ESP LTD KH-202 BLK Kirk Hammett

For a budget guitar, it feels very premium!
Ticks all the boxes I was looking for in a new guitar:
24 XJ-frets
Floyd Rose
Thin Neck
Well balanced
Gig worthy

Also, the passive pickups are quiet aggressive, I'm thinking I won't bother converting the guitar to active pickups, maybe in the future

Since getting the guitar I've re-stringed with ernie ball extra slinky and the guitar has stayed mostly in tune over the last 2 weeks and I am fairly tremolo happy

Visually the guitar looks great, I immediately associate the looks with the Black album era of Metallica. Just watch A Year & A Half In The Life Of Metallica part 1 when Kirk nails the Unforgiven solo!

Overall, the guitar is perfect for what it is. My ratings is based on the price, it think it would be unfair to compare to a more deluxe model or premium guitar. The guitar is well made and has some great features like Floyd Rose Special. ESP humbuckers, 24 XJ-Frets. Visually you get the upside down headstock and skull & crossbones inlays, the Kirk Hammett look basically

Out of the box, the only thing I needed to do was adjust the Floyd Rose, action was just too low and I got buzzing frets. Don't "fret" if this happens to you (sorry for the bad pun), just re-adjust and carry on :)

You don't love this guitar that much until you plug it in and play some Metallica stuff. it juist feels right. The sound is very aggressive and heavy, but passive pick-ups give you smooth clean tone. The Floyd rose system is pretty nice, keeps tune for a long time but not that perfect. The quality is so nice, guitar is ready to play just as you take it from the box. Highly recommend this guitar!