James used this guitar as the backup guitar for the “Eet Fuk” white ESP during the “And Justice For All” era, circa 1987/88. More notably, he used the guitar in the studio to record a lot of the songs from the Black Album (1991) and Load (1996).
The guitar is known among the fans as “So Fucking What” – which is what James wrote on top of it with a marker – honoring one of his earlier guitars, the 1984 Gibson Explorer 83 “So What”.
As far as specs, the guitar was set up in almost the exact same way as James’ first ESP MX220. It had a mahogany body with a set neck and a rosewood fretboard (with regular dot inlays), and it was equipped with a Tune-o-Matic bridge, Gotoh tuners, and EMG 81/60 active pickups.
Stickers
This guitar, in contrast to the first MX220, had quite a lot of stickers on it at various points in time.
What started with “So Fucking What” written with a black marker, over the years became sort of a collage of various different things – among others, there was a sticker of a mudflap woman, the LA Raiders logo, and Wyoming’s Bucking Horse and Rider Logo (see below).
Sometime in the early 2000s, James removed all the previous stickers and drawings and started again from scratch, and the guitar ended up looking quite a lot different – even missing the iconic “So Fucking What” scribbling.
Sometime in the 2010s, the guitar was once again wiped clean, and James redrew the “So Fucking What” sign with a black marker – reverting the guitar to its original condition.
Feedback
We value your input at GroundGuitar! If you spot any inaccuracies or have additional info, leave a comment below.
For direct communication, use the Contact Form. (Dan)
