If you're here, maybe it's because you noticed the bizarre graffiti sticker written on James Hetfield white ESP Explorer guitar : Eet Fuk
Well, the exact meaning of 'Eet Fuk' is mysterious. Better ask James Hetfield of Metallica himself but his answer is still mysterious...
However here are some hints to understand the meaning of it and Why it's written here on the instrument which was used for the 1989 '...And Justice For All' tour and now resides in a museum.
1.A badge to sort out all his ESP Explorer guitars
1988, Metallica guitarists James Hetfield an Kirk Hammet endorsed the ESP guitars. James's favorite is the 1987 ESP Model.
Esp guitar replace his Gibson,because of the power of the renowed EMG pickups making them the future industry standard for extreme metal.
They become icons of metal and ESP provides Metallica all the guitar they need on stage. So they got plenty of theses ! Black ones, yellow, white, with different strings on it and different chords tuning.
It leads to a XXL "ESP explorer rack" with only the lower part of the guitars visible. James Htfield and his guitar techs decide to put a sticker on this part of the guitars to identify quickly which one correspond for which song they play on stage.
James actually changes his guitar every song or every two songs ! "Yeah"
The last thing is James prefers to give a name to his guitar instead of a number.
He decides the name for each guitar not with a lady name but a "short quote" about his mood.
2.What does "eet fuk" stand for ?
James Hetfield originally made a sticker for this guitar saying “EET FUK SLEEP” in reference to his three favourite activities of the moment:
- To Eat
- To Fu*K (F word not allowed on public display)
- To Sleep
- ( playing metal is number four but not mentionned here)
Too large, James had to cut down the sticker to fit the space. So the sleep part of the sticker is put on the back of the guitar.
3.James Hetfield other guitars :
-
The "More Beer" explorer (1984-1988)
This Gibson explorer appears with "PHA-KOUGH" sticker on it
meaning 1 : Pulmonary Hypertension Association Cough
meaning 2 : pha-kough, fu-ckoff, f**k off.
then get another sticker on it in 1986
"MORE BEER!" written on white tape and a tape to cover Gibson logo on the headsock
-
The "So What" Explorer
Soon this guitar, along with the “So What” Explorer, became his main guitar. Originally had Seymour Duncan pickups, swapped to EMG 81/60 when James caught the EMG craze.
This guitar was used as "base" for the ESP factory to made the ESP MX-220. First used in 1985, all the way to 1989/1990. Recently used in studio for recording "Garage Days Re-Revisited".
-
Esp So fucking what !
So Fucking What" written on the upper horn and various stickers added all over the years. In 2002 James has totally changed the look of this guitar. It is now covered in custom artwork.
James used this guitar live during the Damaged Justice tours and recorded almost everything on Black Album and Load with it.
He used to use this guitar live, but now retired it for studio use because he is afraid something might happen to it on the road.
Acquired during the recording and promotional tour albums "... And Justice For All". It is decorated with stickers and captions like "LA Riders", "Mud Flap Woman" (both were added later), "So fucking what" (now James has fallen off 2 stickers).
4.More about james Hetfield
There is so much to say about James Hetfield, his youth as a quiet child, his piano lessons and how he turns out to be the frontman of Metallica.
all of this will be on his extended biography portrait with plent of details explained but i need to write it first !
Here is the video to learn about him and it's all illustrated with drawings and true facts !
