The Gibson SG that Kirk Hammett played at Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne’s huge Back To The Beginning concert has just sold for a wild $76,800. 

According to Metal Injection, the auction house thought it might fetch six grand. Someone clearly turned up with Metallica money burning a hole in their pocket.

Hammett used the Gibson CEO Build #4 SG during Metallica’s cover of Black Sabbath’s Hole In The Sky in Birmingham. After the set, Hammett signed the guitar and off it went into Julien’s Auctions’ “Played, Worn & Torn” sale, which chucked more than 800 pieces of music history at collectors with deep pockets.

The guitar landed in the Gibson Gives Guitar Collection, which means the money goes to Gibson’s charity arm while also giving the collectors’ market another stage-played gem to froth over. The same sale dipped into The Kirk Hammett Collection too, with more than 150 guitars, awards, and road-worn bits of gear up for grabs.

Hammett’s pretty clear about why he’s parting with so much history. “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.” 

He also reckons it drives him mad seeing good instruments sit silent. “That's my hope that people buy these and play them, record with them, tour with them.”

Kirk Hammett. What a guy.