Kirk Hammett

Kirk Hammett talks about his signature ESP White Zombie electric guitar:

"I first started using ESP Guitars way back in 1987. I kinda discovered them through my friend who had an endorsement with ESP at the time, and he told me that ESP was interested in working with me and would make me anything I wanted them to make, so I was really happy about that. So I got to go to the ESP factory in New York, and I said, ‘okay, this neck, put it on this body, with this pickup configuration, make it black, put skull inlays on it, and there.’ Eight months later, I had that guitar, and that's my Skully guitar that I have been playing forever and ever. This guitar, White Zombie, it’s another movie from the thirties that came out around the same time as The Mummy came out in 1932… I have this movie poster, I love movie posters of course had put it on a guitar. It fulfills all the things I need for a guitar - it sounds good, it looks good, and it plays good."

As shown in the Kirk Hammett and his guitars video, he used this guitar on only 1 song on the show (Am I Evil) since it has no tremolo and a single coil pickup.

According to Kirk Hammett's guitar tech, the Metallica guitarist got his ESP Karloff Mummy guitar "back in '96, and ever since then, it's been the main recording guitar," (7:00). "For some reason, the pickups are just right, the wood's just right, it just sounds that little tiny bit better," Hammett's tech said.

Kirk Hammett also plays a ESP Green Burst guitar. "It's to match the pedal," Hammett's tech says in this interview at (7:50), in reference to Hammett's signature Dunlop Crybaby Wah pedal.

Another of Kirk Hammett's signature ESP guitars is the Ouija Board themed guitar. "I love the look of the pickups, they're very cool guitars," Hammett's tech says at (9:15).

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is an ESP M1 Bride of Frankenstein.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is an ESP KH-2 with a mirrored pickguard.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is an ESP KH-2, with a "Caution Hot" sticker on it.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is an ESP M2 Dracula.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is an ESP KH20 20th Anniversary Edition.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is an ESP Spider 13.

According to Metallica's 2010 tour gear list, one of Kirk Hammett's guitars is a Jackson Flying V Randy Rhoads.

According to the Famous Martin Owners page on the C.F. Martin website, Kirk Hammett plays a D-42.

In this photo Kirk is seen playing his signature Flying V!

Reverb.com article about scary guitars.

In this video, Kirk Hammett plays on Fender Stratocaster, as on other videos or photos of the same period, near 1985 and 1986.

At 1:45, We can see hammett kirk played on a fender telecaster, to my knowledge, this guitar was never used there live or in studio.

You can see Kirk Hammett playing this guitar at a few shows lately, usually in nothing else matters and a few others

This Gibson was used quite extensively till about 2008 when it was replaced with a red Gibson Les Paul. You can see the guitar from 0.23 seconds and at 0.53 seconds you can see the Gibson ''open book'' head stock too

In the Nothing Else Matters [Official Music Video], You can see a clear shot of James with his Red Gibson EDS-1275 at 2:46.

This Image shows Kirk Hammett playing a Gibson Les Paul on stage.

Kirk Hammett on owning Peter Green's 1959 Gibson Les Paul: "It just blew me away"

at 43:12 into the submitted video, a Gibson ES-335 in Tobacco Burst finish can be seen next to Kirk Hammett.

In this performance of "The Judas Kiss" in the "Quebec Magnetic" release, Kirk uses a black Teuffel Birdfish.

This is a Gibson les paul standard from 2007 with a translucent red tiger stripes.

In this interview from 1991 with Guitarworld, he said that he used two guitars in "The Black Album" when asked why didn't he use his '74 Gibson Flying V on this record, One of them was '89 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe with two EMG's.

This guitar is a commemoration of Kirk Hammett's 30 years of partnership (or endorsement, If you prefer) with ESP Guitars. It can be seen in the video at around the 0:19 mark.

For more info such as the specs of the guitar itself, check this link: http://www.espguitars.com/products/19164-kh-demonology?category_id=1963398-kirk-hammett