EMG and Metallica have recently announced the newly released JH Signature EMG pickups, a custom line of pickups designed for Metallica mainman James Hetfield. The pickups were debuted by Hetfield at the recent Big Four Festival in Indio, California, last month.
A post on Metallica.com reads: "For those of you who like tech-talk, the new pickups feature sleek black nickel plated caps and EMG's Solderless Installation System components and the JH Set consists of the JH-N (neck) and the JH-B (bridge). Both pickups were patterned after the pickups James has used for 30 years but the end result was a completely different animal. The JH-N has individual ceramic poles and bobbins that feature a larger core and are taller than the 60. This produces more attack, higher output and fuller low end in the neck position. The JH-B uses the same type of core but has steel pole pieces, unlike the 81 that uses bar magnets. This produces the familiar tight attack with less inductance for a cleaner low end."
Check out the video below to see Hetfield talk more about his new line of pickups: