The Guitar Strings Used By Metallica
Mar 21st 2024
About Metallica
For more than 40 years, Metallica has been one of the monsters of metal — and the music world, for that matter. From ‘80s thrash albums like “Ride the Lighting” and “Master of Puppets” to mainstream success with the Black Album, they’ve done it all and are still here to tell the tale. With well more than 125 million albums sold and a slew of top-40 singles, they’ve succeeded at bringing metal to the masses.
The band was born in 1981 when drummer Lars Ulrich put an ad in the now-defunct newspaper The Recycler looking for fellow metal-heads to play with. James Hetfield was one of the musicians who responded to the ad, and they remain with the band to this day. In true metal fashion, Metallica’s feuds are almost as renowned as their music, having clashed with original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine (who went on to form Megadeth), Mötley Crüe, former bassist Jason Newstead and the Napster music download service over the decades.
What Guitar Strings Does Metallica Use?
Metallica and Ernie Ball are official partners, with the band exclusively using their strings for all recordings and concerts. Typically, Hetfield and Kirk Hammett either use RPS Slinky 10s with a 1010 E string or RPS Slinky 11s, both of which are reinforced for the durability needed to play true metal. In 2023, Ernie Ball also launched a James Hetfield Signature String set called Papa Het’s 72 Seasons Master Cores with an 11-14-18p-28-38-50 gauge setup.
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