Metallica guitarist and owner of the meanest right-hand in the business, James Hetfield, is celebrating 50 years of EMG Pickups with a special anniversary “Het Set” of humbuckers.
These come with one key celebratory twist: they are emblazoned with a 50th anniversary logo created with the Metallica font, in a design of Hetfield’s own making. The limited edition JH signature set comes in brushed black chrome and is limited to just 200 sets.
It's the latest extension of the Het Set range, which has been the Metallica man's go-to pickup set for the past few decades. The Het Set – which was the most difficult set the firm has ever had to make – began life by being patterned on the humbuckers that powered Hetfield’s riffs. But the end result, EMG says, was “a completely different animal.”
JH-N neck ‘bucker has individual ceramic poles and bobbins that feature a larger core for more attack, higher output, and fuller low end in the neck position. Its counterpart, the JH-B, uses the same core, but uses steel pole pieces, a key difference from the classic EMG 81 pickup, which instead uses bar magnets. The switch up means the attack is tighter, and with less inductance to clean up the low end.
Included in the box are two 25k Volume and Tone pots, a stereo output jack, mounting screws and connector cables, and everything else needed to supercharge whatever electric guitar they’re plonked into.
The special set is priced at $299, and will be available from Friday, November 13. It follows the rest of the band getting new pickups – Hetfield included – and the launch of a Tom Morello signature set, inspired by his Arm the Homeless guitar.
Check out EMG for more.
Hetfield, meanwhile, has credited his competitiveness with Dave Mustaine for helping him master down picking in the most extreme way, and revealed that Turnstile rejected the chance to tour with them.
The guitarist has divided opinion with his anti-political statements during a recent Metallica show at the Sphere, leading to Roger Waters making a powerful retort.
