Kirk Hammett's Guitars, Amps & Gear List

While some sources date the initial construction of this guitar as early as 1992, the “Mummy” officially arrived in Kirk’s hands around 1996, just in time for the Load tour. Commissioned after Kirk purchased the original movie poster in 1993, this ESP KH-2 features custom “Eye of Horus” inlays and the iconic graphic painted by ESP’s custom shop. It remains his absolute favorite guitar, serving as the primary axe for his live performances for nearly 30 years.

The body features the movie poster art from the 1932 Boris Karloff film The Mummy. Kirk actually owns the incredibly rare original physical movie poster, which serves as the source for the graphic; however, due to the complex licensing rights surrounding the Universal Studios character, ESP has never been able to release a commercial version of this instrument.

Unlike standard KH-2s, this guitar does not feature skull inlays. Instead, to match the theme, the rosewood fingerboard is inlaid with Egyptian hieroglyphs, specifically the “Eye of Horus.”

Hammett got this guitar around 1984, coinciding with the Ride the Lightning era. It represents Kirk’s entry into the “Super Strat” market – a trend popularized by Eddie Van Halen involving Stratocaster bodies modified with high-output electronics and advanced tremolo systems.

Unlike Kirk’s factory-standard Gibson (his main guitar prior to this), this Fernandes was heavily modified. Most notably, it was fitted with a Floyd Rose tremolo and a locking nut.

This double-locking system clamps the strings at both the bridge and the nut, allowing for the extreme pitch dives and harmonic flutters heard on tracks like “Creeping Death” – techniques that were mechanically impossible on his fixed-bridge Gibson.

This Flying V first appeared well before Kirk joined Metallica. It was his main instrument during his time in Exodus, and logically, it serves as the bridge between his local club days and his start in Metallica.

According to Kirk, he got the guitar from Leo’s Music on the corner of Telegraph Ave and 55th St in Oakland, and traded his Stratocaster for it, plus some money he made working at a Burger King.

He brought this guitar with him when he replaced Dave Mustaine in Metallica, and it was his main studio guitar on Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning, but it was also used partially on Master of Puppets, Garage Days, and …And Justice for All.

This guitar is famous for exactly one reason (pun intended) – it is the instrument Kirk Hammett played in Metallica’s very first music video, “One,” released in early 1989. Unlike his later signature models, which were heavy custom builds, this guitar appears to be a standard production model. It is an ESP 400 Series, which was ESP’s take on a Fender Stratocaster.

The video was a massive turning point for the band. After releasing three albums with no promotional clips, they finally filmed a video for the third single off …And Justice for All. The video was shot in black and white, mixing performance footage with clips from the 1971 film Johnny Got His Gun.

In the video, Kirk is seen playing this natural-finish Strat-style guitar.

Kirk acquired this guitar around 1983, shortly after the recording of Kill ‘Em All. It is a custom Jackson Randy Rhoads model, characterized by its asymmetrical V-shape with a longer upper horn and shorter lower horn – a design originally created by Jackson for Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist.

This guitar marked a significant departure from the specs of Kirk’s old guitar – the 1970s Gibson Flying V. Instead of mahogany, this Jackson features a maple neck-through construction with alder body wings. This design eliminates the neck heel found on set-neck Gibsons, allowing for easier access to the 22nd fret. The maple and alder combination also arguably produces a brighter, snappier attack.

Interestingly, despite the rising popularity of locking tremolos at the time, Kirk got himself the RR1T version of the model, with an adjustable string-through-body bridge/Tune-O-Matic and Gotoh tuners.

This guitar first appeared around 1987. It was most likely Kirk’s first custom ESP, and it effectively served as the prototype for the signature models he played for the next two decades.

Visually, it was a major departure from his previous standard-finish instruments. It featured a vertical skull and crossbones design inlays on the fretboard, and a “Zorlac” sticker on the body, marking the start of the horror-graphic aesthetic that Hammett is now known for.

Based on the specs of his later signature series, this guitar most likely featured an Alder body and a Maple neck. This construction would have provided a sharper, brighter attack than his mahogany Gibson, which was necessary for the dry, scooped sound of the Justice era.

This KH-2 “Ouija” first appeared around 1993, arriving midway through the massive touring cycle for the Black Album. It appears to be the first major “graphic” custom that Kirk played extensively live, pre-dating the “Mummy” by several years.

Kirk allegedly came up with the idea around 1990, wanting a guitar that featured elements from the Hasbro “Ouija” talking board. However, creating it required some improvisation.

The story goes that the team bought a board game, photocopied it, and used scissors to cut out the alphabet and design elements. They then allegedly faxed the layout to the ESP Custom Shop in Japan to be painted. This was all done in a phosphorescent (glow-in-the-dark) paint.

This was Kirk’s main transition guitar from the mid-90s. We don’t know exactly when he decided to retire his 1979 Gibson Flying V from the road, but looking at the timeline, it seems to happen right around the end of the Black Album cycle. By 1993 or 1994, the reality of touring with a vintage instrument likely set in, and he needed something with ESP’s modern stability.

Before the actual KH-1 came out, you’ll see photos of Kirk from the Nowhere Else to Roam (1993) or Shit Hits the Sheds (1994) tours playing a black V that looks similar but isn’t quite right. Likely, these were the ESP MV-290 series or direct custom shop prototypes. At that time, ESP was dealing with lawsuit issues over headstock shapes, so these early ones often had different, Jackson-style headstocks.

If you look at the footage from the Load and Reload era, things get confusing because Kirk wasn’t just playing one V. He was rotating through at least three distinct variations.

This is one of the most recognizable horror-themed guitars in Kirk’s collection, though it is often confused with his “Mummy” guitar. The first time it appeared seems to be sometime around 1999, reportedly gifted to him by the ESP Custom Shop. Given the timing, it is likely that he received it during the S&M or Garage Inc. era, just prior to the St. Anger sessions.

When the guitar first appeared, it was fitted with Kirk’s standard electronics for that period: an active EMG 81 humbucker in the bridge position and an EMG 60 in the neck. The body is constructed from alder with a neck-through design, featuring a rosewood fretboard and 24 extra-jumbo frets.

The most distinct feature of this guitar is the graphic, which depicts a stylized, high-contrast image of Boris Karloff’s face from the 1931 Universal film Frankenstein. While the movie was black and white, this specific version features a red color palette.

Introduced in 2011 as a special edition, this model features a custom Greenburst finish, green inlays, and a matching green logo. It comes equipped with Kirk’s signature EMG 81/60 active pickup set. The rest of the specs are identical to the standard KH-2, including the 25.5″ scale length, neck-thru construction, extra-thin ‘U’ profile neck, 24 XJ frets, and an original Floyd Rose bridge.

The ESP version (which Kirk used) was extremely limited, with only 100 pieces produced worldwide. On the used market, these now sell for upwards of $30,000. There was also a more affordable LTD version (the LTD KH-SE), which was limited to 300 pieces.

The ESP Wavecaster is one of the most unique guitars Kirk Hammett has ever played. It is a Telecaster-style guitar made of clear plastic (Lucite) instead of wood. The body is hollow and filled with blue motor oil that moves around inside the instrument while it is being played.

Kirk used this guitar frequently during the Load and ReLoad tours in 1996 and 1997. Most notably, you can see him playing it on the Cunning Stunts DVD during the song “Am I Evil?”. Later, after he retired it from live performances, the guitar was displayed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland

While the neck and final assembly were done by ESP, the unique liquid-filled body was built by luthier George Fedden. George made the first two bodies for the 1997 NAMM show (likely completing them in 1996, since the show was in January). It remains unclear whether Kirk’s guitar was one of these originals or if it was built separately just for him.

This guitar appeared around 1989, just as the band was shifting their production style for the Black Album. It appears to be Kirk’s “main” Les Paul for this era. While standard Customs feature gold hardware, Kirk had this one “blacked out” with all-black hardware to match the gloss black finish.

Although Kirk’s Les Paul looks like a proper vintage-style instrument, it was actually modified and modernized extensively. Most notably, the stock passive pickups were replaced with active EMG humbuckers. This makes sense logically – Kirk was using a high-gain rack system tailored for his ESPs. If he plugged in a standard passive Les Paul, the drop in output would have been significant. Installing EMGs allowed him to switch between guitars mid-show without messing up his gain structure.

Also, based on the hardware choices, it seems that tuning stability was a concern. Traditional Gibsons are often prone to string slippage, so this guitar was fitted with Sperzel Locking Tuners.

This guitar is essentially a standard ESP KH-2 with a custom graphic finish. It shares the exact same specifications as the base model, including the EMG 81/60 active pickup set and a Floyd Rose tremolo. However, this model features ‘Dracula’ graphics painted on the body, adapted from a poster for the 1931 movie Dracula.

It appears that ESP made a few different guitars for Kirk with this design, as there are some slight differences between the instruments, such as the number of control knobs and the placement of the ‘Dracula’ text.

This guitar was built in 1991 and served as Kirk’s primary instrument during the Black Album tour. While it is now famous for its “Caution” graphics, those stickers were not applied until the 90s. During the Live Shit: Binge & Purge era (1991–1993), this was simply a plain black KH-2, easily confused with his other backups until it received its unique “warning label” aesthetic later.

Technically, this guitar marks a step up from the earlier “Zorlac.” While it kept the Alder body and Maple neck, this specific custom features Neck-Thru-Body construction (unlike the usual bolt-on models of the time), offering superior sustain and access to upper frets. It features the standard horizontal “Skull & Crossbones” inlays and is powered by an active EMG 81 in the bridge and an EMG 60 in the neck.

Today, the guitar is identified by the orange “CAUTION HOT” sticker below the bridge and a “Kirk’s Guitar” label near the neck pickup. The original can be distinguished from modern replicas by the back of the headstock: the original 1991 Custom has no serial numbers or logos on the back, whereas replicas and later models do.

Like the Dracula model, the ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ is essentially a standard ESP KH-2 at its core. It features the same high-end specifications, including a Floyd Rose tremolo and Kirk’s signature EMG 81/60 active pickup set. The defining feature is the graphic finish on the body, which reproduces the classic movie poster art from the 1935 film The Bride of Frankenstein. The design was done by Guitar Art & More by Chris.

Kirk’s musical journey began with a guitar that his brother, Rick, had purchased through the Montgomery Ward catalogue. At around age 15, Kirk convinced his brother to part with it, trading his copy of the KISS album Dressed to Kill and $10 to seal the deal.

I had $10 and a Kiss album. He wanted that Kiss album and I said – I’ll trade you this Kiss album and $10 for that Montgomery Ward guitar”.

The Collection: Kirk Hammett of Metallica

Kirk has never specified the exact model, describing it only as a “Montgomery Ward catalogue special.” While people online often speculate it was an Airline (the store’s house brand pictured here), it is not 100% that it was one of the famous “Resoglass” models. Those were the “premium” guitars of the catalog.

This guitar model, known as the KH-3, was first used on tour in 1992 in support of the Black Album. The name of this specific one derives from the custom decals on the body: a graphic of a spider and the number 13, both designed by the hardcore punk/metal artist Pushead.

This particular guitar’s visual identity is defined by the “Spider 13” decals on the lower bass bout. It also features a unique inlay pattern: – spiders on the lower frets (1-9) and skull & crossbones on the upper frets (12-24). The headstock features the rounded ESP logo decal typical of the early ’90s.

This guitar serves as a mechanical hybrid, designed to bridge the gap between Gibson and ESP. It features an alder body and maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard, a 24.75″ scale length (Gibson standard). This shorter scale reduces string tension, making the wide bends of the Black Album solos easier to execute than on his longer-scale strat-style guitars – although it’s debatable whether this was all that important to Kirk.