METAL UP YOUR PODCAST - All Things Metallica

Episode 367 - Pyrography with Dino Muradian

·1 hr 10 min·5 clips

Dino Muradian defected from communist Romania by flying a crop duster to Austria before becoming Metallica's pyrographer.

Clint Wells opens Episode 367 of Metal Up Your Podcast with personal New Year's reflections, encouraging listeners to pursue goals and share them for accountability. He introduces the guest, Dino Muradian, who does pyrography for James Hetfield's guitars. Dino recounts his background: he defected from communist Romania in 1983 by flying a crop duster to Austria and later moved to the US. He started pyrography as a hobby taught by his grandfather but turned professional in 1995 after working with Warmoth Guitars and Fender. Dino explains his advanced pyrography technique, using custom tools and a magnifying glass for detailed work, unlike basic wood burning. He describes creating the Elk Skull Explorer guitar in 1995 after Hetfield asked for something 'scary,' using a stag skull from a museum and adding barbed wire. Hetfield played it immediately at a Seattle show. After a 20-year gap, Metallica recontacted Dino via a Facebook message for the Unforgiven guitar, which features lyrics from 'The Unforgiven II' and a dark background achieved through burning. Dino also made the Snake Bite and Cthulhu guitars, with the latter including hidden lyrics on the back of the neck. He notes that Chinese replicas of the Elk Skull are sold online. Dino shows other works, like a violin and a PRS guitar with 'Girl with a Pearl Earring,' and mentions a Raven guitar for Kirk Hammett. Clint concludes by praising Dino's craftsmanship and Metallica's collaboration with masters. The episode includes listener emails about Metallica fandom, cover song suggestions, and a new Green Day podcast, plus host updates on tours with Alanis Morissette and Patreon support.

As heard by us

A loose New Year check-in that settles into the story behind Dino Muradian's famously strange Metallica guitar.

Episode 367 begins with a loose New Year check-in before settling into Dino Muradian's stag-skull guitar and the path that shaped it. Built from photos of a Paleozoic stag skull, reshaped into an Explorer form, and later fitted with barbed wire after Hetfield asked for it, the…

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For when you want the story behind a famously strange Metallica guitar.

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