LTD KH-202 Kirk Hammett

I have seen some places reviewing this product and calling it a "Start Pack" and I am a little confused by this. I am by far not a newbie but I am not a professional either. I play in my spare time and its a hobby for me. The more I play, the more I learn but I kind of consider this an in between type.

It is one of those "badass" guitars that you see but its not overly done. The skull & bones are a good mix on the inlays and give it that feel of the "real deal". The body is bassword and feels a little light to me compared to some others I have played on but overall its got a good mix to it. I like the 3-way slotted toggle and the overall size to this, just the same it plays rather nice when you compare "budget guitars" to the really expensive ones not all of us can afford.



This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this guitar for $450.00 on MusiciansFriend.com. I really love the guitar and I also like Metallica (Old Metallica). It was a must buy.

There are a lot of things I like about this guitar. First, I like the look, everything is BLACK! I mean everything it looks awesome! Also, I like the Floyd Rose Floating Tremolo you can perform awesome divebombs and stay in tune! The tone is awesome it sounds just like Metallica. The EMG-HZ pickups are cool too.

The only thing I don't like about it is the amount of time it takes to change the strings. Its cool though its really worth it!!!

The guitars got a Basswood Body and Neck, it has an awesome Rosewood fretboard. It is a Bolt on neck construction. With a licensed Floyd Rose.

The Bottom Line is, if you need a nice signature electric guitar and love Metallica, but don't have much cash, buy this guitar. Also, if you need new strings for it, I would prefer the DR Black Beauties, they are black coated strings and go great with the guitars stealthy look.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The LTD KH-202 is part of the LTD's signature line for people who can't afford both the ESP KH-2 and the LTD KH-602. In reality, this is a guitar meant for beginners and not much of anything else. The guitar features a basswood body with a bolt-on maple neck and rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets, the famous skull and cross bone inlays with a name at the last fret, a licensed floyd rose, two humbuckers, two volumes, one tone and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

First of all, the fretwork on this model is really bad. There are sharp edges galore, and the frets aren't fully level. This creates a huge issue for anybody who wants any decent action with this guitar. The uneven frets mean that the guitar frets out on certain notes and when bending in certain areas. The floyd on this is a trashy licensed bridge made out of pot metal. It doesn't hold tune as good as a higher quality floyd does, and it doesn't flutter nearly as nice. The inlay work is a bit haggard, and the neck joint also has some issues in that there's a decent gap.

SOUNDS

Kirk Hammett's guitar is made out of alder and has a neck-thru body, so if you're expecting the sound of a KH-2, you'll be sorely disappointed. That's one thing that really bothers me about this super low level line. They use trash woods that give good quality basswood a bad name. The pickups in this thing are quite something, and I don't mean that in a good way. They're wanna-be EMGs, and they sound super thin and sterile. If you thought EMGs sounded bad, you should hear these things. It's ridiculous how bad they sound.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking for a KH-2 on a budget, look at the new ESP M-II NTB. If you can't afford that, you can try looking at the LTD KH-602, but it won't sound the same. I really don't recommend even checking out this model, let alone buying it. It's such a disgrace to the real ESP Standard models that I wonder why LTD even bothered making it.