Metallica‘s Kirk Hammett not too long ago took followers on a novel journey into his world of guitars, sharing tales about his prized assortment and the stunning backstory behind one in every of his most cherished devices: his Gibson Flying V. In an episode of Gibson TV’s The Assortment, Hammett revealed how a part-time job at Burger King, of all locations, helped him fulfill his early guitar desires.
Reflecting on his first Flying V buy, Hammett recounted the surprising nudge he acquired whereas on a date. “I keep in mind I used to be going out with this one lady on the time,” he says. “She stated, ‘Let’s go to Burger King.’ I used to be like, ‘okay.'” He recollects sitting down together with her to get pleasure from their meal when she stunned him with a job software.
“She comes again and he or she goes, ‘I acquired you an software for a job right here. Signal right here.’ I am like, ‘Huh?'” Though Hammett was caught off guard, he noticed potential within the alternative. He thought to himself, “Wait, this is perhaps a great alternative for me to make some cash for some guitar strings… Then I spotted, ‘Ah shoot, now I’ve a job, now I’ve to truly work.'”
Regardless of the preliminary hesitation, Hammett embraced the possibility to fund his dream guitar. “I would like a greater guitar, so I believed, ‘That is sensible. I will simply work at Burger King simply lengthy sufficient for me to avoid wasting up some cash,'” he defined.
His sights have been set on a modern, black Flying V displayed at Leo’s Music in Oakland. After a month of saving, he traded in his Stratocaster, added just a few hundred {dollars}, and walked out with the guitar that may develop into a defining a part of his profession.
“I keep in mind seeing that Black V and telling the man — my buddy who labored there — to carry this guitar for me for like a month. He actually stashed it within the again after which I got here in, gave him the Strat, and gave him the money and I had that Gibson V and I used to be so completely happy.”
Hammett‘s love for guitars started early. He credit a childhood toy, a Monkees guitar gifted by his grandmother when he was seven, because the spark that fueled his lifelong ardour. “I used to tug it round with me to each single room in the home, outdoors, and simply faux that I used to be taking part in it till it actually fell aside.”
On November 29, Gibson Publishing will launch The Assortment: Kirk Hammett, a deluxe espresso desk e book in hardcover that includes the tales behind Kirk‘s uncommon and extremely collectible devices used on hit information and play on levels worldwide in entrance of hundreds of thousands of followers.
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