GIBSON KIRK HAMMETT 'GREENY' LES PAUL STANDARD

The latest chapter in the tall tales of this most storied of quitars

- Dave Burrluck

£2,999

Easily one of the most famous guitars ever, the 1959 Gibson Les Paul played by Peter Green, then for much longer by Gary Moore and now owned by Kirk Hammett, is the stuff of legend. Inspired by Eric Clapton's famous use of the Les Paul with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Peter Green - who briefly replaced Clapton in Mayall's lineup - bought his Les Paul in London in, it's believed, 1965, '66 or '67 depending on whose account you read. It's believed to be the guitar Peter used on his only album with John Mayall, Hard Road, released in 1967. Leaving Mayall that same year and forming Fleetwood Mac, it was on their eponymous first album, released in 1968, that the nasally 'Peter Green sound' emerged on tracks like Merry Go Round, then more famously on Need Your Love So Bad and Black Magic Woman, released as singles later in that year.