“Then I realised, Ah shoot, now I have a job!” Kirk Hammett worked at Burger King to be able to afford his first Flying V
Metallica legend Kirk Hammett has opened up about his guitar collecting hobby and how a job at Burger King led him to the purchase of his first Gibson Flying V.
In the latest episode of Gibson TV’s The Collection series, the guitarist dives deep into his impressive guitar collection, as well as the humble beginnings behind some of his most treasured six-strings.
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Discussing the origins of his iconic Gibson Flying V — one of the rocker’s earliest guitars that he still plays today — Hammett says that he had to take on a job at Burger King to afford the purchase.
“I remember I was going out with this one girl at the time, she said, ‘Let’s go to Burger King.’ I was like ‘okay’,” he recalls. “So we’re sitting there, eating a Whopper or something, and she goes, ‘I’ll be right back.’… She comes back and she goes, ‘I got you an application for a job here. Sign here.’ I’m like, ‘Huh?’”
“But I thought about it and was like, ‘Wait, this might be a good opportunity for me to make some money for some guitar strings… Then I realised ‘ah shoot, now I have a job, now I have to actually work.’”
“But I need a better guitar so I thought, ‘This is brilliant. I’ll just work at Burger King just long enough for me to save up some money, so I can trade in my Strat and maybe $200 or $300 toward a brand-new black Flying V that was at Leo’s Music in Oakland.”
He continues: “I remember seeing that Black V and telling the guy — my friend who worked there — to hold this guitar for me for like a month. He literally stashed it in the back and then I came in, gave him the Strat and gave him the cash and I had that Gibson V and I was so happy.”
Elsewhere, Hammett also credits a toy Monkees guitar that his grandmother got him when he was 7 as one of the things that ignited his passion for the instrument: “I used to drag it around with me to every single room in the house, outside, and just pretend that I was playing it until it literally fell apart,” he says.
Gibson has also announced a new coffee table book, Kirk Hammett: The Collection. Check out the full interview on Gibson TV below.
The post “Then I realised, Ah shoot, now I have a job!” Kirk Hammett worked at Burger King to be able to afford his first Flying V appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
