Greeny (Famous Guitar) (Day 461)
The "Greeny Moore Les Paul" is one of the most storyful guitar--the guitar played by two legendary guitarists and acquired by another guitar legend for US$2 million!
The guitar most associated with Moore was a 1959 Gibson Les Paul, which was sold to him by Peter Green for around £100. The guitar, nicknamed "Greeny", is known for its unusual tone, the result of a reversed neck pickup. Moore used the guitar for most of his career (most notably on "Parisienne Walkways"), until he sold it in 2006 for somewhere between $750,000 and $1.2 million. The guitar was purchased by Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett in 2014 for what was reportedly "less than $2 million". On Still Got the Blues, Moore used another 1959 Gibson Les Paul, which he bought in 1989. This particular guitar was retained by Moore's estate following his death. In 2000–2001, Gibson released a Gary Moore Signature Les Paul Standard with a faded lemonburst finish and a reversed neck pickup. Gibson later released a Gary Moore Signature BFG Les Paul, featuring a P-90 pickup in the neck position. In 2013, Gibson announced a new Gary Moore Signature Les Paul, modelled after the "Greeny" guitar. -- Wikipedia
You can see Kirk Hammett playing the "Greeny" on September 6, 2018 in the banner image. (Here's another article talking about this legendary guitar.)
In one of the interviews, Kirk Hammett also shared a less told story about the "Greeny". Kirk said there was a car accident which broke the neck of the "Greeny" and it was restored. And for whatever reason, the restored neck sounds even better! (Guitar Interactive Magazine - Issue 54, March 2018)
According to these stories, the closest replica of the "Greeny" would be a 2013 Gibson Gary Moore Signature Les Paul. It is a Les Paul standard guitar, not from the more coveted custom shop, however.
In 2020, according to Guitar World's article, there's a speculation that Gibson's custom shop may be working on a "reissue" of the Greenie because Kirk Hammett posted on his Instagram thanking Gibson for making him a "Greenie twin".
The only listing I can find on the Gary Moore 2013 was on Reverb and it was already sold not long after being listed.
Wonder how much Gibson will price the new "Greeny reissue" if there's gonna be one. It won't be cheap for sure.
Image credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcoUvu0mGog
Wow, what an interesting history of one guitar. So exciting, so many talented people held it in their hands and gave us musical masterpieces. It seems to me that this guitar sounds as good as it does because it's handmade. I'd love to try playing that guitar too. Recently, on the advice of a friend, I ordered very unusual accessories for my guitar on one cool site, ironageaccessories.com, which offers handmade guitar things. It seems that Gibson will pay too much to reissue such a guitar, but it's worth the risk.