The ESP Guitar Company

Totally legit  I suppose ?

https://reverb.com/fr/item/9921314-esp-kh-2-kirk-hammett-metallica-vintage-rare-custom-shop-artist-signature-kh2-guitar-ohsc-coa

I asked to ESP customer service and they said : "Unfortunately, the serial number provided does not register in our sales or production records. It is plausible the instrument in question is an ESP KH-2 Export. At times ESP KH-2 that were produced to be distributed overseas would come equipped with black nickel hardware" 

May be because some have the Hollywood California issued certificates and the rest of the world gets the Japanese ones ?

Yeah, this is legit. The only black nickel KH guitars I've seen are for Australia, but that doesn't mean much.

Hey guys was wondering if this is legit or not? Might have posted it in the wrong thread a while back thanks for the help!

Looks good to me.

real or fake???

It looks good to me. It's one of the 2018 models with that truss rod cover and neck binding.

I have one that I am trying to figure out. It is supposedly a 2011 ESP Standard Left Handed FX Explorer, but the seller says it had a "Made in Korea" sticker on it and the build quality just looks...off. Did ESP ever make Standards in Korea? I thought ESP was Japan and LTD was Korea...

SN: SS1004118

Does this look like it is worth $1000?

Please help. Thanks.

Do you have any more photos? It looks a tad odd to me, but I think it's mostly because it's left handed. The FX was available in this finish in 2010, which matches the serial number.

If it is a legit model (more photos will help to tell), it would have been made in Japan.

https://cdn.connectsites.net/user_files/esp/downloads/000/000/096/ESP-2010-Catalog.pdf?1392144773

Page 30.

Hi pushead,

Thank you so much for looking into this. Here is the whole listing on reverb.  Also, that stained/faded fretboard is supposedly that way from the factory. Can that be true?

https://reverb.com/item/6419497-esp-fx-2011-satin-brown-left-handed-lefty-left-handed

So, I think the guitar is legit. The EMGs are. The case certainly is, and a lefty EX case isn't just something you'd come across cheap online. But looking at how he's blown out the hinges on the case, and the condition of the fingerboard, I'd say the guitar probably wasn't that well taken care of. The wear on the bridge says someone played it pretty hard.

I think the finger board could be brought back with some conditioner.

I don't spend a bunch of time looking at lefties, so maybe I'm underestimating the price range, but $1200 is way rich for my blood. I'd think more in the $900 to $1000 range. I guess it's a bit of a thing, it's rare to come across this guitar in lefty, but it's also a very small market for a lefty looking for the guitar.

Good luck with your decision.

Thank you, I think I am leaning away from it because he claims that: 

a) He was the original owner, bought it directly from ESP and was never given a certificate of authenticity

b) The guitar had a "Made in Korea" sticker on the headstock which he removed. He is adamant that this is a Korean ESP.  

It probably wouldn't have a COA, but if he's that adamant, I'd just let him do his thing for while and see how long it sits.

Pushead, sorry to keep beating a dead horse, but I managed to get the seller to send some better pics, and to find another more legitimate lefty. I feel like the one he is selling (left side of both photos) just seems off. The pegs are not as equally distant, the color is off, even the logo and serial number are positioned off. Am I right or os that possible with these guitars that there could be minor variations?

Yep, that's a fake guitar.

Definitely fake, albeit a relatively good fake. That headstock is just all wrong, but it seems better quality of most fakes out there. Thank you for sharing that.