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Hatsubai « Not that great »
Published on 09/05/11 at 16:35When people think of Slayer, they normally think of Kerry King. That's a bit unfortunate as most people who know Slayer know that Jeff Hanneman is one hell of a guitar player, and he deserves a lot more credit than he's given. This is a lower end version of his guitar. In fact, I believe it's the lowest end version, and you can really tell on certain parts. The guitar features a basswood body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets, unique inlays, a Kahler bridge, binding, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar's fretwork jumped out at me. It was just very bad overall. There were some high and low frets that caused issues with it fretting out in certain areas once you started lowering the action. The guitar also had some sharp ends on the frets which made it uncomfortable to play. The finish on this was bizarre, but there were no major flaws with the finish. The neck joint was also pretty good. It had a slight gap, but it was nothing really noteworthy. The bridge on this is awful, and I really hate Kahler bridges. It just felt really spongy and odd.
SOUNDS
The guitar had some fake EMGs in it. They're meant to sound like real EMGs, but they don't. I think they're passive EMGs, but I'm not entirely sure as they have the EMG/ESP branding on them. I never bothered to research it enough to care. The pickups themselves don't really sound like EMGs, and it's a bit of a shame. That said, even if you put EMGs in this, you won't get Jeff's sound. He's fairly well known for having an all maple bodied guitar. Yes, that's maple and not alder or basswood. Most people don't know that given that his ESP models are either alder or basswood, but his main one is modeled after his old school Jackson.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is really not that great. I'm sure you could make it sound decent with a few mods and whatnot, but it's just not my thing. Not only did it not resonate that great, not only does this have the incorrect wood for Jeff's tone and not only does this have bad pickups in it, but it also has one of the worst bridges ever invented. I really dislike these Kahler bridges and have no clue why the guys from Slayer insist on them.
UTILIZATION
The guitar's fretwork jumped out at me. It was just very bad overall. There were some high and low frets that caused issues with it fretting out in certain areas once you started lowering the action. The guitar also had some sharp ends on the frets which made it uncomfortable to play. The finish on this was bizarre, but there were no major flaws with the finish. The neck joint was also pretty good. It had a slight gap, but it was nothing really noteworthy. The bridge on this is awful, and I really hate Kahler bridges. It just felt really spongy and odd.
SOUNDS
The guitar had some fake EMGs in it. They're meant to sound like real EMGs, but they don't. I think they're passive EMGs, but I'm not entirely sure as they have the EMG/ESP branding on them. I never bothered to research it enough to care. The pickups themselves don't really sound like EMGs, and it's a bit of a shame. That said, even if you put EMGs in this, you won't get Jeff's sound. He's fairly well known for having an all maple bodied guitar. Yes, that's maple and not alder or basswood. Most people don't know that given that his ESP models are either alder or basswood, but his main one is modeled after his old school Jackson.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is really not that great. I'm sure you could make it sound decent with a few mods and whatnot, but it's just not my thing. Not only did it not resonate that great, not only does this have the incorrect wood for Jeff's tone and not only does this have bad pickups in it, but it also has one of the worst bridges ever invented. I really dislike these Kahler bridges and have no clue why the guys from Slayer insist on them.