James Hetfield was offered the chance to buy the Greeny Les Paul before Kirk Hammett, but he turned it down: “I’m a real idiot”

Peter Green, Gary Moore and now Kirk Hammett: the Greeny Les Paul becomes synonymous with its current owner almost immediately. But while Hammett has been the guitar’s custodian for nearly a decade now, it turns out his Metallica bandmate James Hetfield was offered the legendary electric guitar first… but turned it down.

In a new interview on The Howard Stern Show, Hammett is asked about how he came to purchase the iconic Gibson ’59 Les Paul Standard.

He goes on to tell the well-worn tale, confirming once again that he paid less than $2 million when purchasing the instrument from guitar dealer Richard Henry in 2014. But things get interesting when Hetfield is asked whether he had heard of the mythical guitar before.

“I played it before he [Hammett] did,” Hetfield reveals, much to Lars Ulrich’s amusement. “The guy brought it backstage to show it to me… and I rejected it! I’m an idiot… I’m a real idiot.”

Hetfield goes on to explain that the dealer was asking an exorbitant amount at the time – which is perhaps where the original $2 million figure comes from – so it seems the price tag dropped significantly when Hammett picked up the instrument.

It’s not the only revelation for Greeny fans in the three-minute video. A segment follows in which Hammett serves up a rare unaccompanied demo of what makes Greeny’s tone so magical. Admittedly, it’s hard to tell underneath the thick layer of gain, but you can just about make out the hollowed-out sound of the legendary out-of-phase middle position.

“It sounds like a Fender Strat,” Hammett observes. “And Les Pauls are not supposed to sound like Fenders, but this guitar does in the middle position.”

As a result of Hammett’s love for that unlikely tone and his instant connection with the instrument’s storied history, Greeny rarely leaves the guitarist’s side.

“I picked up on the energy and the mojo of this guitar immediately,” Hammett concludes. “[We’re] inseparable now. Where I sleep, it’s literally 10 feet from me, no matter where I am. I bring it everywhere and play it on stage, too.”

Metallica’s Howard Stern appearance is also notable for playing host to the first outing of Hammett’s other obscenely valuable Gibson: a Factory Black ’59 Les Paul Standard and one of the rarest Les Pauls ever made, which the Metallica guitarist snapped up from Nashville’s Carter Vintage Guitars last month.

Hammett can be seen holding the black ’59 in the first half of the Greeny clip, and he also uses the model to demonstrate the evolution of the Enter Sandman riff in a separate video – you’ll need to keep an eye on Stern’s YouTube channel over the coming days for the first full song performance featuring the unicorn electric guitar.

While a recreation of that latest vintage rarity has yet to surface (but is surely on the cards), Gibson has launched a string of Greeny replicas over the past year, all produced in conjunction with Hammett.

First up was the Murphy Lab aged $50,000 Collector's Edition, followed by a $20,000 Custom Shop version, and finally a USA Standard incarnation, which launched this week for a somewhat more agreeable $3,199.

Metallica have been on the press trail for new album 72 Seasons, and Kirk Hammett hasn’t held back when addressing criticism of his guitar solos on the metal giants’ recently released singles.

“My friends down the street could probably play a better solo than Lux Æterna – but what’s the point?” he reasoned in an exclusive interview with Total Guitar. “For me, what’s appropriate is playing for the song and playing in the moment.”