James Hetfield Had a Guitar Built Out of Metallica's Old Practice Space

Metallica frontman James Hetfield has given up his right to say that classic aging rockstar mantra, "I'm not into nostalgia."

Not that he's ever made such a claim (that we know of) — but having a guitar built out of your band's for space seems pretty, pretty, prettayyy nostalgic.

But it's also a really cool idea! 

And when you think about how the world of hard rock and heavy metal changed as a result of what Metallica created in that space, a guitar is actually a small, beautiful tribute to the long-lost garage at 3132 Carlson Boulevard.   

That Bay Area, California, garage is where Metallica wrote it's groundbreaking Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets albums—two albums which changed underground metal forever. 

Hetfield says his first idea was to extract the garage from the property and rebuild it inside Metallica's massive rehearsal space. 

"It never came to fruition, it was kinda stupid and whatever," Hetfield said, admitting the rockstar-ness of the idea. "We come to find out that they later tore down the garage. So I was bummed."

Hetfield said the band went to 3132 Carlson for an event at which they reconnected with some old friends. There, Hetfield learned that his old friend, Andy Anderson formerly of the band Attitude Adjustment, had the foresight to keep some of the wood. 

The timeworn wood was full of nails and character, as you can see from the guitar, but it was also mahogany, a popular wood for guitar builders!

Hetfield took the wood and turned it over to one of his best luthier friends Kenneth Lawrence

Check out the video above as Hetfield explains Lawrence's creation.


Photo: Getty Images


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