By JACOB FRIDLUND
Staff Writer
One of the most iconic Metallica instruments to appear both on record and in live performance, Kirk Hammett‘s original, customized ESP Ouija guitar is going up for auction. Hammett used the instrument for much of his work with Metallica in the 1990s.
News of the public sale arrived this week, just days after another axe from the Metallica guitarist’s past — Hammett’s natural wood finish ESP from the band’s “One” music video — went for over $100,000 at a separate auction. The Ouija guitar auction starts on April 14.
See the auction’s description of the guitar that’s made to look like a ouija board, plus plenty of detailed photos, down toward the bottom of this post. They include vintage snaps of Hammett signing and dedicating the instrument over 20 years ago.
The inscription on the back of the axe, dated June 25, 2001, reads, “This guitar has been one of my main touring and recording guitarist of the ’90s. This guitar has been used extensively on the albums Load, Reload, Garage Inc., [the self-titled] Black Album and S&M.”
The idea for the instrument’s look came to the musician around 1990, with ESP’s designers using paper art to meet Hammett’s plan before the age of widespread computer usage or email communication. And in a fascinating bit of technological nostalgia, they sent the guitar’s design to the ESP custom shop in Japan by way of a fax machine.
According to Gotta Have Rock and Roll, the memorabilia dealer facility the auction, the “heavily stage played, recording used and signed glow in the dark” instrument has had only one owner since Hammett first relinquished the guitar in 2001. It’s expected to fetch big bucks.