KIRK HAMMETT's guitar played at BLACK SABBATH's 'Back To The Beginning' concert sells for over $76,000 at auction
28-11-2025
A rare, custom-built Gibson CEO4 guitar played and signed by METALLICA‘s Kirk Hammett during the historic “Back To The Beginning” concert, Ozzy Osbourne‘s unforgettable final performance in Birmingham this past July, has sold for $76,800 (€ 66,330) at auction. Its estimated sale price was originally predicted to be only $6,000.
In addition to playing the guitar on stage for METALLICA‘s cover of BLACK SABBATH‘s “Hole In The Sky”, Hammett has also signed the instrument, which features a 24.75-inch scale length mahogany neck, a bound 22-fret ebony fretboard with Supreme style split block mother of pearl inlays, a bound open book Gibson headstock with custom model inlays, a truss rod cover engraved “CEO-4,” and a mahogany body with a flame maple top finished in Ghost Burst. It includes a hardshell guitar case and Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian‘s “Back To The Beginning” backstage pass, signed by Cesar, and a custom made DES guitar strap with strap locks installed.
The guitar was listed for sale via Julien’s Auctions as part of its annual “Played, Worn & Torn” auction, featuring a genre-defying treasure trove of over 800 pieces of music history. The unique SG was part of the Gibson Gives Guitar Collection — a spectacular lineup of instruments benefiting the Gibson Gives charity.
The Kirk Hammett Collection was an unprecedented opportunity for collectors and music historians to acquire over 150 guitars, storied awards, and stage-played instruments that shaped metal forever.
Hammett reflected on his expansive archive and remarked: “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.”
Although Hammett is best known for his axe-wielding inferno for METALLICA over the past 42 years, it should also be noted that he is an influential and founding member of thrash metal band EXODUS, with whom he rocked for three years. In fact, EXODUS opened for METALLICA in late ’82 and ’83, making a move to METALLICA seem like it was destined to happen for Hammett. Over the years, he has added numerous awards and recognitions to his name, which have included personal awards such as being included in Rolling Stone‘s “The Top 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time”. Hammett has an extensive collection of guitars, but is especially known for his long-time love affair with ESP guitars — a mutual love which has spawned several Kirk Hammett signature models.
Hammett‘s first solo release, “Portals”, arrived in April 2022. The all-instrumental four-song EP was made available digitally and on CD and “ocean blue” vinyl for Record Store Day. The effort was recorded in Los Angeles, Paris, and Oahu and was produced by Hammett, who drew inspiration for the songs from horror movies, classical music, and the work of Ennio Morricone, whose “The Ecstasy Of Gold” has been opening METALLICA live shows since 1983.
When Hammett‘s partnership with Gibson was first announced in 2021, Kirk said about the collaboration: Yes, it’s official. I have become an official Gibson endorser and it’s been a long time coming. I’m really, really happy about it. And when I think about it, I’ve been playing Gibson, really, since the late ’70s when I bought my very first black Flying V, in 1979. I could barely play it and it felt funny putting it on because of the V wings. But I knew that it was the guitar for me, and within three or four days, I was just inseparable from that guitar. And I still have it to this day. Gibson guitars have been with me for pretty much 95 percent of my musical life. I’ve revered so many Gibson players in my life too, and the Gibson sound has been so inspiring to me. And at times, I didn’t even know it.
“I remember when I first started playing guitar, I was just blown away by the sound of Jeff Beck‘s guitar — ‘Let Me Love You’, off [the 1968 JEFF BECK GROUP debut album] ‘Truth’. Pretty much the opening lick, I was just, like, ‘How did he get that sound?’ And I remember it was one of the very first guitar licks I learned, very simple lick, G position, blues lick, but I could never get it to sound the way that sounded with that tone, that attack, that distortion… And it wasn’t until decades later that I realized it was because he was using a certain guitar, it was a Les Paul Standard. And then it all made sense to me.”
Hammett went on to say that the time was “right” for his partnership with Gibson.
“When I really think about it, Gibson guitars have been on every single METALLICA album,” he said. “And primarily on the first three albums. It was all Gibson-powered because all I had was my Flying V, and then I had a Strat copy, and I had a Jackson. The Jackson didn’t really come to me ’til ‘Master Of Puppets’. That Gibson Flying V was a real workhorse in the studio for the first four or five albums, and then after that, I started playing vintage Gibsons from ‘Load’ on, and I started playing Standards almost all the time.”
Kirk added that he loves Flying Vs. “I think I have almost every ’70s Flying V, from ’79 to ’81,’ he revealed. “I really like that particular run of Flying Vs. There are a lot of cool colors, and I like the design, I like the weight, I like the sound. I have one of the very first Flying V’s from 1957, a prototype.”
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