James Hetfield

James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963, in Downey, California) is the main songwriter, co-founder, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the American heavy metal band Metallica.

James identifies Aerosmith as having been his main musical influence as a child, and has said that they were the reason why he wanted to play guitar. Other bands such as Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy also had a major influence on his musical tastes.

Hetfield has been a major endorser of ESP guitars since the 1980s, and is best known for playing custom-made Explorer-style guitars with an EMG 81/EMG 60 set for pickups. His popularization of the models was considered by some to be a catalyst in Gibson’s decision to sue ESP over loss of profits (Gibson originated the model in the late 1950s and has allowed other companies to build replicas).

Hetfield’s main guitar from the early days was an inexpensive Flying V copy, used almost exclusively until about 1984 when he switched to the Gibson Explorer model. The most common Explorers were the white Gibson “More Beer!” Explorer, and the white ESP Explorer known as “EET FUK”, featuring middle finger inlays. He also has a white Gibson Explorer which says “So what!”

During the mid-1990s, Hetfield also used his two signature ESP Flying V models, one with red flames and one with green flames. He also asked a friend to fix black and silver diamond-plate metal onto the surface of some of his ESP Explorer guitars.

_{Source: Wikipedia}