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The Hetfield and Hammet Burst's, making noise!!! (VID)

buyusfear

buyusfear

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A while back I made a surprising discovery watching Metallica's latest dvd/documentary, Some Kind of Monster. It had been a while since I last watched the doc. and after revisiting the video with an more educated perspective, regarding bursts, I noticed a couple of them in the film. After posting the pics here, a few people added some info regarding when and where they came from....

Anyways...a recently posted picture on one of their fansites of Kirk playing what looks like a '57 goldtop prompted me to revisit the videos, and this time I compiled all of the "Burst appearances" into a couple videos.

here's the most recent pic of one of their vintage Lesters....
Yeager_3411.jpg



and here are the video clips....

EDIT (thanks to clarification by Uncle Lou via email)
this first one is of both guitars,
Yes, I sold James his '59 lemon-drop burst in 1997, but I sold Kirk his '59 cherry burst in 2001. Both guitars are original and have been used exclusively for recording ever since.
Click to expand...

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=AeFQPEfxvoI

here's the original clip that made me look twice at these guitars....

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu2S9wocK8s

this is another clip of Kirks burst
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yLxUx6uCQE


METALLICA-10.jpg


METALLICA-9.jpg


Thats Unlce Lou seated at the door....

METALLICA-8.jpg


SOME_KIND_OF_MONSTER_1-3.jpg


SOME_KIND_OF_MONSTER_1-6.jpg


SOME_KIND_OF_MONSTER_1-19.jpg


SOME_KIND_OF_MONSTER_1-16.jpg


SOME_KIND_OF_MONSTER_1-5.jpg
 
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mistersnappy

mistersnappy

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Very cool! Thanks for posting this! I dig Hetfield's Burst and Hammet's Goldie...:2cool :dude:
 
buyusfear

buyusfear

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mistersnappy said:
Very cool! Thanks for posting this! I dig Hetfield's Burst and Hammet's Goldie...:2cool :dude:
Click to expand...

Thanks, glad you liked.

I'm uploading another vid of kirk playing his burst.. nothing special, but it's burst footage.
 
mistersnappy

mistersnappy

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Cool. That Silvertone right at the beginning looks like one a friend has...

Nice Woman Tone...:salude
 
G

gillibi

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They just need to swap out those stupid PAFs for their EMGs and they'll be able to take them on tour.
 
plaintop

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Tom, in metal it's pretty common to dump the mids on your amp to get a more crunchy tone. I think they are busting on them a bit for using a 'burst for metal, when it's not exactly geared toward it.

I read somewhere that they loved Gary Moore's tone on Oh Pretty Woman and shortly after that went 'burst shopping.
 
Tom Wittrock

Tom Wittrock

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plaintop said:
Tom, in metal it's pretty common to dump the mids on your amp to get a more crunchy tone.
Click to expand...

I know. When kids come in my shop and want to try out a guitar through the test amp, I ask them if they want "old school" distortion or "young kid" distortion, while spinning the mid tone control from one extreme to the other. Some actually "get it" and start experimenting with overdrive tones that have some mids in them. :)
 
Wookie

Wookie

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Can the real old-wood tone and real PAF's really be heard through high-gain distortion and compression?

I just can NOT imagine anybody waxing poetic over the great PAF tone Metallica got on a certain track. Not to say they're recordings sound bad, just not really fitting the mold of what a great old-school classic guitar tone should be. I feel if you're playing an old Burst, you're after that old-school sound, and I just don't hear that sound fitting the Metallica mold.
 
buyusfear

buyusfear

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I wonder what the man, Les Paul, was thinking when he heard a Les Paul guitar played with a bit of gain.

Metallica uses so much gear in the studio, that the burst may not even show up. The question is, why wouldn't they want a burst?
At the end of the day i'm pretty sure they each have their go-to set-up, but why not feel inspired on a burst?

These guys have an insane toy box of eqiupment, just watch the videos, you'll see a trainwreck, dumble, plexi's, tweeds, etc etc,. and the obvious, old wood.

If you watch that clip of just james playing his burst, with the comentary option, on the dvd, when that scene comes up he and kirk both remark at how awesome that guitar sounds, and James says, yeah fitty nine Ley paul baby.

And in regards to the PAF's or similar pickups not being ideal, many "Metal" guys record with lower output passive pups, as they are much crisper and meatier sounding.

It's live that EMG's come into effect, to prevent squeel city.
 
i8guitar

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TW59 said:
I know. When kids come in my shop and want to try out a guitar through the test amp, I ask them if they want "old school" distortion or "young kid" distortion, while spinning the mid tone control from one extreme to the other. Some actually "get it" and start experimenting with overdrive tones that have some mids in them. :)
Click to expand...

I know when I come in I just have Tom spin the knob back and forth for a cool wah-wah effect :dude:
 
Tom Wittrock

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buyusfear said:
I have not seen that one, is Eddie playing a/his burst?
Click to expand...

Good question. :hmm


I haven't seen it in 15+ years. It was a tribute to Les, as I recall. Les had no trouble keeping up with Eddie on the guitar. I think Les kept his feet on the ground, though. :ganz
I believe Steve Miller was also on there, and I seem to remember Les giving a Les Paul [Custom Lite] to Carly Simon.
 
The Shifter

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Yeah, no burst there. Ed is playing his 5150 Kramer and he's wasted. He's playing the part of the over affectionate drunk guy, and Les is more or les humoring him. Think of your most textbook "sober guy trying to politely deal with a drunk guy at a bar/party" scenario, and that's pretty much what you've got. Also, Les is an old school entertainer, so he rolls with the punches and never misses a beat.

As far as Metallica goes, for the record, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets are two of the greatest rock albums ever. EMGs and all.
:wail :wail :wail
 
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