NEWS:
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To simplify the reading
and dating, I am going to list the guitars under each album name, but
merely as a time period. It won't always be a studio/live setup, but if
a certain guitar requires further info it will be included in the
Notes/Quotes section.
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Studio
Notes/Quotes
- "I started using EMGs on the
'Ride the Lightning' Tour. They attracted me because of their tight low
end." Guitar World, October 1991
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| Studio
Notes/Quotes
- "I used a Gretsch White Falcon
for that descending effect at the end of the chorus on 'Nothing Else
Matters.' I tried it in several other places, but it was a little too
twangy for my taste."
"I also used an old Telecaster for that distant, The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly opening melody in 'The Unforgiven.' "
"Most of that song ['Nothing Else Matters'] was played on a Tom
Anderson electric guitar. We recorded it using two extremely clean
signals: one through an amp and the other directly into the board. We
really worked hard on that sound, and are real proud of the results. We
also used a jumbo Guild acoustic 12 string on the choruses. To get a
fuller sound, we tuned the 12-string's high E-string down to a D." Guitar
World, October 1991
- "On 'Wherever I May Roam,' I
use open position chords and Coral Electric Sitar-my God, what's going
on?! Actually, I'd always wanted to use weirdo instruments, though the
other guys didn't give a shit. We weren't going to write a specific
song around a banjo, but I love learning how to use different things.
Bob, our producer, has eased me into that-he's a guitarist himself, and
he collects a lot of old '60s and '70s stuff. I used a Jones Danolectro
6 String Bass copy for the main riff on 'Sad But True.' It sounded
great, more chunkin' than my regular guitar tuned down to D, and
it's really fun to play. I knew it needed a push in terms of
heaviness-it was already an ugly riff, but it needed to get a little
uglier. I did some sort of microtonal slide work on the chorus of that
song, just eerie sliding around sounds. Kirk hated it-he said it sounds
out of tune.
My main guitar is still the ESP Explorer with EMG pickups I've been
using since RIDE THE LIGHTNING. The acoustic on 'The Unforgiven' is an
old classical guitar someone gave me years ago. That song also has some
Tele for the background twangy parts, and at the tail there's some
Fender Shenandoag 12 string. I used a Gretsch White Falcon for 'Nothing
Else Matters.' I love the way the Bigsby tremolo drops. We recorded a
descending part with just the reverb sound, no attack-it sounds like an
airplane landing." Guitar Player, September 1991
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Notes/Quotes
- "Getting my rhythm guitar
sound is always the most nerve wracking part of the recording process
for me. Once that's done, it's pretty much clear sailing as far as I'm
concerned."
To deliver the lion's share of Load's ear punishing crunch,
Hetfield called upon his trusty white ESP Explorer, loaded with EMG 81
pickups. "It's pretty much the first one they made for me [actually the
second, the first had raised middle finger inlays], and it's just the
shit. For some reason, it just sound better than the others. That
guitar doesn't travel-I save it for studio work."
Also on hand were a veritable battery of amps, all of which were put to
good use. "At one point I had 14 amps going at once...for a clean
sound. I wanted to get a variety of clean sounds on this album instead
of relying exclusively on the Roland JC-120, which has traditionally
been the source of Metallica's clean sound. It was tough going though,
because the Roland sounds so good that you want to keep going back to
it. But we found some other cool aamps, particularly this little
Matchless Spitfire that really kicks ass and an old tweed Fender Twin
that's so sharp it'll take your nuts off!" Guitar World, July 1996
Live
Notes/Quotes
- Dino Muradian on
James' Wood Burnt Elk Skull Explorer:
"Another very fulfilling meeting," Dino recounted, "was the occasion
when I met Metallica's James Hetfield (the one I worked that custom
ESP-Explorer with a stag scull on it for), and with Kirk Hemet, also in
Seattle, also in 1995. These two guys, really heavy metal animals on
stage, real gods for so/too many younsters, made me feel like ...
Michelangelo, backstage, just before their concert in The Sonics Arena.
Clean, very nicely mannered, even shy, they both impressed me a lot
then, so now I'm kind of a fan of theirs."
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| Live
James was using the same setup as
before along with the following:
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Black ESP Explorer
with Black Diamond Plate
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Before we get into the
equipment used on St. Anger, I would like to mention that this is a
list of all the gear that can be seen in the studio, not necessarily
everything that James used. He might have used one guitar
just a little or not at all, but since it was in the studio, I wanted
to mention them all. An item marked with a * indicates it was part of
James' main recording setup.
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Live
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Other Stuff
- Prototype Levy Straps-M7GG3. Out now, check your local dealers
- Levy M8P3GP Straps
- Peterson Strobe 420 Tuner
- Dunlop .88 (Green) Picks
- Custom Yellow/Black Picks from
pick factory, not sure on the gauge
- Ernie Ball10-46 strings
- Ernie Ball12-56 strings (Tuned
down)
- Audio Technica microphones:
AT4050 for guitars (old setup), AT4054 for vocals
- Audio-Technica 2500 Artist
Elite for guitars (actually a drum mic)
Notes on James' Guitars
- When James first started using
ESP guitars, most of them had 81/81 pickups, James changed a lot of
them off and on, between the 81 and 60. Right around the time of the
black album, most guitars had the 81/60 combo
- James likes a thin U backshape
- 320mm radius
- 42mm nut
- dunlop extra jumbo frets
(6100)-ESP Actually uses their own fretwire, but its similar to the
dunlop 6100 fretwire
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