Being an inspiration to all the metal-heads out there and being the front man of not just his band, but also heavy metal; James Hetfield has been known to use ESP guitars right from the moment Metallica rose to fame. Having said that, his signature SnakeByte guitar is one of those instruments everyone wish to own. Considering the price range, it’s not possible for everyone. Let’s just say I was lucky enough to have saved enough money to buy it.
Coming to the guitar, it comes in white and black both of which are amazing gorgeous. The guitar has a pretty thin profile and is very easy to play having designed by James Hetfield himself. The mahogany neck is something I’ve always personally preferred for playing blues and metal specifically. The neck has a 24.75” scale which I think is excellent for accurate picking and fast chord changing. Considering accurate playing, the ebony fingerboard has 22 extra-jumbo frets. You just can’t play a wrong note!
The SnakeByte has a set neck construction. This means you can ultimately nail the guitar solo from Nothing Else Matters with that endless sustain while you jump in front of your amp to look cool like James Hetfield himself(which you never can), The 12th fret of the guitar has this pearloid snake inlay which looks super cool.
Now here is the best part. The legendary technology designed by EMG and James Hetfield can get you the warmness of passive pickups along with the punch of active ones all in one. This guitar has the signature JH EMG Active pickups. Well this is not the only thing you get on spending this amount of money. Some killer additional features are the ESP locking tuners to make sure you never go out of tune. I’ve literally thrashed the guitar like a hammer on-stage. It was still in tune. A few more cool features are Schaller straplocks, Tonepros locking bridge; basically everything is locking. You can’t un-tune even if you want to, even if you beg to……… Kidding!
The guitar is made for metal and made to perfection. The action on the guitar is just amazing and makes playing rhythms or leads a breeze. Might seem esoteric to some, but this guitar is equally amazing for solos too. Don’t take my word for it. Check out some of the videos from the time Metallica ruled the world.
One additional thing to consider is that the guitar works like a dream with low and dropped tunings. The genius of James Hetfield and Rob Turner have made this the best guitar for metal and certainly the best one I own. Definitely recommended for all the Metallica fans and also those are not. This guitar WILL NOT disappoint.
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