These limited edition signature sets are housed in a compact tin box with custom artwork designed by James.
"With all the companies we're with, we're super proud to be with Ernie Ball! For them to take on the challenge of, hey I got an idea, can you do this… they have stepped up to the challenge! I'm super proud!"–– James Hetfield
Features
- Never before offered gauge combo (11, 14, 18p, 28, 38, 50)
- “Master Core” heavier core to wrap ratio
- Wound strings wrapped with Paradigm plasma-enhanced nickel plated steel around ultra-high strength tin plated steel hex core
- Paradigm ultra-high strength tin plated steel plain strings
- Thicker sound
- Added pitch stability
Ernie Ball: Papa Het's Hardwired Master Core Guitar Strings (Trailer)
Papa Het’s Hardwired Master Core Signature Strings are available through the Metallica.com store starting today (April 26th) and will be available through domestic and international Ernie Ball retailers starting May 10th, 2022.
Mike Stern has been around the block. The jazz-guitar virtuoso earned his stripes through the ’70s and ’80s in New York’s jazz scene, playing 6-string with drummer Billy Cobham before tapping in with artists like Miles Davis and Jaco Pastorius—even at a time when guitar wasn’t necessarily a cornerstone piece of a jazz outfit. In this episode of Wong Notes, Stern fills Cory Wong in on the ups and downs of 50 years spent in one of the most complex and underappreciated music genres.
Stern made the leap to New York from Boston when Davis invited him to join his band (back when jazz was the pop music of the day, notes Stern), but it was a rocky ride—Stern says he and many other musicians were “bottoming out” from addiction, until a friend went sober and convinced them to give sobriety a try. Stern talks about Miles’ hidden love for the guitar, and how he succeeded in fitting into non-guitar environments.
Wong and Stern touch on the decline of arts spaces and cultures in America (thanks, Stern says, to misallocated funding), playing gigs where the band outnumbers the audience members, the benefits of running the same rig in every room, and how to pick the right pick—for Stern, that involves a bit of wig glue. Tune in to get the details, and be sure to check out our 2018 Rig Rundown with Stern, too.
