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Kirk Hammett Paid $87,500 for Neal Schon's Guitar, Felt It Was Too Cheap and Offered to Return It

Martin KieltyMartin KieltyPublished: July 5, 2026

10h ago· 2 min readenNews

entertainment music

Summary

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett purchased a rare 1957 Les Paul Standard guitar that once belonged to Journey's Neal Schon at an auction for $87,500. Hammett felt the price was too low — about half the guitar's actual value — and felt so guilty that he offered to return it to Schon. He shared the story at a fan event in Ireland, expressing his admiration for Schon as a major inspiration.

Source

Twitter / XKirk Hammett Paid $87,500 for Neal Schon's Guitar, Felt It Was Too Cheap and Offered to Return Itultimateclassicrock.com

Key quotes

· 2 pulled

This guitar used to belong to one of my all-time star heroes, a huge source of inspiration, Neal Schon.

I got this in an auction, and I don't know what was up, but I got this for, like, half the price that it was worth.

Snippet from the RSS feed

Metallica man believed he hadn’t paid enough at auction for Journey leader’s Gibson Les Paul, so he offered to return it.

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