Thursday 15 December 2011

ESP James Hetfield Signature "Iron Cross"


Owh, look what we have here... a Gibson Les Paul.... Hahahahahah
Wait a minute folks, this ain't no Gibson, what we have here is a ESP James Hetfield Signature "Iron Cross" used by none other than Metallica frontman and rock legend, James Hetfield. And trust me, this ain't for the open chord strumming newbies... 

As we know, ESP Guitars have since long endorsed Metallica and produced many different guitars for both James and Kirk, but this one has a special spot in the eyes of the fans. This particular model was thrown into the limelight after the release of Metallica's Death Magnetic album in 2008. This model has been mass produced but rumors indicate that there are only 50 of these ever produced.


A mentioned earlier, the Iron Cross has replaced the Truckster as James' first guitar after the Death Magnetic album.
Below here is a song from that album, The Day That Never Comes, which features this beauty.




And as talks bout the specs goes,
  • Set-neck construction
  • 24-3/4" scale
  • Mahogany body
  • Maple top
  • Mahogany neck
  • Ebony fingerboard
  • Iron cross inlays
  • 13.77" fretboard radius
  • Bone nut
  • 1.65" nut width
  • Extra thin U neck \cContour
  • 22 extra jumbo EVO frets (gold) Ni-free alloy
  • Distressed gold hardware
  • Sperzel locking tuners
  • Schaller Straplocks
  • Tonepros TOM bridge and tail
  • EMG-81 (bridge)/EMG-60 (neck) active pickups with distressed gold covers
  • Gold stripe graphics and metal iron cross on lower bout
  • Distressed black finish



If you look closely, you'll realize that there are two pickup switches on this guitar.... and guess what?
The one near to the neck is just a PROP... That's right, its fake.... maybe its just there to resemble a Les Paul...



Oh look, I found a video review...





Well, I wonder what the lucky people who own one of these babies have to say...

"For me this guitar is a perfect match, playing mainly metal it sounds great, but I also play some classic rock, and it sounds great with that as well. I have been playing for 11 years and have played on quite a few guitars and am highly impressed with this guitar. One of the nicer LTD models I have seen. If it were stolen I would most likely hunt down the thiefs family slowly murdering them all, while the thief was tied up in the corner watching, I would then proceed to beat him to death with his own mother's arm, then I would buy a new one. This is a really great guitar I hate nothing, but love everything. I actually changed my order at the last minute from the KH-602 to this, and am highly pleased with my decision. Now I have to save back up for the KH-602. The one thing I wish this had was a nice ol' floyd rose or something of that nature, but then again I bought this bacause I needed a solid rhythm guitar, and that is exactly what I got."

" I play mostly heavy stuff like Metallica and Megadeth and this axe covers it all. If it were stolen I might buy another one, they are quite expensive new. I love everything about this axe. The tone, the colours, the ability to stay in tune for an eternity, just perfect. The only thing I wish it had was for the top pickup selector switches between active and passive, that'd be super awesome."

I guess that's it for this axe....




2 comments:

  1. I think this is wasted on me. :P

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  2. Um this is not an Ltd. The black iron cross was only made by esp japan. And if he changed his mind from a kh-602 and got this guitar he had to come up with an extra 8 grand. He must be talking about the white version

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