METALLICA's ROBERT TRUJILLO Talks FENDER, Legendary 'Bass Of Doom' (Video)

In an exclusive Fender Vision interview, bassist Robert Trujillo discusses the Fender gear that has served him well throughout this career with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, INFECTIOUS GROOVES and METALLICA. He also touches on helping to recover the Bass Of Doom, made famous by the late Grammy-winning jazz bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius. Check out the chat below.

Asked by Music Review what his most treasured music-related item or memorabilia was, Trujillo said: "That's an easy one. My hero is a bass player by the name of Jaco Pastorius. Jaco's bass was missing for 20 years, and it's a long story as to what had actually happened to it, supposedly stolen or sold for drugs; it was a mystery. The bass returned to the world around four years ago, and it was held up by a collector who managed to get hold of it. The family enquired about it and wanted to get the instrument back, because they felt it was theirs and it was nearly impossible because of legal issues and it turned into a war. I have been friends with the family for 17 years and I managed to help them to at least get the bass back into the immediate family. So we got the bass back; I'm the legal owner of the instrument, but we are really all in it together. I'm not a collector of instruments; and I don't like any of my bass guitars more than the other, but that instrument is loved not only by me but everyone else in the world. I'm glad I was able to get it back to our immediate circle. We're making a film, not about the bass, but about his life and that will come out in September. In fact, the film company producing it with me was the very same one that did 'Searching For Sugarman', Passion Pictures."

Trujillo's movie about Jaco Pastorius, "Jaco", was directed by Stephen Kijak, who helmed 2010's "Stones In Exile", the 2010 film about the recording of the 1972 THE ROLLING STONES album "Exile On Main St."

"Jaco was my hero growing up," Trujillo told USA Today. "Hearing him was like hearing Eddie Van Halen doing 'Eruption' for the first time: You thought, 'What instrument is that?' I loved jazz fusion and branched out from there. But Jaco had an edge that far exceeded his jazz persona. He was funk, he was rock, he was soul. And his whole attitude was punk."

Trujillo added, "The film for me is from the heart."

Pastorius, who was bipolar and had wrestled with substance abuse, died in 1987 at age 35 following a violent altercation at a Fort Lauderdale bar.

"Jaco" features commentaries from Sting, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' Flea, Carlos Santana and director Mike Figgis, among others.