ESP USA has unveiled a unique limited edition Eclipse to celebrate 100 years of F.W. Murnau’s silent horror classic Nosferatu.
It is not the first time that ESP has paid tribute to horror films on in its high-end electric guitars – Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has a series of classic monsters on his signature KH series – but the ESP USA Nosferatu takes things that little bit further with a design that is literally burned into the guitar's plain maple top.
Its top and headstock features pyrographic artwork from Dumitru “Dino” Muradian, a technique that uses precision burns to capture Graf Orlok (played by Max Schreck) in all his vampiric glory. The detail is incredible, and all done by hand. As such, the ESP USA Nosferatu is limited to 15 instruments worldwide.
The rest of the guitar is just as impressive, particularly if you are in the market for a high-performance single-cut. It has a 60mm-thick chambered mahogany body, topped with plain maple – Muradian’s canvas – a set-through mahogany neck, and a 12” radius ebony fingerboard.
The devil is in the detail; there are 22 extra-jumbo stainless steel Jescar frets, that neck is carved into ESP’s speedy Thin-U profile, a set of Sperzel Trim-Lok locking tuners and a TonePros T3BT locking TOM bridge and T1Z locking tailpiece. And saving the best for last, it comes with a set of Seymour Duncan Black Winter humbuckers which were wound in the custom shop by Maricela “MJ” Juarez.
Nosferatu might be a silent movie but the guitar will be anything but, with those passive electric guitar pickups are capable of landing a punch (DCR readings for the regular Black Winter models read 16.6k for the bridge models, 13k for the neck) and are voiced with black and death metal in mind.
Controlling these you have a three-way toggle selector, individual volume controls and a master tone. The ESP USA Nosferatu is finished in a natural satin finish and comes with a certificate of authenticity. It is priced £12,000.
See ESP Guitars for more details.
