NAMM 2025: ESP Guitars has unveiled dozens of new LTD electric guitars and gone big with artist collaborations as Mick Thomson of Slipknot’s much-anticipated MT-1 S-style a standout among the year’s new signature guitars.
There are guitars of all shapes and sizes, all spec’d for high-gain. Here, we’re going to take a look at the new ESP/LTD artist models for Alex Wade of Whitechapel, Lamb of God’s Will Adler, Josh Middleton of Sylosis, King Diamond’s Andy Larocque, Mike Schleibaum of Darkest Hour and Richard Zk of Rammstein.
It’s a cornucopia of metal guitar specs: Floyd Rose vibratos, EverTune bridges, high-output humbuckers from EMG and Fishman… Thin U profile necks for speed, and in most instances extra-jumbo frets. You know the drill.
Lets’s start with the Mick Thomson MT-1, finally unmasked after it was revealed in May that the Slipknot riff-master had jumped ship from Jackson.
LTD Mick Thomson MT-1
Not long after it was announced that Thomson was working on a signature model with ESP Guitars, there were all kinds of rumours as to what form it would take. He had been seen playing the brand’s asymmetrical V, the Arrow, and its heft Eclipse single-cut during Slipknot’s performance at Knotfest in Japan.
But he has reverted to type with a minimalistic S-style. We would hesitate call this high-end shredder stripped down but with a single pickup, the Hipshot High Mass six-saddle hardtail bridge, the absence of binding and aesthetic fripperies allied to a military-industrial Obsidian Metallic finish, it doesn’t call attention to itself.
The MT-1 has a set-through build, with a mahogany body topped with white ash, and a three-piece maple neck. Thomson’s signature Fluence humbucker occupies the bridge position and is controlled by a single volume knob and a two-way voice selector switch. There is, however, an easter egg. Pull the volume knob up and you engage a third voice for the pickup, making this much more versatile than first meets the eye.
With Hipshot Grip Lock tuners, it’s built to play hard. Is it built to shred? That neck will be quick, but the specs on this are a little more classic, with a Gibson-esque 12” radius on a Richlite fingerboard, and medium-jumbo frets rather than the extra-jumbo you might expect. That the fretwire is stainless steel should give it that state-of-the-art slinky feel. It has a street price of £1,699/$1,599.
ESP LTD Alex Wade AW-XJ7
Alex Wade of Whitechapel’s is a true heavyweight. A baritone with a 27” scale, this seven-string guitar has a maple-topped solid ash body – intriguingly with an ash veneer to maintain that open-grain look – and it has a five-piece neck fashioned from maple, walnut and paduk and is equipped with an EverTune bridge.
Wade has gone for a 15.75” radius Macassar ebony fingerboard. No fret-markers here, thanks. There is a single DiMarzio D-Activator 7 doing the dark lord’s bidding at the neck position. A push-pull volume knob offers widens its tonal range. This weaponised offset is finished in Black Satin and will set you back £2,399/$2,199 street.
LTD Andy LaRocque ALR-II
LaRocque’s signature whip is more classic metal, which you would expect from a player whose day job involves playing with King Diamond. Finished in a regal See-Thru Purple, quilted maple like velvet under the stain, it has an MH body shape, an S-style hybrid of ESP’s Mirage and Horizon models.
LaRocque is a Seymour Duncan man. You’ll find a Custom Stack at the neck and a JB at the bridge – what a great combo – and these are controlled by a volume with a push/pull coil-splitter and a three-way toggle switch. There’s a Floyd Rose 1000 Series double-locking vibrato.
As for the fundamentals, this has a body of mahogany topped with quilted maple and a neck-through design. The neck is three-piece maple, is topped with ebony, with 24 extra jumbo stainless steel frets. It is priced £1,999/$1,799 street and ships in a moulded guitar case.
LTD Mike Schleibaum MSV-1
And now for a shape. It would not be an ESP/LTD drop without an Arrow V-style that could take your eye out if you’re not careful, and Mike Schleibaum of Darkest Hour’s MSV-1 is it.
This isn’t a million miles away from his previous signature models. It has a single EMG-JH James Hetfield humbucker at the bridge, a Floyd Rose 1000 Series vibrato, and with the Gloss Black finish, the gold hardware and the pearloid blocks on an ebony fingerboard it almost has a bit of a Gibson Les Paul Custom look about it.
Well, at least in terms of the colour, if not the shape. Speaking of shape, that reverse six-in-line headstock never gets old. It’s another neck-through body build, another maple-topped mahogany body, and 24 extra jumbo stainless steel frets to invite virtuosic playing styles. Basically, this is a shredder’s guitar. And it’ll cost you £1,999/$1,799 street.
Josh Middleton JM-1
Here’s another model that feels more like a refresh than a redesign from the ground up. The Sylosis/Architects shredder-in-chief’s new model is refinished in Deep Blood Moon, again, another see-through finish to show off all that quilted maple veneer. The big change this time around is that it is a single-pickup design. We lose the neck ‘bucker.
A Fishman Fluence Modern Ceramic humbucker does all the work here, and yes, it has a multi-voice push-pull feature. No messing with the hardware. This has a recessed string-through-body TOM-style bridge.
The neck is maple and bolted to a solid mahogany body. There is something endearingly simple about this S-style, especially with that reverse headstock.
Middleton’s JM-1 will set you back £1,799/$1,599 street.
LTD Richard ZK RZK-III
Richard Kruspe’s new Phoenix-bodied offset arrives in Olympic White, a finish that is contrasted nicely by that black pickguard. Sadly, we can’t tell you whether this satin lacquer is resistant to pyro but given his 9-to-5 with Rammstein that would be an occupational hazard.
It has a pair of his signature Fishman Fluence humbuckers, again, with push/pull features, and there is a killswitch for those staccato effects.
The body is solid alder and it has a neck-through build. The three-piece neck is maple, topped with rosewood, and has 22 extra-jumbo stainless steel frets. There are locking LTD branded tuners and a TonePros TOM-style bridge. It is priced £2,199/$1,999.
Will Adler WA-Warbird
Finally, we have a refresh of the Lamb of God guitarist’s Warbird in black with yellow graphics. It’s a little like a box-fresh version of the aged and weathered Warbird you will surely have seen Adler playing live.
The tonewood recipe is classic, timeless. There is a solid mahogany body, plenty of timber to hold onto, with a set-through three-piece maple neck topped with a Macassar ebony fingerboard.
Seemingly every high-profile metal artist right now has a signature set of Fishman Fluence electric guitar pickups and Adler is no different; you’ll find a pair of his multi-voiced pickups here, topped with gold covers to match the graphic. This thing is an invitation to chug. The TonePros TOM-style bridge and locking tuners should keep things steady while a wall of death opens up in the pit before you. This is priced £1,899/$1,799 street.
These signature models represent a neat cross-section of what ESP/LTD is all about right now but we’re only scratching the surface. Head over to ESP Guitars to peruse the full 2025 drop.
