The ESP Guitar Company

We're proud to note that current exhibits at two of the most prestigious museums in the USA feature ESP guitars.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka “The Met”) is one of the world’s largest and most respected art museums, with over two million works of art that span more than 5,000 years. People come from around the world to visit The Met, and its Fifth Avenue location adjacent to Central Park on the Upper East Side of Manhattan is a must-see attraction for visitors to the city. It’s therefore a pretty big deal that their most recent new exhibition is “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll”. As you’d expect, most of the musical instruments featured there belonged to the players who helped define rock as a global phenomenon, and include the guitars, keyboards, and drums of players like Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles, along with instruments of more contemporary players like Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Prince, and many more.

Met at the Met
We’re proud to say that nestled within this incredible collection of iconic instruments are two ESPs, both belonging to the guitar players of Metallica. The first is Kirk Hammett’s original KH-3 model from 1992, a customized Eclipse guitar with decals of a spider and the number ’13” on its body. This is the guitar that Kirk used on tour for Metallica’s self-titled “Black Album”, and featured a Floyd Rose and EMG pickups.

The other ESP at the Met is the second signature model from James Hetfield. Known as the JH-2, this guitar was built by the ESP Custom Shop in 1996, and is quickly identifiable due to its EX shape and a body and headstock topped with chromed diamond plate. James used this guitar for the Load and Reload albums and associated tours.

There are 185 total pieces in this collection at The Met that include everything from the flute of Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) to the keyboard of Keith Emerson and much more, so if you find yourself in NYC between now and October 1, you absolutely must check it out! Take an online preview of the entire collection here.

Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Ave
New York, NY 10028

Zorlac and More at the Rock Hall
Located in Cleveland, OH, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is a destination trip for many musicians. In addition to its annual ceremonies of inducting new members and other special events, the Rock Hall is a terrific museum for anyone who appreciates popular music of the past 50+ years. It’s no surprise that the Rock Hall has a number of Metallica instruments on display, and these currently include several ESPs. One of them is the guitar that launched the long and ongoing relationship between Metallica and ESP, a Custom Shop guitar eventually known as the KH-2, but commonly called “Zorlac” based on the name of the decal created by artist Brian “Pushead" Schroeder.

Photo courtesy of ESP All Access member ProfessorExp

Zorlac was the first custom guitar for Kirk, later to be released as the KH-2 Signature. This first version is unique for several reasons. The headstock tip was slightly modified on all ESP instruments after 1990. In addition, Kirk soon requested that the skull & crossbone inlay layout be changed to horizontal positioning for better presentation when in playing position. Zorlac might be the only existing example of a KH-2 built before those two cosmetic changes.

Yet another extraordinarily rare ESP that you’ll find at the Rock Hall is one that has a dark aspect to its history. On August 8, 1992, Metallica was performing in Montreal on a dual-headlining stadium tour along with Guns N’ Roses, and James Hetfield was using a very unique guitar at that moment… a double-neck custom ESP Horizon, with the upper neck being a 12-string and the lower a 6-string. Both necks use a set of two EMG pickups in a humbucker/single configuration. That very guitar was the one James was playing that day in 1992 when a pyrotechnic accident gave him severe burns while performing “Fade to Black”.

Photo courtesy of ESP All Access member ProfessorExp

Photo courtesy of ESP All Access member ProfessorExp

There are more Metallica guitars in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, unsurprisingly. Kirk Hammett’s “Wavecaster” is one of the most unique custom models ESP ever made. It has a transparent and hollow plexiglass body that can be filled with two fluids — one blue, one clear — that allow the guitar to act like a wave simulation science experiment. Only two of these guitars currently exist, and perhaps that’s for the best.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1100 E 9th St
Cleveland, OH 44114