Luthier Ken Lawrence has been equipping one of the biggest names in metal, James Hetfield, with some truly iconic axes for the best part of three decades – most famously ‘Carl’, which was made out of wood from Metallica's ’80s home.
But the famed guitar builder is in fact a bassist – and managed to win over the Metallica guitarist with basses before clinching a guitar commission.
Speaking to Guitar World about how their collaboration first came about, Lawrence recalls meeting Doug West, Mesa/Boogie founder Randall Smith's right-hand man, as the one who set it all in motion.
“I met Doug West from Mesa/Boogie, and we hit it off. We became fast friends. At the time, I was still making basses, primarily,” he explains. “I spent a lot of time down at Mesa's shop playing music with Doug and I would leave instruments there for them to show to whomever might be stopping by.
“Doug took one of those basses over to a Metallica rehearsal where they were working on their guitar rigs. This is when Jason Newsted [former Metallica bassist] was in the band, just to see if Jason might be interested.”
It was Hetfield who ended up checking Lawrence's basses out and admiring his workmanship. In fact, “He kept flipping it back and forth, studying it. Then he asked if we could meet.” There was one problem, though: since Lawrence was still primarily focusing on basses, he didn't have a single guitar to show him.
“I had showed up auditioning for a guitar commission with a carload of basses! I laid them all out on the floor, and he walked in and went, ‘OK, let's make a guitar.’ So that's how that all started. It's been great.’”
The first guitar that Lawrence ever built for him was an Explorer-style model, inspired by one of Hetfield’s older ESPs.
“He said that this was one that he plays a lot. He really likes one, if you can get close to this, then we're doing something. That was one of those little moments where I realized that I better do a good job on this first one if I want to have a second one happen. We got through it, and it turned out even better than either of us expected.”
As to what else we can expect from the James Hetfield/Ken Lawrence collaboration, the luthier answers coyly, “I mean, he's a really cool guy, and he's got some really cool ideas. We're up to seven, and I think he might be pondering an eighth. I'm not sure – fingers crossed!”
Guitar World's full interview with Ken Lawrence will be published later this month.
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