KH-2 VINTAGE

DISTRESSED BLACK

49 Comments

Guitars, Signature Series Guitars, Kirk Hammett

$6,099.00

with case

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Perhaps no other guitar is as closely associated with Metallica's massively influential lead guitarist Kirk Hammett than the ESP KH-2 Vintage. A special adaptation of Kirk's standard ESP KH-2 model, the KH-2 Vintage is based on one of Kirk's personal guitars that saw duty in the studio and on stages around the world during Metallica albums and tours. The resulting "lived in" vibe, including distressed paint with small chips and pitting, lightning-fast neck, and famous "CAUTION HOT" sticker and "KIRK'S GUITAR" label, are perfectly recreated by the luthiers at the world-class luthiers at the ESP Custom Shop in Japan. But the KH-2 Vintage is more than just its cool looks. It's a neck-thru-body shred machine, with a comfortable alder body, extra-thin U-shaped maple neck, rosewood fingerboard with 24 extra-jumbo frets and Kirk's skull & bones inlays, and high-end components including Gotoh tuners, a Floyd Rose Original bridge, and a set of EMG 60A (neck) and EMG 81 (bridge) active pickups, just as Kirk's own guitar uses. Available in Black finish, the KH-2 Vintage comes with a premium hard shell case and a Certificate of Authenticity from ESP.

Specifications

Construction Neck-Thru

Scale 25.5"

Body Alder

Neck 3Pc Maple

Fingerboard Rosewood

Fingerboard Radius 305mm

Finish Distressed Black

Nut Width 42mm

Nut Type Locking

Neck Contour Extra Thin U

Frets/Type 24 XJ

Hardware Color Black

Strap Button ESP Strap Lock

Tuners Gotoh

Bridge Floyd Rose Original

Neck PU EMG 60A

Bridge PU EMG 81

Electronics Active

Electronics Layout Volume/Volume/Tone/3-Way Switch

Strings Elixir Nanoweb Super Light (.009/.011/.016/.024/.032/.042)

Case

MH GUITAR FORM FIT CASE

Case Included Y

Controls

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Acclaimed Knives wrote February 11, 2021 04:34

I was able to follow up and Auston confirmed that you are correct. Thank you for the clarification and reply!

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Todd B. ESP wrote February 11, 2021 23:04

Glad to hear that.

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david M. wrote July 08, 2022 00:11

Hi Acclaimed Knives, i got the same response from the same person at customer service, although i showed him the comments and screenshot where he would have agreed to do those changes.

Could you please tell me which Dealer or distributor did you buy your guitar with? i want the same as you wanted for your guitar, nothing that makes it look damaged or worndown
Thank you for your reply.

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Acclaimed Knives wrote February 10, 2021 08:25

Thank you for your answer.

In order to increase the chances of receiving a reply, I sent the same question to a number of sources at ESP.

Unfortunately, I received a different reply from Auston at ESP customer service. He told me that "Unfortunately, this is a production model that is already set to certain specifications. No modifications may be made when they are produced."

I emailed him using the form available on this website and I told him it was the kh-2 vintage guitar that I was asking about. My inquiry was copied word for word from the one in this comment section.

I was just wondering, do you know which answer is correct, yours or his?

By the way, I have sent the link to this page to him to show him that you had told me it should be possible.

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Todd B. ESP wrote February 10, 2021 23:09

Please follow up with customer service email to continue this discussion. Yes our normal answer is that signature models come as is but sometimes we are willing to make a slight change, it all depends on which artist model and the requested changes. So the answer I gave you is correct in this case.

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Acclaimed Knives wrote February 08, 2021 04:27

Hello

If I wanted this guitar as is WITHOUT the following: paint chips, pitting (or anything that makes it look damaged/worn down) would that be possible?

I like the sticker, label, inlays, signature and everything else EXCEPT for whatever makes it looks damaged/worn down.

That would be less work for your custom shop/luthiers and I'd STILL be WILLING TO PAY THE SAME PRICE regardless.

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Todd B. ESP wrote February 10, 2021 06:56

Hi, Yes this should be no problem. Normally we don't allow changes to signature models but in this case it is doable. Please contact your favorite dealer if you wish to set this up.

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Thomas H. wrote January 06, 2023 03:50

Acclaimed Knives - did you ever receive the KH2 distressed you wanted without the wear options???

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Nathan O. wrote January 21, 2021 04:54

When did lefty production of this end? Found a few online but all are sold

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Carl N. wrote January 23, 2021 08:37

if you have any questions you may reach out to our customer service team at customerservice@espguitars.com or https://www.espguitars.com/pages/support

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Renato M. wrote December 22, 2020 10:01

This model doesn't has scalloped frets? I've been watching "Metallica: Live in Salt Lake City, Utah - January 2, 1997" and it seems that kirk has scalloped frets, also on the kh-3

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