Today, Reverb.com, the leading online marketplace dedicated to buying and selling new and used musical instruments, announced that it has partnered with Green Day to sell more than one hundred pieces of music gear used live and in the studio throughout the band’s storied career. The Official Green Day Reverb Shop will launch on Thursday, February 7, and will feature items from every member of the band, including nearly 50 of Billie Joe Armstrong’s personal guitars as well as five drum sets and a dozen snare drums that were seminal to Tre Cool’s career.
“Every guitar has its own character. Each one reflects who you are—the kind of songwriter you are, the kind of guitar player that you are. Used guitars, in particular, come with a history to them. I love the character you can see looking at a fretboard that’s been used,” said Armstrong, who sold several guitars, amps, and more on Reverb just over a year ago. “After 30 years of collecting odds and ends and really good stuff…I have to sell some of it off.”
As Green Day’s Dookie turns 25 years old, Armstrong will part with the Harmony Stella Parlor Acoustic Guitar that he used to record “F.O.D.” from the iconic album. The guitar, which was one of the first that Armstrong ever owned, still retains the original board tape set to the intonation and the same guitar strings. Armstrong is also selling the Marshall 4×12 Cabinets used on the tours to support Dookie and Insomniac. The cabs, which have been a staple in Green Day shows since 1994, still have residue from the legendary mud fight that ensued during the band’s 1994 Woodstock performance.
The Official Green Day Reverb Shop will feature just under 50 guitars from Armstrong’s personal collection—nearly half of which are rare vintage guitars from the 1960s and earlier—including:
- A rare 1958 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top Guitar that was one of Armstrong’s favorite guitars to play in the studio and around the house. The guitar was also used at a number of Longshot and Coverups shows.
- The 2011 TV Yellow Gibson Les Paul Junior Guitar that Armstrong smashed during the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. The guitar has been put back together and is now playable.
- A 1950s Gibson ES-125 TCD Electric Guitar used live on tour in support of 21st Century Breakdown, Uno… Dos… Tré!, and Revolution Radio.
- A 1950s Gibson ES-140T Electric Guitar that Armstrong used on the tour bus throughout the Green Day tour supporting American Idiot.
- A 1972 Fender Telecaster Deluxe Electric Guitar that Armstrong used live on the 21st Century Breakdown World Tour.
- A 1970s Gibson L6-S Electric Guitar that was hand-painted by Armstrong and used live on tour.
- A Gibson Billie Joe Armstrong Signature Les Paul Junior signed by Armstrong and a Gibson Billie Joe Armstrong Signature Les Paul Special Electric Guitar that took Armstrong nearly two years of prototyping to create with Gibson.
Among the items Drummer Tre Cool is selling is a Gretsch USA Custom Champagne Sparkle Drum Kit that was used live and in the studio for Uno… Dos… Tré! The kit can be seen in the liner notes for the album as well as several music videos during that time. “I”m probably just going to buy all this stuff back at like 3 in the morning because I’m going to have a hard time parting with it,” Cool said while talking about the kit.
From Cool’s collection, The Official Green Day Reverb Shop will also feature:
- An OCDP Silver Sparkle Drum Kit that he set on fire during the Pop Disaster Tour in 2002—exactly as it came off stage with ash and soot.
- An Ayotte Green Stain Maple Drum Kit that was used live throughout the Insomniac tour in 1995. The kit can be seen in several promo materials and events for the album, including the band’s performance on the Late Show with David Letterman.
- A Noble & Cooley Snare Drum that was often used live with the Ayotte kit mentioned above. Of the rare, limited edition snare, Cool jokes “The ingredients to make this snare drum are a secret. They’re hidden in a locked door at the Zildjian company.”
- A brand new Slingerland Spitfire Tre Cool Signature Drum Kit from the late 1990s/early 2000s. During that time period, Cool kept several of these kits on hand, but this kits “is probably the only one left in existence,” Cool said. “I burned all the rest of them in case you were wondering.”
- A Leedy White Marine Pearl Drum Kit and Snare Drum that was used heavily on the 21st Century Breakdown The kit—which is one of only four made—shows signs of discoloration, likely due to repeated exposure to pyrotechnics.
“If you hoard the right shit long enough, they call you a collector. So I’m selling off just a wee bit of the collection. I’m not doing it any justice sitting around when someone could be using this stuff. I haven’t really sold anything ever—this is the first time. My psychiatrist said I have to do this,” Cool joked. “In all seriousness, I hope whoever buys this stuff gets some enjoyment out of it…rocking it on their stage or putting it in their studio. I really hope they just don’t sit around and get dusty. Except for the burned stuff. Don’t even try and fix that—its not going to work. It’s just burned.”
The shop will also feature more than 20 pieces of studio gear and nearly a dozen amps, including a Mesa/Boogie Basis M-2000 amp that Bassist Mike Dirnt used from 1997 to 2003, primarily on the tours to support Nimrod and Warning.
While Armstrong—who uses Reverb to buy guitars for his personal collection and sell gear from his Oakland-based store, Broken Guitars—sold a selection of gear on Reverb in late 2017, this is the first time the entire band has put pieces of Green Day history up for sale. To view the items that will be live in The Official Green Day Reverb Shop on Thursday, February 7, and a video of Armstrong and Cool talking about the shop, visit https://goo.gl/aCRVNQ.
About Reverb
Reverb.com is the online marketplace to buy and sell new, used, and vintage music gear. Since launching in 2013, Reverb has grown into the most popular music gear website in the world, with total sales on the platform surpassing $1 billion and more than 10 million musicians and music lovers around the world visiting the website each month. A portion of each sale on Reverb goes to Reverb Gives, which provides teachers, instructors, and leaders of music programs across the nation with the instruments they need. Reverb also recently launched Reverb LP, an online marketplace for buying and selling records and other physical music. Visit www.reverb.com or download the mobile app: https://reverb.com/page/reverb-app.
