The first time Blackberry Smoke frontman Charlie Starr saw Metallica live in concert he was 14 years old. It was at the Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta, the year 1989, and Metallica were tearing it up on the Damaged Justice Tour. It was a “very profound” experience. Starr remembers it to this day.
But maybe the second time he caught the Bay Area behemoths live will live even longer in the memory. Speaking to Otis Gibbs for his YouTube channel, Starr says it was not only a date with metal royalty, but a chance to play one of the most iconic electric guitars of all time.
Starr was attending Metallica’s 2019 show in Birmingham on the invitation of his friend, Richard Brent, the curator of the Allman Brothers Big House Museum in Macon, Georgia.
“He’s a guitar nerd like the rest of us also, and so that’s perfect because he – basically – was the caretaker of Duane Allman’s ’57 Goldtop, and the guy who owned the guitar at the time, and the guy who owns it now, will allow Richard to take that guitar and be played by people they approve,” says Starr.
If you are in Macon, look up the Big House. You will no doubt see the 1957 Goldtop on display. This is the guitar Allman bought in ’69, developing the archetypical southern slide guitar sound on it. Allman played it extensively during the tracking of Derek and the Dominos’ Layla.
Few guitars and their owners wrote themselves into music history in such a brief period of time. Allman swapped it out not long after Layla, trading it plus $200 and a 50-watt Marshall tube amp for a cherry burst 1959 Les Paul Standard. Tragically, Allman would die in a motorcycle accident in 1971, aged just 24.
Very few players are on the approved list. Billy Gibbons has played it. Derek Trucks has played it – he actually owns one that is one serial number away from Allman’s. Vince Gill has played it. Starr is lucky enough to have played it many times. “Great guitar,” he says. “Definitely, you feel a ghost in that guitar.”
This was a day in which Hetfield was going to get to play it. With Metallica having fully embraced digital amp modellers for their live show, Starr and Brent thought they’d take something suitably old-school to complement the Goldtop. Grabbing a Fender Princeton tube combo, they set off for Birmingham.
He sounds like James Hetfield playing through a Princeton. On that right hand it was just like...
Charlie Starr
“We go in and James, the tour manager, and James’ tech, Chad [Zaemisch] come in and they’re fantastic, so friendly, and great hosts. We play the guitar and pass it,” says Starr. “James Hetfield and I are passing Duane Allman’s guitar back and forth – it was crazy.”
People might point to the Mesa/Boogie MK11c+ head, or the legendary – and sadly missing Marshall – as the secrets to Hetfield’s tone. Having watched him up close, playing backstage on the Goldtop, Starr says its all technique. “He sounds like James Hetfield playing through a Princeton,” he says. “On that right hand it was just like [tails off].”
Starr and Hetfield had a moment. They were swapping pictures of guitars on their phones. Hetfield had something cool with him to show Starr, too, and gets Zaemisch to bring in a ’58 Gibson Explorer. Starr’s mind is so blown he doesn’t even notice Kirk Hammett has arrived. He wants to have a shot on the Goldtop, too.
But he also might just have one of the few Les Pauls that can rival it for historical significance, Greeny, the 1959 Les Paul Standard that was once owned then named after the late Peter Green, then owned by the late Gary Moore, before Hammett picked it up in 2014 and has been playing it onstage and in the studio ever since.
When Hammett asked if he would like to play it, Starr was taken aback. In the moment he forgot Hammett even owned it. When he picked Greeny up, it did not disappoint.
“I said, ‘You’re kidding?’ He said, ‘Yeah, go get it.’ So his tech goes and brings it in,” says Starr. “Man, it was just this surreal experience. That guitar is so worn, and loved, and broken and repaired. And so the first thing I do is put it in the middle position and play Oh Well. That’s what you do! Then we took pictures.”
At the time, Hammett’s purchase of Greeny – which has led to a whole line of Gibson and Epiphone replica signature guitars – was the subject of much conjecture. Just how much did Hammett pay for it? Some people had suggested crazy money. Hammett put the question to Starr.
Well I can’t tell you what I paid for it. But I can tell you what I didn’t pay for it, and it ain’t what you’re all saying!
Kirk Hammett
“He goes, ‘What do they have me paying for this guitar?’ I was a little like, ‘I’m not supposed to say. You’re not supposed to ask me that,’” says Starr. “‘Shit, man, I don’t know.’ But I think at the time people were like [whispers] four million. ‘I dunno, man. Lots.’”
“Well I can’t tell you what I paid for it,” replies Hammett. “But I can tell you what I didn’t pay for it, and it ain’t what you’re all saying!”
We can say how much Allman’s Goldtop was worth that day. It sold at auction in 2019 for an eye-watering $1.25 million via Gotta Have Rock and Roll.
If you’re not on the list of approved players, that’s okay. You can still check it out if you happen to be in Macon, Georgia. Just head to the Big House Museum. You can hear more from Otis Stiggs and Starr at Stiggs' YouTube channel
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