ESP KH-20 Kirk Hammett Signature 20th Anniversary

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.