Castor Hetfield

Castor Virgil Hetfield (born May 18, 2000) is an American musician, singer and songwriter known for being the founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the American rock band Reckless. Hetfield is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionally performs lead guitar duties and some solos, both live and in the studio. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 2017 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Miles Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler. Reckless has won nine Grammy Awards and released nine studio albums, three live albums, four extended plays and 24 singles.

In 2009, Hetfield was ranked at no. 8 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists, and ranked at no. 24 by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Metal Vocalists of All Time. In Guitar World's poll, Hetfield was placed as the 19th greatest guitarist of all time, as well as being placed second (along with Metallica lead guitarist Angel Hammett) in The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists poll of the same magazine. Rolling Stone placed Hetfield as the 87th greatest guitarist of all time.

Early life
Castor James Alan Hetfield was born in San Francisco, California to James Hetfield and Francesca Hetfield. His father is of English, German, Irish and Scottish descent and His mother is Argentine. He has older sister Cali Hetfield and younger sister Marcella Hetfield.

Hetfield was nine years old when he first began piano lessons, after which he took on his sister's drums and finally, at the age of fourteen, he began to play guitar with Robert Okner. He was also in a few bands as a teenager – one being Leather Charm and another, Obsession. Hetfield identifies Aerosmith as having been his main musical influence as a child, and has said they were the reason he wanted to play guitar. He has also cited Queen, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Misfits, AC/DC, Cheap Trick, Foo Fighters, Everclear, Coldplay, Sum 41, Lips, Smash Mouth, Simple Plan, Collective Soul, Rush, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Ramones, Motörhead, Sex Pistols, Venom, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, ZZ Top, Thin Lizzy, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent, Rainbow, and Deep Purple as influences.

Guitars
Hetfield has been a major endorser of ESP Guitars since the 1980s, and is best known for playing custom-made Explorer-style guitars with an EMG 81/EMG 60 set for pickups. Hetfield's main guitar from the early days was a Flying V copy made in Japan by Electra, used almost exclusively until 1984 when he switched to the Gibson Explorer model.

During the mid-1990s, ESP produced the first of his signature model guitars. To date, Hetfield has had six signature guitars (may soon be seven) with the company. However, Hetfield often uses guitars from Gibson and other companies instead of ESP despite his endorsement.

Some of Hetfield's current tour guitars are:
 * ESP Truckster signature models in grey and black finishes
 * ESP "Iron Cross" – Has the Eclipse body shape; distressed black with gold hardware, with a gold racing stripe and a gold Iron Cross on the body. It is based on the design of his 1970s Gibson Les Paul Custom.
 * ESP EXplorer – distressed black finish with white pickguard
 * ESP EXplorer – silver diamond plate
 * ESP EXplorer – black diamond plate
 * ESP EXplorer "Papa Het" – with a white finish and some drawings by Dirty Donny
 * ESP EXplorer – black diamond plate with deer antler inlay
 * ESP Flying V – white finish (replica of his old Flying-V copy)
 * ESP LTD "The Grynch" – signature guitar, black with green flames on both the front and back of the body and neck, used for the song Frantic
 * ESP "Snakebyte" – custom guitars in black and white finishes; feature a custom body and headstock designed by James. The retail model was revealed to the public at the Winter NAMM 2011 show.
 * Gibson Explorer – silverburst with white pickguard
 * Gibson Explorer "Rusty" – black satin with tarnished metal pickguard
 * Gibson Flying V – sunburst
 * Gibson Flying V – silverburst
 * Gibson Flying V – white, chrome pickups
 * Gibson Les Paul Custom 1970s-era Les Paul with distressed black finish, gold stripe and gold iron cross on body; referred to as "Uncle Milty" and was the inspiration for his ESP Iron Cross signature model
 * Gibson Les Paul Custom – purple satin finish
 * Gibson Les Paul Custom – natural finish with drawing on body that says "Cliff Burton RIP"
 * James Trussart metal Explorer
 * James Trussart Steel DeVille – Les Paul-shaped guitar with a perforated, rusted steel front
 * Ken Lawrence Explorer – The first of three custom made Explorer-type guitars made by Northern Californian luthier Ken Lawrence. It features a mahogany body with a chechen bark laminate top, modified Kenneth Lawrence headstock and custom "Tribal Hunting Scene" inlays.
 * Ken Lawrence Explorer – It features a mahogany body with a quilted bubinga top, modified Kenneth Lawrence headstock, chechen rear cover plate and custom "Sun-Ray" inlays.
 * Line 6 Variax Acoustic 700 – used live for songs featuring acoustic guitars, such as Fade to Black and The Unforgiven
 * "Dave of England custom aluminium engraved tattoo finish" – a Zemaitis guitar with an engraved metal top
 * Fender Telecaster – with B-Bender in butterscotch finish

Other guitars owned/previously used by Hetfield include:
 * 1984 Gibson Explorer#1 – white finish with "MORE BEER" written on white tape in the bottom left corner, the stock pickups were swapped for EMG 81/EMG 81 set
 * 1984 Gibson Explorer#2 – white finish with "So What" written in the bottom left corner, the stock pickups were swapped for EMG 81/EMG 81 set
 * ESP Explorer – black finish with EMG pickups, used as a warm-up guitar in the early 1990s
 * Several Gibson Les Paul models – including Standard models in black, cherry sunburst, and lemon burst finishes
 * Gibson EDS-1275 – red finish
 * 1963 Gibson SG – red finish with Gibson Vibrola vibrato system
 * Gibson Moderne – black finish, gold hardware
 * Gibson Firebird – seen in practice
 * ESP EXplorer#1 – Hetfield's first ESP guitar: white finish, "EET FUK" on the body, "middle finger" inlays. The headstock broke many times and so the guitar was eventually retired from live use, it has been seen in use on the recording of the new album during the making of "Suicide and Redemption"
 * ESP EXplorer#2 – Hetfield's second ESP guitar: white finish, occasionally used live but Hetfield retired it for studio use
 * Numerous other ESP EXplorer models – including models with black finishes and custom inlays (including the "man-to-wolf" inlays model and eagle inlay model); a double-neck model; a model with a custom "Burnt Elk Skull" finish; and a model with a black finish and EMG pickups in an H/S/S configuration.
 * ESP JH1 Flying V – signature guitar with flames over a black finish
 * ESP Flying V with green flames (similar to the JH1)
 * ESP Eclipse JH3 – Eclipse with black finish, with white "hot rod" pinstripe design, gold hardware, and checkered flag inlays
 * ESP Eclipse – "kustom kulture" graphic finish with iron cross inlays
 * Other ESPs include: a Viper with custom artwork, several Eclipses and F-series models (including 7-strings in standard and 6-strings in drop-C tuning)
 * ESP Horizon Double-neck – Used while touring for the Black Album. Was possibly used after his ESP Explorer Double-neck was damaged in a pyrotechnic accident
 * Ken Lawrence Doubleneck Explorer
 * Ken Lawrence Dragon Les Paul
 * Zemaitis GZ Series GZV500MF-MBK – V-shaped guitar that has an engraved metal plate on the front of the body. Recently used by Hetfield in the World Magnetic Tour.
 * Fender Stratocaster – modified with natural finish, gold hardware and EMG pickups
 * Jackson King V – white finish with chrome hardware, used during the Master of Puppets tour
 * White Flying V copy – This guitar is not a Gibson Flying V, but a Japanese copy made by Electra which Hetfield purchased for $200. It was retired after the neck broke twice and the guitar started to go out of tune easily. The stock bridge pickup was later replaced with Seymour Duncan Invader. Recently Hetfield had ESP make an exact copy of it even down to the bolt on neck. The pickups were swapped for EMG 81/60, knobs were replaced with Gibson style black speed knobs, pickup selector has been moved up and stock machineheads were replaced with Shaller machineheads. This guitar has been seen during the making of Death Magnetic during the making of "The Judas Kiss".

(This list is not exhaustive – he has a large collection of guitars, not all of which are listed.)

Amplifiers and cabinets
Throughout Metallica's career, Hetfield has used a wide range of different amplifiers. For the first two albums, he used Marshall heads and cabinets, with occasional effects. The specific Marshall that he used for Kill Em All was stolen after a concert prior to the recording of Ride The Lightning; Hetfield was extremely upset by the theft, as his mother had helped him purchase the amp before her death. In 1986, for the recording of Master of Puppets, he and Kirk Hammett each bought a Mesa/Boogie Mark IIC+ amplifier (the preamp sections of which were connected to Marshall power amps), and since then he has mostly used Mesa/Boogies, including the Triaxis and Rectifier models. Around the time of St. Anger, Hetfield began using the Diezel VH4 head. The majority of his clean tones come from a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus Guitar Amplifier, although many different amplifiers have been used over the years.

In December 2011, it was announced by Fortin Amps that they would team up with Randall Amplifiers to start a new line of tube amps based on the Fortin Meathead amplifier. Kirk Hammett currently has two prototypes, and Hetfield will eventually be receiving one.

The amplifiers currently used on tour by Hetfield are:
 * Mesa/Boogie TriAxis preamp (x4)
 * Mesa/Boogie Simul-Class 2:90 power amp (x2)
 * Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier heads
 * Diezel VH4 heads
 * Mesa/Boogie 4x12 cabinets with Celestion V30 speakers in isolation cabinets
 * Roland JC-120 combo amplifiers

Effects
To avoid problems with pedals being damaged during live performances, Hetfield keeps his effect pedals in a rack along with his amplifiers and his tech controls them through a pedalboard sidestage. The pedal controller allows him to change between different effect pedals and amplifiers.

Hetfield's live rig in 2008 included:


 * TC Electronic G-Major
 * Line 6 DM4
 * Mesa/Boogie Custom Graphic EQ
 * MXR Phase 100
 * ATI NanoAmp SUM 100
 * Klon Centaur
 * Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor


 * Voodoo Lab Ground Control Pro
 * Voodoo Lab GCX Audio Switcher (x2)
 * Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus
 * DBX 1074 Quad Gate
 * Behringer Multigate Pro

In 2010, a Line 6 effects unit was added to the list, along with the TC Electronics unit, perhaps indicating that this had replaced his stompboxes.

Accessories

 * Ernie Ball Power Slinky strings (.11 –.48)
 * Dunlop James Hetfield Black Fang 1.14mm picks
 * 3" Levy's Straps
 * Peterson Strobe 420 Tuner
 * EMG JH Set
 * Shure UR-4D Wireless Equipment
 * Furman AR Pro Power Conditioner

In addition, Hetfield uses Shure Super 55 microphones for vocals.