The Iron Cross Replic-why you should buy one

What are Fender Relic guitars anyway? A relic is really a brand new guitar made to look really old by master builders from Fender; and in fact in recent times by Gibson too.Why? Why would someone buy a rusty; yellowing, scratched up piece of rotting wood? This question is really hot on almost all the videos and articles I've read. Some even criticize Fender and Gibson for making these guitars. Their angle was that these telecaster relic or strat relic guitars are 'reserved' for the talented and 'older' musician that have gone through the relic process with their guitar.
To answer this question Fender Relic guitars; we must understand that the great guitar players that we listened to and love were the ones who created the demand in the first place! Why on earth would they do something like that? They have the original vintage guitars! You know, the ones that were properly played every night, scratched and dropped that was worth a fortune now.And there u have it. It's worth a fortune! These pro musicians had their vintage masterpieces copied from scratch and then artificially relic-ed to look exactly like their original. This prevented theft. Just imagine if u had an original 57 vintage stratocaster that was worth $100k and was stolen after a show on your tour?

It has happened to Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton! So with a relic; they could keep their prized asset at home in a large vault safe and sound.But then something astonishing happened. These pros loved the feel and sound of these new Fender Relic guitars better than their rusting, scratched up vintage! It looked exactly the same; but sounded better and cost so much less that it was unbelievable. No one would have guessed that that was a relic guitar if u see them on stage! The new, relic-ed guitar with vintage specification fender pickup models sounded so good it must have been a vintage, one may think!

What a coincidence,recently i found a wonderful site that could customize guitar according to your request and the most reasonable price.   http://www.epiphonelespaulshop.com/

Some of Hetfield's Current Tour guitars

Hetfield has been a major endorser of ESP Guitars since the 1980s, and is best known for playing custom-made Explorer-style guitars with an EMG 81/EMG 60 set for pickups. Hetfield's main guitar from the early days was a Flying V copy made in Japan by Electra, used almost exclusively until 1984 when he switched to the Gibson Explorer model.
During the mid-1990s, ESP produced the first of his signature model guitars. To date, Hetfield has had six signature guitars (may soon be seven) with the company. However, Hetfield often uses guitars from Gibson and other companies instead of ESP despite his endorsement.

• ESP Truckster signature models in grey and black finishes
• ESP "Iron Cross" – Has the Eclipse body shape; distressed black with gold hardware, with a gold racing stripe and a gold Iron Cross on the body. It is based on the design of his 70's Gibson Les Paul Custom.
• ESP Explorer – distressed black finish with white pickguard
• ESP Explorer – silver diamond plate
• ESP Explorer – black diamond plate
• ESP Explorer "Papa Het" – with a white finish and some drawings by Dirty Donny
• ESP Explorer – black diamond plate with deer antler inlay
• ESP Flying V – white finish (replica of his old Flying-V copy)
• ESP LTD "The Grynch" – signature guitar, black with green flames on both the front and back of the body and neck, used for the song Frantic
• ESP "Snakebyte"- custom guitars in black and white finishes; feature a custom body and headstock designed by James. The retail model was revealed to the public at the Winter NAMM 2011 show.
• Gibson Explorer – silverburst with white pickguard
• Gibson Explorer "Rusty" – black satin with tarnished metal pickguard
• Gibson Flying V – sunburst
• Gibson Flying V – silverburst
• Gibson Flying V – white, chrome pickups
• Gibson Les Paul Custom- 70's era Les Paul with distressed black finish, gold stripe and gold iron cross on body; referred to as "Uncle Milty" and was the inspiration for his ESP Iron Cross signature model
• Gibson Les Paul Custom- purple satin finish
• Gibson Les Paul Custom- natural finish with drawing on body that says "Cliff Burton RIP"
• James Trussart metal Explorer
• James Trussart Steel DeVille – Les Paul-shaped guitar with a perforated, rusted steel front
• Ken Lawrence Explorer- The first of three custom made Explorer-type guitars made by Northern Californian luthier Ken Lawrence. It features a mahogany body with a chechen bark laminate top, modified Kenneth Lawrence headstock and custom "Tribal Hunting Scene" inlays.
• Ken Lawrence Explorer- It features a mahogany body with a quilted bubinga top, modified Kenneth Lawrence headstock, chechen rear cover plate and custom "Sun-Ray" inlays.
• Line 6 Variax Acoustic 700 – used live for songs featuring acoustic guitars, such as Fade to Black and The Unforgiven
• "Dave of England custom aluminium engraved tattoo finish" – a Zemaitis guitar with an engraved metal top
• Fender Telecaster – with B-Bender in butterscotch finish

Other guitars owned/previously used by Hetfield include:

• 1984 Gibson Explorer#1 – white finish with "MORE BEER" written on white tape in the bottom left corner, the stock pickups were swapped for EMG 81/EMG 81 set
• 1984 Gibson Explorer#2 – white finish with "So What" written in the bottom left corner, the stock pickups were swapped for EMG 81/EMG 81 set
• ESP Explorer – black finish with EMG pickups, used as a warm-up guitar in the early '90s
• Several Gibson Les Paul models – including Standard models in black, cherry sunburst, and lemon burst finishes
• Gibson EDS-1275 – red finish
• 1963 Gibson SG – red finish with Gibson Vibrola vibrato system
• Gibson Moderne – black finish, gold hardware
• Gibson Firebird – seen in practice
• ESP Explorer#1 – Hetfield's first ESP guitar: white finish, "EET FUK" on the body, "middle finger" inlays. The headstock broke many times and so the guitar was eventually retired from live use, it has been seen in use on the recording of the new album during the making of "Suicide and Redemption"

Epiphone Gibson Iron Cross Guitar, Metallica, ESP

This is an Epiphone Les Paul Classic that was custom painted by Sims Custom Guitars to look like James Hetfields' Gibson Iron Cross, there are no decals on this guitar, everything is painted, it has gold EMG's 81/60, Sperzel locking tuners and custom wiring plus a Tom Morello type killswitch in the place of the original toggle switch.........which was moved to the bottom volume knob, the same as Hetfield's guitar..........this was not made to be an exact replica but something a bit different from the Gibson and ESP. 
It has a flat black stealthy look, which I think looks better than a gloss finish......All wiring was completed at 'The Repair Zone' in San Diego............Fred does awesome work!  Not only does it look great, but sounds great too, here is your chance to own a 1 of a kind Iron Cross!  Perfect for any Metallica Fan!!!
Comes with a generic hard shell case.