Kirk Hammet is the current owner of “Greeny”.
For some reason, which i cant put my finger on, that doesnt sit well with me. Even though I know it’s in the hands of someone who appreciates it for what it is and it isnt some trophy to be hung on a wall or put in a safe.
I thought he played it live, at least for some time? That said, I found it strange that Gibson released a signature model for Hammett that is based on that particular guitar (unless I’m mistaken). There are plenty of other guitars that I associate with him, Greeny really isn’t one of them.
I think he still does use it live. No issue there, but i have dome weird prejudice with a thrash metal guitarist owning a special guitar that was grounded in the blues. I doesnt suit him or the guitar somehow. I know Gay Moore did plenty of hard rock stuff on it too, but when he switched to a more blues based music that guitar came back to the forefront as it were. He played Hamers, Charvels etc. a lot during his solo rock years. He did use Greeny with Thin Lizzy I believe.
Gibson scratching for any possible marketing opportunity again, even though he has no real history with it.
Kirk is many things, a rich successful musician, a wah wah wanker, sometimes mistaken for an old granny, but he hasn’t been a thrash metal guitarist for ages.
Blame it on the Wah
Incredibly Kirk isn’t the most annoying musician in metallica , Lars takes the cake there.
Ha…Was thinking of Some Kind of Monster. Absolutely hilarious bits in it, love it.
During the '80s, he used his black LP Custom a lot, both in studio and live. Even if he’s not the first name that comes to mind when I see that guitar, it was his Gibson. I think that they released a signature version of it a few years ago because, yeah, why not, we have financial difficulties, so lets milk the connection we have with every famous artist.
Since you’ve mentioned Gary Moore, I’ve always associated him with LPs but when I saw videos of him playing an Explorer… Some things just fit together. An absolute blues/hard rock virtuoso with a beautiful guitar and amazing sound.
Trujillo owns Jaco’s Bass of Doom as well (gave it back to the family afaik).
They just have shit loads of money, at least they’re actually musicians, not some bored rich plastic surgeon or manager.
Lars begs to differ. Or atleast his snare would if it had a voice.
Gibson are just in a shit position. Let’s be honest, there hasn’t been a real reason to buy a Gibson for a long time except for prestige or trying to resell it to other idiots. If you like Gibson style guitars (I do) there are a plethora of other options.
I’ve never tried a real ESP but I’d love to try one of their MX models that Hetfield used to play and compare them to Gibson originals. That said, while Gibsons are extremely expensive, they are far from the only ones who raised their prices. Even my beloved Schecters cost some 30% more than they used to, at least in my parts of the world.
I was talking about a larger time length than the recent price inflations,but yeah sure.
Let’s get real though, once you get to a certain higher up midpriced level, the differences between similar style electric guitars are fairly minute, some of it is just individual and not necessarily related to price.
The player itself and the other elements involved will make a much bigger difference, let alone once you get into production.
Gary has played all sorts to be honest.
He had a red Fender Strat (look for his Colleseum 2 or videos of him playing Red House)
Les Pauls obviously
Explorer
Hamer
Jackson
Charvel (1987 Wild Frontier tour)
He had to sell Greeny i think, due to a copyright case for the main riff to Still got the Blues. I think he lost it too. Thats why in his later years he’s playing A N Other Les Paul.
For me, when he slowed down he was on another level to many. Of course his quick stuff was also another level.
Yeah. For some reason however, the odd one, for no particular obvious reason is completely at another level tone wise to anything else.
I think they’re partly trading on that “hope” without actually knowing it. If other manufacturers could capture that Gibson would probably be long gone.
Is that really so? Or do people want to believe that?
Plenty of brands and companies make good business purely based on legacy and image, not just in the music world.
Humans are incredibly prone to confirming their own biases and also tone is super subjective and depends on musical context.
Not sure, maybe. For sure Gibson are trading on reputation, no doubt. You’d have to ask why given their quality control vs price is at times questionable. Their guitars for some reason really vary in tone (as opposed to PRS for example) and some really sing. Is it reputation alone why some big artists still use them? I dont think it is. They have the choice of anything but still choose to use Gibsons even though other brands have better quality and certainly more consistency.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying all Gibson guitars are shit, not at all. I’m saying you’re always paying a premium for having the Gibson brand on the headstock and the differences between similar style guitars become minute at a certain level, it’s largely down to taste/preference and everything else in the equation is infinitely more important.
As for ‘big’ musicians - leaving aside the many deals, endorsements, sponsorships etc, that play a massive role - if you have infinite choices, the price of the guitar doesn’t really matter, maybe one of their heroes played a Gibson, that nice familiar name on the headstock, good resell value - yeah why not, perfectly understandable you might end up with one.
I had a Les Paul shape by Harley Benton - think it was the SC550II - and it was £189.
I spent a few quid on the Slash AFD pickups, Nut and Locking Tuners and it was a beast for around £450 in total it better than most Gibson Les Pauls.
Should never have sold that. Gutted.
I may do it all again as I loved that guitar.
Update re my post 19 days ago…Gear4Music refused to take my Epiphone as they said it had a warped neck so took it to my luthier who said it did and that could be why I have a few frets that dont sound great. As its a fixed neck you cant repair it.
So thats on its way back to the person I bought it off on Ebay today.