James Hetfield’s Tech Explains What Surprised Him About Cheap Flying V Copies, Reveals James’ Favorite Guitar

“By the time I got it in my hands, I was like, ‘It’s still not going to tune well.'”

Chad Zaemisch, guitar tech for Metallica frontman James Hetfield, discussed James Hetfield’s old Electra V guitar and revealed that, not that long ago, they acquired a few other pieces of the same model.

The guitar in question is a copy of Gibson’s Flying V made by a Japanese brand Electra. Known as the Electra Flying Wedge Model 2236, this cheap alternative that James got back in the day altered the course of history as it found its way on some of the biggest albums of all time.

Chad recalled this guitar during an interview with RJM when he was asked about which of James’ instruments requires the most work. He replied (via Killer Guitar Rigs):

“So James’ original Flying V, the white one from all the old pictures way back, is a Japanese copy. And he found a Gibson truss rod cover and put it on, so everyone would think he could afford a Gibson, but it was just a Japanese copy.”

Going into more detail, he revealed that James now has at least two of these that he uses live. Of course, his original Electra Flying Wedge, sometimes known as the “OGV,” is kept safely at home. Meanwhile, we can still see James rocking some of these guitars that look like Electra Vs. For the original one, make sure to read this article by UG’s Justin Beckner.

Trying to Get a Little Bit of That Magic Back

Zaemisch shared some details, revealing that luthier Bill Nash also participated in modifying these guitars:

“In just trying to kind of get a little bit of that magic back, they found three or four of them, maybe about a year and a half, two years ago now, and just put all of his pickups and everything in it, gave them a listen in the studio, then picked a couple out, sent them up to Bill Nash to do the aging, to kind of recreate that look of the original one.”

However, he wasn’t all that happy about these guitars at first. But working with them a little, he admits that these are pretty decent instruments:

“And I was like, ‘Oh no, it’s a bolt-on neck.’ It’s the only guitar I have that’s a bolt-on neck. And I was like, ‘This thing’s gonna be a piece of crap.'”

“So by the time I got it in my hands, I was like, ‘It’s still not going to tune well.’ And it turned out to be the most consistent and the best-tuning guitar that I have. So go figure that out.”

“But they’re all pretty much the same”

Discussing the whole matter of what requires the most work, Chad adds that, for a touring band, all guitars require maintenance, especially if they’re changing climates:

“But they’re all pretty much the same. I mean, ESP guitars — you don’t really get like, ‘This was a bad batch’ or like, ‘Well, this one’s good or that one’s not.’ They’re all pretty consistent.”

“So the general maintenance that you need to do is when you move from one climate to another, or you go from one continent to another, and they sit, humidity, all that kind of thing.”

“And then that’s just what I do have to do, just a little bit of truss rod work just to keep the action the same. But they’re all pretty good.”

Then, there are guitars that stay at Metallica’s HQ in California. Not because they’re irreplaceable but because it would require a lot more work:

“If something was extremely difficult, I think I’ve had one that I just kind of said, ‘Oh, hey, I’m gonna leave this guitar back at HQ.’ [Laughs] ‘That’s okay.’ Just to get it off my hands a little bit.”

“But I’ve got one Les Paul that has a Bigsby on it, and that’s probably the most difficult one just to string it and to keep it in tune. And I’m not really using it on this tour — I’ll have it out with me, but that one takes a lot of extra time.”

The OGV

During the same interview, Chad was also asked to name his favorite

“Basically, since the OGV [James Hetfield’s original Electra V] — as you call it — is the latest one we’ve gotten out, it’s his favorite thing. So that’s the most popular to him right now [but] he likes them all.”

James did take it out for some studio work, although it’s not always clear which songs he used it on. It definitely appeared on “Death Magnetic,” and it may have been featured on “72 Seasons” as well, although there’s no confirmation on this.

As for other guitars, Chad said:

“He’ll pick up the Cthulhu-looking one now, and he’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, this one.’ And he only plays it for one song, but it’s got a cool vibe to him. It’s not that it’s old or anything — we’ve had old guitars out, but he doesn’t really lean towards anything other than the V for the last couple of years.”