James Hetfield wood burned skull Explorer [Archive]

Metfuk

09-14-2007, 10:15 AM

Not sure if I put this in the right section, but..

Does anybody have good detailed pics of this guitar?
http://img7.photobucket.com/albums/v18/mjf1982/jamesguitars/Elk/elk1.jpg

Especially the fretboard would be nice to have a closer look at.

monty

09-14-2007, 02:14 PM

I have some good closeups I can poster later...until then:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/mjf1982/jamesguitars/Elk/elkexplorer.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/mjf1982/jamesguitars/Elk/jameselkexpfront.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/mjf1982/jamesguitars/Elk/jameselkexpback.jpg

Microdomus

09-14-2007, 02:30 PM

Cool. The guy holding the guitar is Dino?:rolleyes:

Metfuk

09-14-2007, 02:35 PM

Thanks Monty, looking forwward to them.

It's the barbed wire inlays I'm after. I'm trying to research the difficulty level of making the inlays. The barbed wire looks so cool. I think it's one of the coolest inlays ever.

phil

09-14-2007, 08:38 PM

Thanks Monty, looking forward to them

+10 The elk skull is a tricky one to find detailed pictures of. Can't wait.

angelzdecay

09-15-2007, 10:32 AM

looks niice

Pushead

09-15-2007, 10:40 AM

The inlay is done in silver. It was originally done (twice) by Rob Thorn. Het's explorer was one, and there was an M-II that was featured on the custom shop page a few years ago with it as well.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/Pushead_cic/Random/cust02_m2_psycho.jpg

Metfuk

09-16-2007, 04:24 AM

Silver? As in real silver or silver pearl?
Must be pretty expensive none the less.

Lord Raptor Jesus

09-16-2007, 06:09 AM

I farkin' love that guitar.

Metfuk

09-17-2007, 02:48 AM

Still can't wait for your pics Monty...

ice7400

09-17-2007, 06:23 AM

Niceeeeeeeeeee.

Now I have Explorer GAS......

Does anyone know where I can get this graphic or inlay. I found the thread where Crazyphrase has one of this as well..

:hat:hat:hat

monty

09-17-2007, 08:49 AM

I'll find the inlay shot in a bit :)
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/mjfpix/jhexplorerbody.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/mjfpix/jhexplorer.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/mjfpix/elkcloseup2.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/mjfpix/elkcloseup1.jpg

Metfuk

09-17-2007, 09:51 AM

Fucking ace Monty!
You always have the rarest pics.

The wood burning is much more detailed than I thought. It must be a tough job to do.

TheSandman

09-17-2007, 02:17 PM

Microdomus

09-17-2007, 02:20 PM

I actually think the white nut on that one is a bit...wrong. Think it would have looked better in black!

Metfuk

09-17-2007, 02:30 PM

I actually think the white nut on that one is a bit...wrong. Think it would have looked better in black!

You're right. He does own loads of black nutted ones so..yeah.
Did you notice this one has rosewood fretboard? Most of his guitars have ebony.

monty

09-17-2007, 02:47 PM

where did find those pics at? I've never seen those before, looks amazing!

The first few are from Dino. He sent me a few others long time ago, I'll see if I can dig those up too. I have too many pix of this stuff all over :p

The other two are from photos that I have.

Dark Alone

09-17-2007, 02:48 PM

Is it true that guitar is having some issues with the finish the last couple years?

monty

09-17-2007, 02:50 PM

Dark Alone

09-17-2007, 02:51 PM

Interesting. So the clear coat just didn't take to that burned wood I guess.

A shame. That guitar is really cool.

Metfuk

09-17-2007, 03:12 PM

Interesting. So the clear coat just didn't take to that burned wood I guess.

A shame. That guitar is really cool.

Yeah I think it's one of his coolest guitars.
But yeah, when you think of it...this guitar is pretty experimental when it comes to the finish.

Monty, if you can take the effory to post any more pics, be my guest! ;)

monty

09-17-2007, 03:14 PM

I will...just trying to find the good ones :)

Gfunk

09-17-2007, 03:17 PM

You're right. He does own loads of black nutted ones

8o

Did you notice this one has rosewood fretboard? Most of his guitars have ebony.

:confused:

Metfuk

09-17-2007, 03:24 PM

8o

:confused:

What's wrong bro?

Pushead

09-17-2007, 03:32 PM

That's what I heard and a few people said it looked kinda bubbly or something. But I do have some other semi-HQ pix of james using it and you can see that the guitar itself has been "used" quite a bit, haha.

Yeah, I saw it up close in 98 (Reload tour, front row) and it was fairly beat around the edges. The thing was chipped all over the top edge and bottom horn. I dunno why or how it would have gotten so beat up. The rest of his guitars didn't have that much playing damage.

Another interesting thing that many people don't know (uh oh, I'm sounding like another forum member), the "Caution Hot" sticker on Kirk's KH-2 (one of them at least) is to cover a rather substantial break in the top of the body. They painted it black, and put the sticker over it. I always thought the "authentic" KH-2 relic was a bit lame without having that break on it.

http://home.swipnet.se/blacksheep/kirksolosv.jpg

Dark Alone

09-17-2007, 05:19 PM

Is it a break in the body, or just a gouge in the finish? I knew it was covering up something.

Pushead

09-17-2007, 06:59 PM

It's chipped about 1/16" into the body. That whole area got chipped, like it got dropped on something and splintered off.

http://homepage.mac.com/laddie/c_split-w-unifacial-tool.jpg

This is what I remember anyway, it's been a while. Monty probably has a better pic.

Dark Alone

09-17-2007, 07:03 PM

Fuck... how does that happen? :o

TheSandman

09-17-2007, 07:10 PM

I actually think the white nut on that one is a bit...wrong. Think it would have looked better in black!

I think some of his explorer's had white nuts, I know the elk explorer had a white nut. I've always thought it would look better black also. If you watch the memory remains video, he's playing with the elk explorer and you can see the white nut

EDIT: found some pics

http://www.freewebtown.com/metallicake/jaymz0076.jpg
http://www.freewebtown.com/metallicake/summer138.jpg
http://www.freewebtown.com/metallicake/jh1a-02.jpg

TheSandman

09-17-2007, 07:18 PM

memory remains video for the lazy peoplez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsQHbg3kxlo

rrrcustom

09-18-2007, 04:01 PM

Here's mine.

:D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/cnr1976/elk006.jpg

The finish on the 2 I made was pretty fragile as well. I just thought I fucked them both up doing different things.

I need to make another. Damnit! Now I have to use silver for the inlay.:mad:

Dark Alone

09-18-2007, 04:06 PM

Did you burn yours too Rob?

rrrcustom

09-18-2007, 06:54 PM

yep.

Pushead

09-18-2007, 07:04 PM

Well, it's a silver amalgum. I don't quite know the exact make up of it. I did some research about it when I was thinking of trying it, but got too lazy and scared to try.

rrrcustom

09-18-2007, 07:17 PM

I got "The Art of Inlay" by Larry Robinson, and he says you can(or used to be able to) get silver wire in a roll, like solder. I'd think that would be what I'd want, since it would essentially be real barbed wire at that point. Just need to find the stuff.

The MOP looked good though, I wouldn't be opposed to using it again. I know I could do it better too.

Yo Daddy

09-18-2007, 10:26 PM

WOW! I mean, WOW! That's killer Rob.

Metfuk

09-19-2007, 04:01 AM

Here's mine.

Whoa! fucking sick dude!!
Did you customize a standard MX or did you build the entire guitar from scratch?

How do you burn the wood?

rrrcustom

09-19-2007, 08:46 AM

I built mine from scratch.

For the wood burning, I was able to buy a wood burning tool from Sears. It works OK, but it isn't what a professional would use. Theirs is more like a soldering iron with the variable wattage.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if that would work for as a woodburning tool. I know you get the best results for shading byt varying the voltage. I just don't know how hot a soldering iron gets as opposed to a wood burning iron.

andrei

09-21-2007, 02:23 AM

found his page some time ago, nice work:

http://www.geocities.com/dinumuradian/index.html

thought about giving it a shot myself, with a soldering iron... (no time)

Rob... speechless... you rule, keep up the good work!

rrrcustom

09-22-2007, 07:13 PM

It's my all time favorite guitar.... hands down. I love it so much. Hopefully, next year I can build another.

Azrael416

09-24-2007, 08:03 AM

Awesome Simply awesome

ESPKH4

09-24-2007, 09:32 AM

i was watching the dvd from S&M a couple days ago and during wolf and man james plays the wood burned MXP and the top wing is beat to shit the paint is all chipped away but it still looks amazing its clearly my favorite of his guitars too bad it wasnt a signature