it into a second book, just as relevant, just as rare, just as unique. And people have not seen them. I have a Les Paul that’s so rare–a Mickey Baker Les Paul I’d been seeking for 10 years. In 1956 or 1957, Mickey Baker, the jazz session guy who had a big hit with ‘Love Is Strange’ … Gibson wanted to make him a Mickey Baker model. They made less than 10 prototypes and never put them out, because Mickey never liked any of ’em. They’re unique because they have three pickups and instead of four knobs, there are three–all master volumes. At the top where the pickup selector is, is another knob and it’s a master tone. People need to see that guitar! It has not quite the aggression and attack that Greeny has, but the fullness and the freaking kick and the punch.”
There’s also a custom-color ’57 goldtop and other rarities that didn’t make The Collection, but there’s plenty of eye candy in the current book. Provided, of course, you’re interested in a ’52 goldtop, a ’58 sunburst Les Paul, a korina V prototype, a ’60 TV Special, the ESP KH-1 Joker, and other gems.
“I’m a caretaker for these guitars, and especially for Greeny,” Hammett says. “At some point, it’ll be time to redistribute these magical instruments. Guitars are invincible. Look at guitars from the ’50s. They’re holding up and playing better than ever. Guitars were made to last forever. They don’t break down like cars. They don’t degrade like artwork. Maybe they do, but the upkeep is easy and you can interact with them. Greeny, especially, is like a magic wand. I feel very, very lucky, and I hope that I play Greeny for a nice length of time.”
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This is perhaps the most rare Iwase guitar: one volume, one tone, and a quality adjustable bridge, plus a raised pickguard and some beautiful shading on the burst.
And then my mind wandered to my college days, when I was an English major. I got to read and write every day, and I thought I was getting good at it until a professor raked me over the proverbial coals for using the word “unique” incorrectly when describing a local band’s sound. He really tore me up, because if I describe something as unique, it should be like none other—like a snowflake.
So, what about guitars? Is a custom-shop model unique if it has the same pickups and same scale as many others? Even if the body is shaped differently? Seriously, that professor would hand you your butt because, in his mind, you didn’t just choose words unless you understood their real meaning. Consider the super-rare Teisco T-60 … the model that Glen Campbell loved and played for much of his early career. I know of only four in existence. There are some Japanese collectors who own hundreds of guitars but don’t have a T-60. Does that make the T-60 unique, or simply rare? I mean, they were all hand-made and featured that original hole-in-the-body “monkey grip” … but unique? Talk amongst yourselves for a hot minute.
“In my waning days of collecting, I just want to have Voice stuff, because I met Iwase and connected with him immediately.”
I recently wrote about the passing of the great Japanese luthier Yukichi Iwase, whose small company (basically just him) produced some of the finest guitars and amps and carried the “Voice” label. A friend in Japan, along with his daughters, were in the process of clearing out his old workshop, and I’ve been trying to acquire everything from it that I can. I used to collect just Teisco stuff, and then I had a passion for the old Intermark/Pleasant guitars. Then I wanted to get all the old Yamaha stuff I could find. But now, in my waning days of collecting, I just want to have Voice stuff, because I met Iwase and connected with him immediately. He was a peach, and, yes, he was unique. Aside from being one of the earliest employees of Tesico, he was a brilliant fellow who could make just about anything from scratch, including guitars and amps. Left in his workshop were a few unfinished T-60s, some pedal steels, some amps, a really cool bass, an unfinished double-neck guitar, and a tiny guitar that is also truly worthy of the term “unique.”
“I know these pickups well enough to understand they are loud, crisp, and offer a full range of sounds,” our columnist says.
The latter is a small powerhouse of a guitar. It has one of his amazing pickups that looks like a big block engine stuffed into an AMC Gremlin. He somehow squeezed out a 23" scale, but the rest of the guitar is like a child’s 6-string or a travel guitar. I believe he only made one of these. The body design has an ocean-wave type of flow, and the guitar is very balanced and not hard on the eyes, even with the exaggerated features. One volume, one tone, and a quality adjustable bridge plus a raised pickguard—the only time I’ve seen this design on his guitars. His finish work was really nice, too, and he was able to get some beautiful shading on the burst. The headstock has a figured overlay and the neck profile is so sweet—curved perfectly with some fine wood.
To me, it seems to have been built around 1966, based on the tuners he used. I don’t have the heart yet to plug this into an amp, but I know these pickups well enough to understand they are loud, crisp, and offer a full range of sounds. So, what do you think? Rare? Truly unique?
