ESP LTD KH602 Kirk Hammett Electric Guitar - (Black)

Wanted one since I was a kid. Love it like I just got it. Played every day.

The head stock of this guitar says Indonesia. Practically every picture online of the KH-602'S headstock says Korea. I contacted ESP and was informed that not all KH-602s are coming out of Korea these days. ESP has a factory in Indonesia and both Korea and Indonesia produce the KH-602. The ESP rep said they're the same guitar made to the same specs and it's a genuine product.The tone is great for thrash/metal solos. Cleans also sound pleasant . The neck is so thin it's almost flat and is designed for shredding. Surprisingly the Floyd Rose works and keeps tune which is a Godsend because how fickle FR are, especially these non- original floyd rose ones. I'm not a huge fan of KH but his signature 602 series is a beast for Thrash metal / Hard rock . This guitar is a no brainer if you want pro level quality for an affordable price. If you like thrash metal this guitar is ideal because it has a super fast neck with 24 frets, great sounding active pickups, a reliable Floyd Rose, is good looking and comes with a nice case. This guitar rivals my Gibson SG standards with its 498 T 498T pick ups and outperforms them when it comes to trash metal. It makes playing cover songs a lot easier too with the extra frets and FR .

Excellent metal machine, built with impressive attention to detail. I’ve heard that the Korean built esp guitars are really good and now I know why. Everything about the build of this guitar is straight and true. Awesome paint, tuners are aligned, trem cavity routing is excellent. I Also checked the fretboard and every fret with a straightedge and .006 feeler gauge and all were level. The frets are all polished, no sharp sprout. Pickups are strong, great tone. The cutaway at the neck to body joint is awesome to reach the upper register more comfortably and the overall balance while playing is worth mentioning. The guts (wiring, pots, switch) are top quality, no interference or buzzing. Hell, even the way the input jack feels when plugging in is impressive. So many great features...Floyd rose 1000, skull and crossbones inlays, I could go on and on. Finally, this guitar comes with a high quality hard case that’s worth around $175, so do the math and you’re looking at around a grand for a guitar that’s really close to the one that Kirk actually plays.

I absolutly love this guitar. It's got great sound and looks. I really do not have a lot to say other then it's great. The inlays rock and the FR is great. Fast neck and just a badass guitar all around. I'm not much into signature guitars just for the fact that I feel that you gotta find your own look/sound. But being a Metallica fan since the late 80's I always wanted the Kirk Hammett signature guitar when they came out. ESP is one of my favorite guitar manufactures. I did have the opportunity to play the ESP M-II and it's great but a little plain and very basic. To me this guitar is a better choice. So with that being said once I received the guitar I started to notice flaws. Such as a few white or maybe silver flakes in the paint. Very small and only a few but they were there. The more noticeable one is near the volume knobs. Also noticed a minor paint ripple on the neck. Not really noticeable but there and can see it while playing. Other then that a perfect guitar. I did contact the dealer about the things I noticed and was told I could return it and have chosen not to because the things I have noticed are not serious and do not really bother me. So if you love Metallica and this style guitar then this is for you. Get it!!..

The ESP LTD KH-602 Signature Series guitar is a very nicely built mid range quitar. It will suite my less than ameture needs and be a welcomed additonal to my two other guitars (lower end starter Yamaha and a Lower End Mexican Fender Stratocaster). The KH-602 was a great deal on Amazon too. At current, most other vendors had its price at $1,199.00. The Amazon Price of $899.00 for the same thing was what I needed to get the purchase done. It comes complete with a case (something I was not sure about since the details were a bit confusing and the price difference with other vendors). It a great looking guitar, it sounds great, and I look forward to becoming a better player on this guitar along with my other two.

The back plate where the battery compartment is striped. Went to open it up in the case and the guitar on the outside is great. Plays beautifully and everything. I just wish I could hear the $1400 sound that I paid for. Indonesia quality standards are obviously lower then koreas so buy it from another website for sure. No I gotta take it to a music shop to fix the battery cover, cause I’m not paying $80 in shipping just for esp to pull a good little prank on me again. Buy with caution, just buy from another website.

Finish appears flawless and is beautiful. The neck was perfect. Frets were polished as if this was a premium guitar. Fret end treatment was smooth, properly rounded and polished. Bridge was set up perfectly (tytyty). The EMG Bone Breaker pickups sound great. Pickup height was set up properly.The guitar weighs more than I had expected (8 pounds 14 ounces) but when tapped, the body 'rings', so not an acoustically parasitic dead body. I am very pleased with this purchase, and very pleased with the seller, Music Zoo. Fine work.

My kh-602 arrived without the model number on the 24th fret as depicted in the picture. Mine has 2 skull and cross bone inlays instead.