“It was the perfect guitar for him to pay tribute to Tony”: Kirk Hammett’s guitar auction shatters expectations – with his mystery Back to the Beginning SG fetching $70,000 more than anticipated

The mystery Gibson SG that Kirk Hammett played at Back to the Beginning has sold for $76,800 at auction, alongside a host of other eye-catching electric guitar sales that took place as part of Julien's Played, Worn & Torn event.

After much speculation, Hammett’s axe was revealed as a CEO-4, the fourth creation born from CEO Cesar Gueikian's passion project of hand-building guitars to raise funds for in-house charity, Gibson Gives.

Gueikian, appointed CEO in 2023, has been using the series of builds to improve his luthiery skills. The CEO-1 was a Les Paul, the CEO-2 a James Hetfield-esque Explorer built for actor Jason Mamoa's son, and the CEO-3 a Gibson Victory.

The CEO-4 was used by Hammett to play Black Sabbath's Hole in the Sky with Metallica at Back to the Beginning. The guitarist signed its Ghost Burst-finished body afterwards.

“We sent it to him so that he could put it through his rig for a couple of soundchecks before,” Gueikian told Guitar World. “He said he really loved it, and it was going to be the perfect guitar for Hole in the Sky, and also as a way for him to pay tribute to Tony [Iommi].”

It was sold as part of Julien's latest Played, Worn & Torn auction, which featured 150 Hammett-played guitars. That included a 1985 Gibson Custom Shop Michael Schenker Flying V ($160,000), his Mamma Said 1990s ESP Custom Shop M2 ($32,000), and a 1996 ESP Wavecaster ($89,000) with a clear Lucite body filled with yellow-colored liquid.

All these guitars left their estimates in tatters, with the V's $15,000 figure, the highest of the bunch, representing less than 10% of the final sale price. The CEO-4 added just over $70,000 to its upper estimate of $6,000.

Metallica: Hole In The Sky (Birmingham, GB - July 5, 2025) - YouTube

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Elsewhere in Julien's collection, a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard, played by Keith Richards during the Rolling Stones' 2007 A Bigger Bang tour, which features his signature on the back of its headstock, sold for $192,000.

That made it the priciest lot of the collection, surpassing the $64,000 sale of a Warwick Streamer played on stage by U2's Adam Clayton.

There was also a Gibson Gives Ukraine Relief Les Paul, emblazoned with the country's colors, for sale. It had been played on stage and signed by Slash. It also went for $38,400.

Visit Julien's Auctions to see the final results of the 2025 Played, Worn & Torn auction.

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