SeriesESP Signature

James Hetfield has yet another signature model out for the masses. This time, he has an older Eclipse style body with a unique paint job going on to mimic how hot rods look when the paint is sanded off. Those spots are supposed to be various layers of primer that have been sanded back or something. The guitar features a mahogany body with a maple top, mahogany set neck, rosewood fretboard with the standard flag style inlays, a hard tail bridge, 22 extra jumbo frets, two volumes, one tone, one three way switch and a dummy switch at the very top. UTILIZATION The guitar itself is built extremely well. The frets are nicely crowned, they're even to allow for super low action, the finish itself is well done, the electronics are of high quality and the inlay work is clean. However, I'm just not a huge fan of that finish. I'm into the whole hot rod thing like he is, but the finish just seems overly fake on a guitar for whatever reason. This is purely a personal preference thing, so keep that in mind. SOUNDS The guitar sounds absolutely amazing. The EMG 81 in the bridge works so nice with this guitar that it's scary. It has the perfect amount of thickness and bite with harmonics galore. Extremely fast staccato riffs are no problem with this pickup, and it remains super tight even under the most obscene amounts of gain. i was never a huge fan of the EMG 60 in the neck. It delivers a great clean tone, but the gain tones always sounded a bit odd to me. It has an almost single coil quality at times, but if I wanted a single coil, I'd get the SA instead. OVERALL OPINION If you're a fan of Hetfield, I'm sure you'll be looking into getting one of these models. They're built extremely well, and they sound even better. It plays like butter, and I'd put it against any LP out there, even though it doesn't sound exactly like one. The finish kinda turns me off of it, but that's a personal preference thing more than anything else.

I ordered this custom made from the ESP custom shop. They gave it to me for free if they could make replicas of it and sell them for thousands of dollars. I like the strings, thats about it, this guitar sucks!!! I hate this thing! Especially the EMGs! They suck so much and you even need to replace a battery in the guitar! This guitar has a tremolo and it sucks and so do the inlays. I suppose thats my fault for requesting such crap inlays but you need to replace a battery in this guitar!!! The knobs suck too and did I mention that you may need to replace a battery in this guitar??? It was from the ESP custom shop and it has survived 5 years of gigging, but I still think it sucks. This guitar blows! You need to put a battery in it! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Custom ordered from Jason at ESP-Hollywood. They matched the price at musician's friend, so after tax it came to about $1,900. For one, it has pretty much the fastest neck I have ever played. 24 extra jumbo frets, two EMG 81 pickups - the highest output pickups they make. The body cut very nicely. I can easily hit E3 (6th string, 24th fret). Superb paintjob - I could shave with this instead of a mirror. Double locking original Floyd Rose (I can bottom/top out the strings all day and it stays tuned). Sweet abalone skull/crossbones inlays... Amazing to play As everyone knows, double locking systems are a pain in the ass to string/tune, but this is not a fault of ESP. The guitar is perfect. Exquisite. There are absolutely no flaws. ESP is a japanese company, but the custom/dlx/signature models are made in Hollywood, CA, and are perfect. Customer service kicks ass - most people say otherwise (although, this was a pretty expensive guitar, so maybe that has something to do with it...). The forgot to ship my trem bar with the axe, and I called them up and they fed-ex'd it right away. Best guitar I have ever owned. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I acquired this bass at Yanda's music and pro audio in Kearney Nebraska. Around a year ago i bought an ESP, Ltd 4 string bass guitar. At first i was skeptical about spending around six hundred dollars on a bass guitar, after all i had only been playing for about a year. This guitar was one of the best purchases i have made in my entire life. I easily go from country and blues to hard rock. It has very good action, better than any bass i have played on yet which makes funk very easy to play. It has a beautiful, rich sound when slapped and popped. It's a very light bass, weighing in at around ten pounds. It feels much lighter when doing long concerts than a twelve to fifteen pound fender. The neck and stock are two different peices and if dropped they look like they have a tendancy to break. It is also hard to clean right beside the pick-ups and volume knobs. It has black hardwear although you can get chrome. It has six bolts connecting the neck and the body, the most i have ever seen in a bass guitar. It has a dark fingerboard contrasting the light wood neck. The head matches the body. It has two EMG-HZ pick-ups, with one volume knob per pick-up. It also has a sound control knob for each pick up. The low action like i said make slap popping a breeze. Its 25 frets give you a full range of notes pearls keep you knowing where you are. Its hard core punch and soft harmonies are driven by a nine volt battery located inside the bass in the back lower corner. It has compackt wireing as to keep the bass as light as possible. The ESP Ltd is a bass when you first see it you can't help but go and take it off the wall and bust a few moves on. It's a great bass for beginners as well as expert bassists. I figured if an ESP is good enough for James Hetfield (Metallica) it's good enough for me This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This is the ESP Jeff Hanneman signature model. Jeff has been playing ESP guitars for a long time and they have put out quite a few models for him. The biggest difference on them is the paintjob and the choice of inlays. Lower end models also get a more common tremolo system. This guitar is kind of old school in its hardware. The guitar has an alder body with a neck through maple neck. The neck has a super thin u shape. The neck has an ebony fretboard with 24 jumbo frets. The fretboard has H and Dagger inlays. Up top there are Grover tuners and down at the bottom is an old school Kahler floating tremolo with a locking nut. The pickups are active EMG with an 81 in the bridge and an 85 in the neck. The controls are simple with a volume and tone with a 3 way toggle switch. The guitar is topped off with the Urban Camo paintjob that covers the front and back of the guitar. UTILIZATION If you are not use to Kahler tremolos you might not like this guitar. They have a quite different feel than the more popular Floyd Rose systems. Back in the 80s you could get both but Kahler went out of business and you could only get Floyds for a long time. Now Kahler is back and you can get them and they are back on some signature model guitars. The Kahler has a more heavy duty build than a Floyd Rose. If you are working your tremolo hard like Slayer does you might want a Kahler. The neck is thin and the fretboard is flat and the frets are big. This lets you get a super low action on the strings. The ebony fretboard feels great under your fingers. This is a made in Japan ESP so the fit and finish is custom shop quality. SOUNDS With the alder body and maple neck through neck you get the classic 80s high end sound. This sound can really cut through the mix and the EMG's just amplify that. The natural tone of the guitar is pretty bright and the 81 in the bridge is a bright pickup so this guitar really cuts. The sound is super crisp. The 81 is a classic metal pickup. It has an old school high end sound for when cutting through lots of effects was important. Nowadays the pickups are great for clarity when running a ton of gain and tuning low. When you are playing superfast you need a super clear pickup to get the sound right. The 85 in the neck is like the 81s brother. They can be interchanged and I think the 85 is more versatile. It has a fuller less high endy sound so it has a bit of a smoother tone which is great for leads and better for cleans. If you want both the pickups to sound even better you can do the 18v mod which I think Slayer uses. This is when you run the pickups on 2 batteries instead of 1 and it gives you an even clearer sound but also more organic in nature. OVERALL OPINION Normally a signature guitar with a painjob like this would stand out but ESP paints normal non signature guitars like this so it isnt that bad. The inlays dont stand out that much. If you like Kahler tremolos there arent many guitars out on the market for you. This is one of the few models you can buy new with a Kahler on it. If you arent into the Urban Paint job you can get this model in black also which is always in style. If you are looking for an old school shredder with active pickups and the Kahler feel this guitar is one fo the few out there that fills that void.

The main KH-2 signature guitar hasnt changed much over the years. For the longest time it was the only way you could get an M2 outside of Japan. The KH-2 has been around forever. No one remembers the KH-1 which was a flying V thing. When people think Kirk Hammett signature they think this guitar. This is the newest version of the Kirk Hammett KH-2. The guitar has an alder body with a neck through maple neck. The fretboard is rosewood with 24 jumbo frets. The 17th-24th frets on the fretboard are scalloped. It has a locking nut and an original Floyd Rose. The pickups in this guitar are the traditional Metallica EMG set with the 81 in the bridge and the 60s in the neck. The controls are two volumes and a master tone with a 3 way switch for switching between the pickups. UTILIZATION If this guitar didnt play great Kirk wouldnt play it. This is a full ESP that says ESP on the headstock. It isnt an ESP LTD. This means that it is made in Japan by the sme people who make all the custom shop ESP guitars. This is some of the best fit and finish you can get on a guitar. The back of the neck is raw so you get the smooth feel of a bolt on even though it has neck through construction. The higher frets being scalloped means that up there you can get an even better grip on the strings for a better vibrato. The Original Floyd Rose is the original and still one of the best. It holds tune perfectly when properly setup. SOUNDS These pickups are the traditional setup if you want a Metallica sound. Hetfield has his new signature pickups but the set in this guitar is what they used for years and years. The 81 and 60 setup is surprisingly versatile for a set of EMGs. The 81 in the bridge was one of the first active pickups ever made and it is still one of the most popular. The 81 in the bridge is a metal machine. If you want that thick crunch like metallica this is the pickup to use in the bridge position. It keeps its composure even during high gain with low tunings. It is very consistant as well since it is a battery powered pickup it doesnt care whats going on around it. The sound will stay the same. The 60 in the neck is a good compliment to the 81. The 60 has a bit lower output and has a tone better suited for clean playing and bluesy leads OVERALL OPINION Metallica has some hardcore fans. If you have to own the latest Kirk guitar then by all means go out and buy this guitar. If you are just looking for a good guitar you can buy an older one used and save a lot of money. They really havent changed much with this guitar. It has a new finish that I dont think looks that great. Everything that matters is unchanged and that is a good thing because it is a guitar that has a good solid design that lends itself to good playability. If you have to have the newest Kirk guitar this is the guitar for you otherwise you should just find an older KH-2 used.

Neck-Thru-Body Construction 27" Baritone Scale Alder Body Maple Neck Ebony Fingerboard 47mm Graphite Nut Thin U Neck Contour 24 XJ Frets Chrome Hardware Sperzel Locking Tuners Tonepros Locking TOM Bridge EMG 81-7 (B & N) Active p.u. Finish: BLK UTILIZATION As with most ESP products, this guitar is very well made. It has a bit larger neck carve than I'm used to - not terribly great for shred, at least not to my hands. I like to be able to get around the guitar with absolute precision and ease, and this guitar feels a touch too chunky to do that. But the extra scale length and the neck through body helps the sound definition - the strings sound more piano-like in general. This guitar sounds better than my RG7621 that I raved about, but only unplugged. SOUNDS The definition is great on this unplugged, but the pickups are a bit too sterile for me. I know, that's a common theme among EMGs, but I feel like some nice passives, or even the new 707X pickups would help this guitar's tone out. The problem with most EMGs is that the guitar sounds like every single other guitar out there that has the same pickups - it's like you hear the tone of the pickup far more than the tone of the wood or the guitar as a whole. That annoys me - I think one should be able to hear the guitar's character inherent, but still have the pickup color the output in its own way, but not dominate the sound. I will say that I'm impressed with the middle pickup tone - it sounds like a neck pickup in depth. It is definitely a unique feature to have no neck pickup and have a middle pickup instead. OVERALL OPINION This is a great guitar in the right hands. Steph makes it sound otherworldly huge and agressive. I just play with too delicate a touch to really appreciate it fully. Bottom line - great guitar, just not for me. I'd probably get one if they had a thinner neck profile and different pickups.

Back when everyone was jumping to ESP guitars Dave Mustaine was one of them. ESP was grabbing up all the endorsements along with Krank amps but thats another story. Dave had a signature ESP made that was very similar to the Jacksons he had been playing. This is one of those models. This is the more normal model without the flame top. It has neck through construction that features a 3 piece mahogany neck. The neck has an ebony fretboard with 24 jumbo frets. The neck and headstock are fully bound. The inlays are dot inlays but on the first fret there is a large 8 ball inlay. This model has JB and Jazz pickups installed. The controls are two volume controls and 1 tone control. Up top it has Sperzel locking tuners and a tonepros locking bridge. UTILIZATION This guitar has a custom neck profile for Dave based on his old Jacksons so it feels a bit different to other ESP guitars. It still plays fast its just different. V's tend to have good upper fret access but this guitar has such a broad shape the upper frets are pretty deep into the body. It does not get in the way much. These guitars also have a Gibson neck scale so the upper frets can get a bit crowded. The locking tuners and locking bridge are great. Even non tremolo guitars should come with locking tuners. The locking bridge on the tune-o-matic is great as well because it keeps your bridge from falling off when you are changing strings. When that happens it can mess up your intonation. SOUNDS This guitar has good overall tone and is very versatile. The construction of this guitar make it able to play many different types of music not just metal. The Jazz in the neck is a great all around neck pickup for modern neck pickup use. It is like the 59 but with a bit more bite and highend. The 59 is so smooth it can get muddy at times but the Jazz is almost as smooth as the 59 but with more high end to give you more clarity on your shredding leads. The JB in the bridge is like a hot rodded PAf pickup. It is way hotter than an old paf but it retains the openness and tight low end that you want in a bridge pickup. The JB can do anything from classic rock to metal. It is one of the best designs Seymour Duncan has ever put out. Dave does not use this pickup set anymore unfortuneately. He has switched to a signature set of active Seymour Duncans Livewires which are some of the earliest active Seymour Duncans. OVERALL OPINION You do not have to be a Mustaine fan to like this guitar. It does not have that much signature items on it so you can play it without looking like a billboard. This is just a good solid V which a versatile set of electronics. The build quality is good all around and with locking tuners and a locking bridge the stability is solid as well. If you are looking for a hardtail V to play heavy music this would be on my shortlist.

Michael Wilton is one of the guitar players for the old progressive band Queensrÿche. They were big in the 80s but not so much now. Wilton is an old school shredder and his signature guitar is equally old school. This guitar goes back to the original super strat template. You get an alder strat body with an HSS pickup configuration. The neck is maple with a maple fretboard. The fretboard has 22 jumbo frets. There is a locking nut up top for the Floyd Rose. The tuners are locking as well so this thing is like triple locking. The body is finished black with these funny glow in the dark skulls. I would imagine the glow would wear off pretty quickly in a live situation. The bridge pickup is a Duncan JB and the neck and middle pickup are just normal ESP single coils. UTILIZATION The guitar feels nice and soild. The neck bolt is angled for a bit more upper fret access. The frets are nice and big you can really dig in. The guitar is very light overall. Superstrats when done right play as good as any guitar out there. SOUNDS This guitar has a very versatile sound thanks to the JB and the single coils. The JB is one of th ebest all around pickups out on the market. The Seymour Duncan JB can do just about any type of music in any type of guitar. You find these pickups in Jacksons to strats and everything in between. Whatever you play it can do it. It has a nice open sound with a good amount of compression and really brings out the tone of the guitar. The singles in the neck and middle add some twang to the mix. Mixed in with the JB you get some extra clarity on the thick humbucker sound. OVERALL OPINION This is a cool signature model with the skulls and stuff if you are a fan but otherwise there are other ESP guitars you can get that are pretty much the same without the special paint job. It is also a full labeled ESP so it is pretty expensive. A well setup LTD will play just as well as any full ESP so you can save a bit of money there if you choose too.

This is a very limited model of the famous KH model. It also happens to be one of my favorite ESP guitars that the factory has ever produced. It's quite a bit different from the other guitars, and it's not really something that Kirk plays, but it's one hell of a guitar. The guitar features an alder body with a flamed maple top, a maple neck-thru neck, an ebony fretboard with 24 extra jumbo frets, the signature skull and crossbones inlays and his signature on the 10th-14th frets, an original floyd rose tremolo, two EMG humbuckers, two volumes, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar was flat out perfect in every possible way. The flame top on this was bookmatched perfectly, and the transparent finish was just enough to see it without it getting showy. The ebony fretboard was jet black and super shiny. I think I could see my reflection in the thing. The fret ends on this were rounded, and that extra care and attention given to it really helped make this guitar stand out from the rest of the pack. The only other manufacturer that I know that does that is Ibanez's J-Custom division of guitars. There wasn't a single flaw on this. Even the case was ridiculous! SOUNDS The guitar had an EMG 81 in the bridge and an EMG 60 in the neck. The EMG 81 in the bridge in this guitar was flat out killer for metal. It was super tight, got some great high mid content going on, and it cut like a knife through the mix. It was perfect for those Mesa amps like the Mark series and the Recto series. It's not great for stuff other than metal, but let's be honest, this is a metal guitar. The neck pickup was the EMG 60, and it wasn't too bad in this. The clean tone was great. However, I wasn't really digging the lead tone all that much. Thankfully, for not too much money, you can easily swap it out with an EMG 85 -- my preferred neck pickup. OVERALL OPINION If you can afford one of these, buy it. It's easily as good as anything else on the market, and I doubt many people out there could match the quality and attention to detail that this has. You'd have to go towards the smaller, more boutique manufacturers to get similar quality. It's pretty much perfect in every possible way. The only thing that ruins it (besides the price) is that it's associated with Kirk Hammett, and I hate signature gear.

This is the standard KH-2 that everybody knows and loves. Most people who are fans of Kirk Hammett have probably played this guitar. It's been his #1 for the longest time, and it's probably his most iconic ESP. In fact, it's probably the most iconic ESP signature guitar out there. It used to be the only way you could get an M series in this spec over in the States, but thanks to the recent M-II NTB, you now have options. The guitar features an alder body with a maple neck-thru neck, a rosewood fretboard with 24 extra jumbo frets, the signature skull and crossbones inlays, an original floyd rose tremolo, two EMG humbuckers, two volumes, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar is great in nearly every way. The frets on this were nicely leveled and crowned properly. You could get some very nice action on this without fretting out every single step bend. The ends were nicely beveled, so they didn't cut up your hand every time you moved up and down the fretboard. The one thing I'm not a real fan of is the knob configuration, but it's easily correctable with a few slight mods. The rest of this guitar is up there with any other ESP Standard/Signature model out there. SOUNDS The guitar is pretty good, tonally. It has the EMG 81 in the bridge. This works great for metal. The pickup itself is a fairly low output pickup, but it's boosted internally by the EMG preamp, and that's what helps give it its natural compression and clarity under high gain. It's great for cutting through super thick mixes that metal usually has to offer. However, it can be a bit shrill on its own at times. It also lacks versatility compared to normal passive pickups. The neck in this was also an EMG 81, and I'm not really a fan of the 81 in the neck. I prefer to have the 85 in the neck as it's thicker, and it helps aid in those smoother legato lines that I tend to gear towards. OVERALL OPINION The guitar is great, but now that the ESP M-II NTB has hit the shores, it's really not worth buying anymore. You pretty much have to be dead set on the control configuration and inlays to justify the extra grand or whatever these go for over the M-II NTB. Great guitar, but I'm just not so sure it's worth it anymore. If you do decide to get it, buy it used as you'll get the best deal.

This is the third in the vast Kamikaze line up, and there's really nothing different about this guitar other than the paint job, just like the last two. It's the fourth version of this guitar where things start to change a bit. The guitar features a maple body with a bolt-on maple neck, an ebony fretboard with 22 extra jumbo frets, dot inlays, an original floyd rose bridge, an ESP single coil in the neck, a Seymour Duncan Screamin Demon in the bridge and a push/pull volume pot to select between the two pickups. UTILIZATION The guitar is a bit on the heavy side due to it being an all maple bodied guitar. That's about the only real downside of this, utilization wise. There are a few of these that are light, but most are pretty heavy. The floyd rose on this is an original floyd rose, and it's one of the best out there. The frets are absolutely amazing, too. The guitar can get some super sick action without any issues at all, and it was perfect for shred. The neck joint gap on this was great, and the shiny ebony was the icing on the cake for this guitar. SOUNDS The guitar sounds bright, period. There are a few of these that are more mellow, but most of these that I've played have some very strong treble. The Screamin Demon in the bridge is great for clean and shreddier passages, but I find it really lacks some balls. It's an underwound 59, and it sounds anemic in many ways. The 59 is a better pickup, in my opinion. It's fatter, has more output, is more versatile and can even deliver a great clean tone. The neck pickup is made by ESP, and it's a solid single coil. It works nicely for cleans, and it can do some leads, but there's not much to say about it other than that. OVERALL OPINION Again, not much different from this guitar compared to the previous other two guitars. If you've played one of these, you most likely know how the other three are going to be. You'll want to choose the one with the paintjob you like the most. I also recommend buying used to get the best deal you can. Search various forums and even eBay, but watch out for potential fakes.