James Hetfield’s Guild 12-string

James used a 12-string Guild acoustic guitar to record the choruses on “Nothing Else Matters”. The guitar’s high E strings were tuned to D for this particular occasion.

We also used a jumbo Guild acoustic 12 string on the choruses. To get a fuller sound, we tuned the 12-string’s high E-string down to a D.

James Hetfield, Guitar World, October 1991

Unfortunately, the guitar doesn’t make an appearance in the “Nothing Else Matters” music video, so we don’t know the exact model. If one had to guess, it could’ve been a D-25-12, which is a dreadnought model sold in those days, or it could’ve been a JF-30-12 or a JF-65-12, both of which are jumbo models.

It’s interesting to note that the band had a Fender Shenandoah 12-string in the studio readily available, which they used to record “The Unforgiven”. This just goes to show that there were a lot of different guitars involved in recording The Black Album, and a lot of thought went into choosing the perfect guitar for each specific song.