ESP LTD James Hetfield Snakebyte Left Handed, Satin Black

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Key Features

Punchy, clear tone provided by custom JH Set EMG active pickups.
Effortless playability with Thin U mahogany neck
Eye catching aesthetic utilising snake inlay and satin black finish
Signature guitar of Metallica guitarist James Hetfield

ESP LTD James Hetfield Snakebyte Left Handed, Satin Black Overview

The ESP LTD Snakebyte James Hetfield Left Handed is a guitar that lives up to its namesakes' prestige. Equally as bold and unique as the Metallica frontman, this guitar is destined to captivate the crowds. Constructed with a mahogany body, it is built to withstand the most demanding of performances. The Snakebyte is a unique body design for ESP, LTD and James Hetfield, built to stand out aesthetically and sound equally as impressive, even incorporating a unique pearloid snake inlay on a striking macassar ebony fretboard.

Tonally superb. Equipped with James Hetfield's own EMG active pickups, the Snakebyte produces a crushing bold tone. Tone Pros locking TOM bridge and tailpiece, combined with LTD Locking tuners, provides incredible tuning stability, ensuring complete accuracy whilst performing. This all works to cut down your time spent tuning, and increase your time spent rocking.

Product Ref: 95115

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Precision performance

Crafted for chordal consistency and accurate performance, the LTD Snakebyte is extremely performer friendly. Designed with a Thin U mahogany neck, which offers a comfortable grip, this guitar provides the freedom to glide effortlessly along the fretboard. 22 extra jumbo frets offer a lot of room for accurate positioning during performances. A macassar ebony fretboard is also used here. Ebony is a popular choice amongst heavier genres as it offers fast playability, a snappy attack, and maintains the sharp and formidable appearance of the guitar itself.

EMG signature pickups

The Snakebyte guitar is equipped with James Hetfield’s own custom pickups. Created in 2009, Hetfield contacted the president of EMG pickups and asked him to produce a discrete looking pickup, which possessed the clarity and power of a passive pickup, whilst retaining the iconic active tone. The set consists of two humbucker pickups, JH-N for the neck and JH-B for the bridge. The JH-N is designed to offer a higher attack and fuller low end for the neck position, whilst the JH-B offers a similar tight attack - it too provides a clean, crisp low end. As you can imagine this creates the perfect tone, specifically designed for Metallica’s iconic metal sound.

James Hetfield

James Hetfield has been at the forefront of metal for over 40 years. As co-founder, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the genre defining band Metallica, it is obvious why his name is etched into rock n roll’s hall of fame. Voted by Guitar World readers as the 19th greatest guitarist of all time and placing 2nd in their greatest metal guitarists of all time, it is clear his prestige and ability has not gone unnoticed. Most notably a rhythm guitarist, with his iconic percussive picking and fast tempo chord patterns, Hetfield still takes the opportunity to play soaring solos. All of this makes him an incredibly well-rounded guitar player. ESP have produced a guitar that not only equals James’ fame but also supports his personal playstyle.