“It was kind of a strange interview because I didn’t have a single guitar to show him!”: How this luthier landed a job making guitars for James Hetfield
Some of James Hetfield’s most iconic guitars have been crafted in Ken Lawrence’s workshop. Most notably, Lawrence pieced together ‘Carl’, preserving some of Metallica’s history by re-purposing old planks of wood salvaged from the remains of a garage the band used to rehearse in.
In a new interview with Guitar World, Lawrence recalls how he first crossed paths with the Metallica frontman. Doug West from Mesa/Boogie was the first to share Lawrence’s handiwork with the heavy metallers, originally encouraging bassist Jason Newsted to work with the luthier. “I would leave instruments for Doug to show to whoever might be stopping by,” he says. “He took one of the basses to a Metallica rehearsal when they were working on their guitar rigs, to see if Jason Newsted might be interested.”
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Despite Lawrence exclusively designing basses at the time, Papa Het was intrigued. “Doug told me that James liked the workmanship on the instrument and he kept flipping it back and forth, studying it,” he says. “Then he asked if we could meet.”
With no guitars to show, Lawrence simply brought along as many basses as he could fit into his car. “That was kind of a strange interview because I didn’t have a single guitar to show him,” he recalls. “I went for a guitar commission with a carload of basses!”
Despite his lack of guitars, Hetfield saw the potential in Lawrence’s work. “I laid them all out on the floor, and he went, ‘Okay, let’s make a guitar,’” he says.
Lawrence’s first project would set the standard for many of his future Hetfield pieces. The Metallica frontman has his heart set on the jagged, almost lightning-bolt style of the Gibson Explorer. “He had Zach Harmon send me one of one of his older ESPs, a white one,” Lawrence says. “I took a pattern of the silhouette of the body and looked at the shape of the neck and some of the setup items and all that. And I had this headstock a friend of mine had designed for a five-string bass.”
“I brought those patterns to James and it was an instant fit,” he continues. “In retrospect, there are elements of that headstock that actually mirror the Metallica logo – it’s funny how things in the cosmos line up!”
When it came time to decide on the wood, Lawrence had a few ideas in mind. “A friend had started bringing in some really interesting woods from Central America,” he says. “I took a couple of boards of Chechen and some Grenadillo fretboard material to show him. He said, ‘Well, let’s do it with this one, but let’s stash that one.’”
The off-hand comment made Lawrence realise that this wasn’t going to be a one-time collaboration. There was a future working with Metallica – he just had to make sure the first guitar was perfect. “That was one of those moments where I realized I’d better do a good job on the first one if I wanted to have a second one happen,” he admits. “We got through it, and it turned out even better than either of us expected.”
Since, he’s worked on seven guitars with Hetfield, with Carl being one of his most challenging projects. “The Carl guitar was challenging in just being able to honor the woods that James wanted to use,” he explains. “But the real challenge for me was with the inlays – I had to get help on them.”
It’s a partnership that has changed his life, and there are still some designs Hetfield is keen to have Lawrence working on soon. “It’s been great – he’s a really cool guy and he’s got some really cool ideas,” Lawrence says. “We’re up to seven, and I think he might be pondering an eighth.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
