Metallica frontman James Hetfield showed off his new guitar built from reclaimed wood salvaged from the garage the band rehearsed and wrote during their legendary run in the 80's. In the video, Hetfield shares the story of 3132 Carlson Boulevard in El Cerrito, California, the garage where most of the thrash icons' monumental albums Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets were written. The location is where the group rehearsed when they moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles to be close in proximity to bassist Cliff Burton. The garage has since been torn down.
The guitar, which Hetfield has named "Carl," was built from eight pieces of wood saved from the torn down garage by an old friend named Andy Anderson. Artist and guitar-maker Ken Lawerence built the instrument with little direction from Hetfield except that he wanted it rustic. "You feel the wood, you feel the grain. It's almost like grooves in vinyl," Hetfield explained. The fretboard of the guitar features an interpreted history of the band's early years and the faces of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Cliff Burton are hand engraved on the back.
In footage from the video, Metallica returns to 3132 Carlson Boulevard in April 2016 during a celebration of the re-issues of 1983's Kill 'Em All and 1984's Ride The Lightning.
Author Joel Mclver described the scene of the garage in his book, To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton (via Blabbermouth): It was a mess, because James, Lars and Mark Whitaker lived there and they would have these nightly drinking sessions. Everyone and their mother or father who was remotely interested in Metallica would come over with a case of beer — and, of course, those guys wouldn't turn away any sort of strangers bearing gifts of alcoholic beverages."
Metallica will release The $5.98 EP - Garage Days Re-Revisited on April 13 as part of Record Store Day. Watch the video below: