KH-2 with Black Satin

Updated
KH-2 with Black Satin

Hey,
I bought a ESP KH-2 back in 2010 (made in june) and it has Black Satin Hardware (Floyd Rose, Tone Knobs ext.). I never really thought about about it. But i havent seen one like mine on the internet. All the ones i see have straight black hardware. Does anyone know why this might have been? Did they run out of black ones in the factory that day? I ended up changing the tone knobs to black because they were starting to look too silver.

Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thanks

ESP 348

Yep, black nickel hardware was fitted to some guitars for the US market.

I forget exactly why, other members will post the reason behind ESP doing this.

Some legal reason perhaps, I forget the exact details. If I remember I will let you know man.

Big Daddy B

Actually the black Nickel typically went to guitars out of the US market. For example my KH-20 from Australia had to be retrofitted (well only knobs and jack). Apparently had something to do with a chemical in the flat black paint that got banned in the EU. As such, guitars bound for Europe often got the nickel treatment whereas guitars for the US and Canada got flat black. Japan was a mix as was the rest of the world. I was told though, they recently came up with a reformulation that will allow Europeans to once again enjoy flat black.

Tim K

Interesting. Thanks a lot for the info

ESP 348

Cheers Big Daddy, I had it back to front. Thanks for clearing that up mate.

Tim K

I'm kind of tempted to swap out all the hardware to black...Maybe I should have been more pedantic about the parts when I originally got it. I remember back when I had the KH 602 before I sold it, that the LTD had a much more slick black look than my new KH-2. It had all black hardware, not nickel. Did it play better? But I wish I kept it.

ESP 348

I also love the black hardware, don't care much for the black nickel finish.

Tim K

Yeah! Too bad that a black Floyd rose original is upwards of $300 Aud

ESP 348

Bugger!! Have it powder coated black for $20.

suffer_remain

ROHS issue

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