A custom Gibson CEO4 that Kirk Hammett played at Ozzy Osbourne’s “Back To The Beginning” show in Birmingham just went for $76,800. The estimate was $6,000. Somebody paid more than twelve times that to own a guitar that carried Metallica through a Black Sabbath cover in front of Ozzy Osbourne on his home turf.
The guitar was in Hammett‘s hand on the stage for Metallica’s version of Black Sabbath’s “Hole In The Sky”. After the set, he signed it. Julien’s Auctions moved it as part of their annual “Played, Worn & Torn” sale, which stacked over 800 pieces of music history across genres.
The instrument landed in the Gibson Gives Guitar Collection, feeding money into the “Gibson Gives” charity while also pumping the collectors’ market with another high-profile, stage-played metal piece. The same sale tapped into The Kirk Hammett Collection, a rare chance for metal fans and gear hoarders to chase more than 150 guitars, awards, and road-worn instruments tied to a player who helped define modern heavy music.
At the same time, Kirk Hammett has made it clear he doesn’t want his guitars buried in vaults forever: “I’ve had the collectors bug ever since I can remember. There’s a whole troop of guitars that I’ve just accumulated over the years. Some are touring guitars, and then there’s a whole batch of rare, weird stuff.”
“It drives me crazy to see the whole bunch of guitars not being played, and that’s my hope that people buy these and play them, record with them, tour with them.”
Most of us will never have $76,800 to drop on a single guitar. But the story behind this CEO4 still hits home for anyone in the metal and hard rock world. So if that Ghost Burst CEO4 ever shows up at some tiny club, strapped on while a band rips through “Hole In The Sky” in front of 80 people and a sticky floor, that will be the real payoff.
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