ESP expands the Horizon line, debuts a new design with the HRF, adds new signature models for Kirk Hammett, Jeff Hanneman, Rob Caggiano, Frank Bello, Richard Z (Rammstein), and Michael Wilton (Queensryche).
North Hollywood, CA (January 17, 2012) -- ESP Guitars has announced the additions to their line for 2012. The company has added a number of new colors to their Eclipse-II and Horizon line. In addition they've expanded the Horizon line, debuted a new design with the HRF, added new signature models for Kirk Hammett, Jeff Hanneman, Rob Caggiano, Frank Bello, Richard Z (Rammstein), and Michael Wilton (Queensryche).
Horizon FR-27 and FR-7
The Horizon FR-27 is a new model that features a 27-fret neck (with scalloped frets from 12-27), and neck-thru construction, Seymour Duncan Custom 5 (bridge) and Hot Rails (neck) pickups, and an original Floyd Rose bridge. Also new is the Horizon FR-7, which, like the name implies, adds a Floyd Rose bridge to this seven-string beast.
ESP HRF
The HRF is a new design from ESP that combines the body styling of the Horizon with the headstock of the F-Series (aka Forest) guitar. Available in Black, the HRF NT offers neck-thru construction, ebony fingerboard, and Seymour Duncan Blackout AHB-1 active pickups. The HRF NT-II adds a great-looking quilted maple top, and comes in See Thru Black Cherry (STBC), Black Aqua (BLKAQ), and Reindeer Blue (RDB).
Kirk Hammett Signature Models
Celebrating his 25th year as an ESP player, Metallicaʼs Kirk Hammett has three new models. The ESP KH-DC and LTD KH-DC are a brand new double-cutaway body style based on the Eclipse/EC, with a set neck design at 24.75ā scale, and an attractive STBC (See Thru Black Cherry) finish on its flamed maple top. Like other EC models, the guitar offers a mahogany body and mahogany neck, with a rosewood fingerboard. The KH-DC features gold hardware, including gold-covered EMG 81 (bridge) and EMG 60 (neck) active pickups, and a Tonepros locking TOM bridge and tailpiece. The ESP version of the new Kirk Hammett model includes Sperzel locking tuners, while the LTD version offers ESP locking tuners.
The limited-edition LTD KH-25 has black distressed finish and graphics designed to emulate Kirkʼs famous KH-2 Vintage model. The KH-25 has bolt-on construction at 25.5" scale, with a basswood body, maple neck, and a Floyd Rose Special bridge. The guitar also features ESPʼs new ALH-200 active pickups.
Jeff Hanneman Signature Models and Slayer-2012
Another long-time ESP player, Slayerʼs Jeff Hanneman, is getting new signatures as well. The ESP Jeff Hanneman EC and LTD JH-600EC are customized versions of the Eclipse model, with a traditional thick body, black finish, and custom red upside-down star inlays on the neck. Also, a new limited edition model, the LTD SLAYER-2012, is being offered this year only, with graphics celebrating the 25th anniversary of Slayerʼs āSouth of Heavenā album. Itʼs a must-have for players and collectors alike.
Anthrax Signature Models
Based on his customized ESP Horizon, the ESP Rob Caggiano and LTD RC-600 are being offered in a STP (See Thru Purple) finish. The guitars use a bolt-on construction at 25.5ā scale, and have an ash body, maple neck, and rosewood fingerboard with custom inlays and glow-in-the-dark side markers. The instruments also feature two DiMarzio humbucking pickups, Tonepros locking TOM bridge and tailpiece, and Dunlop straplok hardware (the ESP version also includes Sperzel locking tuners, while the LTD version comes with ESP Locking tuners).
Anthrax bassist Frank Bello now also has ESP and LTD Signature Series basses! The ESP Frank Bello and LTD FB-4 are both based on the ESP Vintage-4 model, customized to Belloʼs specifications with a Black Satin finish and black anodized aluminum pickguard, ebony fingerboard with black pearloid block inlays, EMG PJ-X active pickups and a Gotoh bridge. The basses feature bolt-on construction at 34" scale, an alder body, and maple neck with 21 XJ frets.
Richard Z (Rammstein)
The new Richard Z Kruspe (Rammstein) model is available! The ESP RZK-II Burnt is a true one-of-a-kind guitar with an outstanding distressed/burnt finish. Features include neck-thru-body construction, an alder body, mahogany neck, Gotoh tuners, Floyd Rose original bridge, and EMG 81 active pickups.Ā
Michael Wilton (QueensrĆæche)
Queensrÿcheʼs guitarist Michael Wilton gets the honor of having the first Signature Series acoustic model from ESP with the LTD MW-DC1E. Itʼs a cutaway dreadnought shape with a spalted maple body top, back & sides, a B-Band T-55 4-band preamp with onboard tuner, diamond abalone inlays and a custom abalone/pearloid inlay at the 12th fret.
Additional Signature Models
In addition, ESP announced new LTD Signature Series models for the members of Whitechapel, LTD Signature Series models for the members of Suicide Silence, an LTD Signature Series model for Unearth guitarist Buz McGrath, and an LTD Signature Series bass for War and PHILM bassist Pancho Tomaseli.
For more information:
ESP Guitars
The country virtuoso closes out this season of Wong Notes with a fascinating, career-spanning interview.
Weāve saved one of the best for last: Brad Paisley.The celebrated shredder and seasoned fisherman joins host Cory Wong for one of this seasonās most interesting episodes. Paisley talks his earliest guitar-playing influences, which came from his grandfatherās love of country music, and his first days in Nashvilleāas a student at Belmont University, studying the music industry.
The behind-the-curtain knowledge he picked up at Belmont made him a good match for industry suits trying to force bad contracts on him.
Wong and Paisley swap notes on fishing and a mutual love of PhishāPaisley envies the jam-band scene, which he thinks has more leeway in live contexts than country. And with a new signature FenderĀ Telecaster hitting the market in a rare blue paisley finish, Paisley discusses his iconic namesake patternāwhich some might describe as āhippie pukeāāand its surprising origin with Elvisā guitarist James Burton.
Plus, hear how Paisley assembled his rig over the years, the state of shredding on mainstream radio, when it might be good to hallucinogenic drugs in a set, and the only negative thing about country-music audiences.
Tom Bedell in the Relic Music acoustic room, holding a custom Seed to Song Parlor with a stunning ocean sinker redwood top and milagro Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
As head of Breedlove and Bedell Guitars, heās championed sustainability and environmental causesāand he wants to tell you about it.
As the owner of the Breedlove and Bedell guitar companies, Tom Bedell has been a passionate advocate for sustainable practices in acoustic guitar manufacturing. Listening to him talk, itās clear that the preservation of the Earthās forests are just as important to Bedell as the sound of his guitars. Youāll know just how big of a statement that is if youāve ever had the opportunity to spend time with one of his excellently crafted high-end acoustics, which are among the finest youāll find. Over the course of his career, Bedell has championed the use of alternative tonewoods and traveled the world to get a firsthand look at his wood sources and their harvesting practices. When you buy a Bedell, you can rest assured that no clear-cut woods were used.
A born storyteller, Bedell doesnāt keep his passion to himself. On Friday, May 12, at New Jersey boutique guitar outpost Relic Music, Bedell shared some of the stories heās collected during his life and travels as part of a three-city clinic trip. At Relicāand stops at Crossroads Guitar and Art in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, and Chuck Levinās Washington Music Center in Wheaton, Marylandāhe discussed his guitars and what makes them so special, why sustainability is such an important cause, and how heās putting it into practice.
Before his talk, we sat in Relicās cozy, plush acoustic room, surrounded by a host of high-end instruments. We took a look at a few of the storeās house-specād Bedell parlors while we chatted.
āThe story of this guitar is the story of the world,ā Bedell explained to me, holding a Seed to Song Parlor. He painted a picture of a milagro tree growing on a hillside in northeastern Brazil some 500 years ago, deprived of water and growing in stressful conditions during its early life. That tree was eventually harvested, and in the 1950s, it was shipped to Spain by a company that specialized in church ornaments. They recognized this unique specimen and set it aside until it was imported to the U.S. and reached Oregon. Now, it makes the back and sides of this unique guitar.
A Bedell Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides.
As for the ocean sinker redwood top, āIām gonna make up the story,ā Bedell said, as he approximated the life cycle of the tree, which floated in the ocean, soaking up minerals for years and years, and washed ashore on northern Oregonās Manzanita Beach. The two woods were paired and built into a small run of exquisitely outfitted guitars using the Bedell/Breedlove Sound Optimization processāin which the building team fine-tunes each instrumentās voice by hand-shaping individual braces to target resonant frequencies using acoustic analysisāand Bedell and his team fell in love.
Playing it while we spoke, I was smitten by this guitarās warm, responsive tone and even articulation and attack across the fretboard; it strikes a perfect tonal balance between a tight low-end and bright top, with a wide dynamic range that made it sympathetic to anything I offered. And as I swapped guitars, whether picking up a Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides or one with an Adirondack spruce top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides, the character and the elements of each instrument changed, but that perfect balance remained. Each of these acousticsāand of any Bedell Iāve had the pleasure to playādelivers their own experiential thumbprint.
Rosette and inlay detail on an Adirondack spruce top.
Ultimately, thatās what brought Bedell out to the East Coast on this short tour. āWe have a totally different philosophy about how we approach guitar-building,ā Bedell effused. āThere are a lot of individuals who build maybe 12 guitars a year, who do some of the things that we do, but thereās nobody on a production level.ā And he wants to spread that gospel.
āWe want to reach people who really want something special,ā he continued, pointing out that for the Bedell line, the company specifically wants to work with shops like Relic and the other stores heās visited, āwho have a clientele that says I want the best guitar I can possibly have, and they carry enough variety that we can give them that.ā
A Fireside Parlor with a Western red cedar top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
A beautifully realized mashup of two iconic guitars.
Reader: Ward Powell
Hometown: Ontario, Canada
Guitar: ES-339 Junior
Iāve always liked unusual guitars. I think it started when I got my first guitar way back in 1976. I bought a '73 Telecaster Deluxe for $200 with money I saved from delivering newspapers.
I really got serious about playing in 1978, the same year the first Van Halen album was released. Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on me, including how he built and modded guitars. Inspired by Eddie, I basically butchered that Tele. But keep in mind, there was once a time when every vintage guitar was just a used guitarāI still have that Tele, by the way.
I never lost that spirit of wanting guitars that were unique, and have built and modded a few dozen guitars since. When I started G.A.S.-ing simultaneously for a Les Paul Junior and a Casino, I came up with this concept. I found an Epiphone ES-339 locally at a great price. It already had upgraded CTS pots, Kluson tuners, and the frets had been PLEKād. It even came with a hardshell case. It was cheap because it was a right-handed guitar that had been converted to left handed and all the controls had been moved to the opposite side, so it had five additional holes in the top.
Fortunately, I found a Duesenberg wraparound bridge that used the same post spacing as a Tune-o-matic. I used plug cutters to cut plugs out of baltic birch plywood to fill the 12 holes in the laminated top. I also reshaped the old-style Epiphone headstock. Then, I sanded off the original finish, taped the fretboard, and sprayed the finish using cans of nitro lacquer from Oxford Guitar Supply. Lots of wet sanding and buffing later, the finish was done.
I installed threaded insert bushings for the bridge, so it will never pull out. The pickup is a Mojotone Quiet Coil P-90 and I fabricated a shim from a DIY mold and tinted epoxy to raise the P-90 up closer to the strings. The shim also covers the original humbucker opening. I cut a pickguard out of a blank and heated it slightly to bend it to follow the curvature of the top.
All in all, I'm pretty happy how it turned out! It plays great and sounds even better. And I have something that is unique: an ES-339 Junior.
ENGL, renowned for its high-performance amplifiers, proudly introduces the EP635 Fireball IR Pedal, a revolutionary 2-channel preamp pedal designed to deliver the legendary Fireball tone in a compact and feature-rich format.
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SPECS:
- Input 1/4ā (6,35mm) Jack
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- Headphone Output 1/8ā(3,5mm) Jack
- 9V DC / 300mA (center negativ) / power supply, sold separately
- USB C