Jason Newsted is selling a collection of over 60 guitars and basses on Reverb — including bass guitars he played while he was in Metallica.
The Official Jason Newsted Reverb Shop is set to launch next Wednesday (July 24th) and will see the longtime metal bassist parting with some choice axes from his vast collection.
“I’m teaming up with Reverb to sell some pieces from my collection for the very first time,” said Newsted in a press announcement. “The last 30 or 40 years as I’ve traveled around playing music for people, I’ve gathered some cool shit. I traveled the world to collect these pieces and many of these pieces have traveled the world with me. I’d like to get them into the hands of other players because I can only play so many at once, and wonderful guitars such as these should not live in cases forever…they deserve to be enjoyed!”
The crown jewel for Metallica fans will no doubt be the 1992 Alembic Europa Custom 10-string bass that Newsted used on the tour to support “The Black Album.”
“This is a very special piece of metal history and it’s one of one,” remarked Newsted. “This thing is a beast…you have to be a straight badass to carry it, let alone play it.”
Another Alembic, one of Newsted’s first — a 1989 20th anniversary model with the serial number six of 200 (as seen in the A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica)— will also be up for sale, as well as a rare cherry sunburst-finished PRS bass that was used on the …And Justice for All tour and a 5-string fretless Zon bass (used to record “Until It Sleeps”).
“This is a piece of metal lore right here,” said Newsted of the fretless Zon. “You have the song in your collection [and] that’s the bass that played it.”
Other highlights from the collection include a late 1960s Barney Kessel Custom, a 1966 Firebird III; an original Ampeg AUB-1 Scroll Bass in excellent condition; a custom 3-string Music Man bass inspired by Tony Levin’s design; a rare Mosrite 5-string electric mandolin guitar with a sunburst finish; a 1980 Rickenbacker 4080 double-neck in blue; a 1937 National Dobro “Exploding Palm Tree” Tri-Cone Resonator; and a similar 1928 National Dobro Mandolin Style 2.
You can check out a preview of the collection via Reverb and see a video of Newsted discussing the gear, as well as some close up photos, below.