ESP Guitars

Lynch’s guitar became the Kamikaze, a yellow, red, black, and beige beauty. Comprised of a maple body and neck with an ebony fingerboard, the Kamikaze features Gotoh tuners, a Floyd Rose Original bridge, and Seymour Duncan Screamin’ Demon and ESP SS-120 pickups. Lynch Signature guitars grew to include other models, such as the M-1 Tiger, the Sunburst Tiger, Skulls & Snakes, the GL-200MT, the GL-256, and the GL-56.

Although Lynch’s guitar was the first, the guitars created for Kirk Hammett of Metallica are considered the crème-de-la-crème of ESP’s Signature series. Hammett’s KH-2 model, featuring EMG active pickups, Gotoh tuners, and a Floyd Rose Original bridge, was one of the first ESP guitars to be mass-produced.

Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom has five Signature guitars that bear his name. All feature a Flying V body style. His Alexi-Scythe features Gotoh tuners, a Floyd Rose Original bridge, and EMG HZ F-H2 pickups with a MM-04 on-off boost switch. Laiho’s Alexi-600-Blacky and Alexi-600-Scythe models feature Grover tuners, a Floyd Rose 1000 Series bridge, and EMG HZ F-H2 pickups. And his Alexi-200 features ESP tuners, a Floyd Rose Special bridge, and ESP LH-301 pickups.

Even the Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood has his own custom ESP Signatures, which strongly resemble the Fender Telecaster. Each is made with an alder body and a bolt-on neck and features Gotoh tuners. Finishes range from sunburst with a maple neck to black or red with a rosewood fingerboard.

In addition to its Signature and custom-made guitars, ESP also produces Standard, LTD, and Xtone guitars. Unlike the Signature series, LTDs are mass-produced in a factory and therefore more affordable. ESP’s LTD guitars are offered in three lines—standard, deluxe, and graphic. Guitars in the Xtone series have semi-hollow bodies and two humbucker pickups, except for the PA-1 semi-acoustic model, which uses an internal B-Band Electret Film Transducer pick-up.

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