The ESP Guitar Company

Top photo by Dave Starbuck

From January 23-25, 2025, ESP joined hundreds of other musical instrument and audio gear manufacturers at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. For this year’s show, we did things a little differently, and we can tell you that as a result, the show was a huge success for ESP. Let’s take a look at what made it so great.

Sizzling New Guitars
The star of the show at NAMM is always the instruments we create, and NAMM gives us an opportunity to preview these new models with our sales channel partners for the first time.

In addition to the batch of LTD, LTD Deluxe, and Signature Series guitars we introduced in our New for 2025 collection, the ESP booth was full of some of the finest instruments we’ve ever produced, with handcrafted ESP USA, ESP Exhibition Series, and special ESP 50th Anniversary guitars on display. Detailed information on those very special guitars is coming soon.

A batch of our new Signature Series guitars at NAMM

The LTD EC-2025, a limited edition guitar that commemorates our 50th anniversary

Some one-of-a-kind 50th Anniversary Horizon models from the ESP Custom Shop

More ESP Custom Shop Horizon guitars to help celebrate ESP's 50th anniversary

A closer look at one of the handcrafted 50th anniversary Horizons

Our annual Exhibition Limited Series, one-off masterful instruments created by hand at the ESP Custom Shop, on display at NAMM 2025

Appointment-Based Booth
Some NAMM visitors were surprised to see that we limited admission to the ESP booth for only our dealers and international distributors, along with select media reps and our endorsed artists. A number of other NAMM exhibitors followed the same plan, and you should know why.

The NAMM Show started in 1902, and was always intended to be a business event, connecting manufacturers of instruments and gear to the retailers and distributors who offer them for sale to the public. For many decades, a NAMM badge was very exclusive; if you didn’t work for a manufacturer, a store, or a related business entity, you simply couldn’t get in (at least without faking it somehow).

Even with our appointment-only policy, the ESP booth was pretty full for most of the three-day show

 More recently, NAMM has become a more consumer-oriented event, and that was fine… until it started getting in the way of the exhibitors’ ability to do business at the show. There were times at previous shows when the ESP booth was so jam-packed with visitors that we were unable to hold meetings with our dealers. Sometimes they couldn’t even get inside the booth.

To ensure our customers had all the info on our “New for 2025” lineup, a full week before NAMM started, we hosted our ESP Presents livestream video event, reaching tens of thousands of people not just in a convention center in Anaheim, CA, but around the world. We’d love to accommodate the entire ESP family. Perhaps someday we’ll host our own event that will be fully open to the public. Let us know if that sounds cool.

Plenty of ESP Artists
One thing there was no shortage of at the ESP booth was our family of endorsed artists. It’s impossible to make a list of everyone who stopped by the booth, but throughout the show, there was a constant stream of members of our artist family stopping by to say hi and to ogle our latest batch of guitars. We’re always glad to get some time to hang out with the ESP artist family, many of whom are more like our actual family after their years of friendship.

ESP director of artist relations Tony Rauser with the iconic Alex Skolnick

One significant appearance at the ESP booth was that of Slipknot’s Mick Thomson, who was there for the official in-person rollout of his LTD Signature Series MT-I. As one of the most highly-anticipated guitars in our New for 2025 collection, it was great to have the man himself there to talk about the details of the MT-I — his first ESP signature model — with our dealers and the press.

Tony Rauser and ESP president Matt Masciandaro flanking Mick Thomson of Slipknot

Recognition for 50 Years & More
ESP was invited to take part in two special events hosted by the NAMM organization. On the evening on Thursday January 23, NAMM held their annual Industry Tribute presentation, an event to commemorate the members of our industry who passed away since the previous show. Among the dozens of people who were highlighted at the “In Memoriam”-style event was Hisatake Shibuya, ESP’s founder who passed away in September at age 82. We were proud to honor our founder and friend at the touching proceeding.

Inside the ESP booth, an entire wall was dedicated to the memory of our esteemed founder, Mr. Shibuya

On the evening on Thursday January 23, Mr. Shibuya was honored in front of hundreds of NAMM attendees at the Industry Tribute

The second event was held bright and early on the morning of Saturday January 25. NAMM hosts an annual event called the Milestone Award, presented to NAMM member companies who reach significant anniversaries since their founding. ESP was honored to be given NAMM’s Milestone Award for having reached our 50th anniversary, having been founded in 1975. Along with a number of other respected companies hitting their 50-year mark, we accepted it onstage in front of a huge crowd during NAMM's breakfast session events.

It's hard to believe that it's been 50 years since Mr. Shibuya launched a small guitar shop that became a global leader in the industry, but here we are... thanks NAMM!

Another Year, Another NAMM
It takes a lot of thought and planning and effort to successfully do the NAMM Show, and ESP keeps trying to make it better each passing year. While different than previous shows we’ve done, NAMM 2025 was great in every aspect for ESP. Here's to the next 50 years!