ESP LTD KH-602

Extra thin U neck with 24 XJ frets, Neck-thru. 25,5 scale". Double cutaway alder ESP M-series body with original Floyd Rose Bridge. Reverse headstock with ESP-LTD tuners. Two EMG 81 (active) pickups controlled by two volume knobs/one tone knob and three-way slotted switch. Neck is maple and the fingerboard is made out of rosewood. Made in Korea but I dont know when. This guitar is the closest LTD version to the real thing which is ESP KH-2.(LTD KH-202is for kids!) I really like this guitar so I will give it ten points.

It suits my music style perfectly. I play in a band that plays Metallica's songs. At home I have a small 15 watt Marshall amp but when I play with my band I use a big 100W(i think:D) Marshall amp. It has a bright sound, not muddy at all and clean sound awsome too.
And i just love that neck pickup!

It had minor scratches near the Floyd and neck pickup and I had to adjust the bridge and pickups but it was easy. By the way it was in tune when I got it!

The guitar will withstand live playing but once i broke one string and it was right out of tune.
Thank God i had a backup guitar!
This guitar weights a lot so you have to change the strap buttons because if it drops you will waste it but if you take a good care of the guitar it will last for ages!

I have been playing for three years now. I have two LTD guitars. The second guitar is LTD M-50. Its a low end guitar but man.. you just need to have more than one guitar!!
If it would be stolen and if I could find the guys who stole it I would kill them, wake them up and kill 'em again or just buy another one just like it!
When i bought it I compared it with Jackson DXMG with EMG HZ pickups, some kind of Ibanez and Yamaha with Seymour Duncan pickups. KH-602 owned 'em all its just a perfect metal guitar!!! But i wish it had decent strap buttons and ebony fretboard but rosewood is okay too.

Has a extra thin U neck. All fret access with 24 extra jumbo frets. 22 frets suck and extra jumbo is as good as it gets. The only problem was the 81 in the neck.

I had a EMG 60A installed in the neck and a EMG Afterburner installed where the tone knob was and after that this is the best guitar ever, period. I have no idea why Kirk Hammett never did the same. His clean sounds are so bad its funny and the bridge humbucker makes everything during solos sound better.

I run it through a Line 6 Spider Valve 112 Guitar Combo Amp [2 6L6, 2 12AX7 with modeling] and a Line 6 PODXT. This is the perfect guitar for Metallica, Stratovarius, and Blind Guardian. I also play Avantasia from their Metal Opera CDs, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Therion, Nightwish and more on it.

Perfect

This has everything you need and want once you modify it.

Maple Neck-Thru Alder Body. Strat-style double cutaway shape body. Reverse angled headstock with gotoh type tuners. 24 frets with Skull 'n Crossbones inlays, 25.5" Scale Length. 2x EMG 81 Active Pickups with 2 vol and 1 tone control. Original Floyd Rose locking tremolo. Black Finish, Black Hardware. \m/ . Made in Korea. As far as the specs go these are all great parts and so in that respect it should get a 10. It probably has too many knobs for my playing style - just a single volume knob suits me, but there are also many more features a guitar could have so in the interests of fussiness ill give it an 8 for features.

This guitar sounds like any guitar with EMG 81's. Its like going from tape to cd, or anything analog vs digital. You know its better, but is it? :) The pickups (and player!) are the vital elements of the sound of this guitar. Yes its got quality woods and hardware, but they are more just part of the shell. Nowhere I can see does it ask how the guitar actually plays...??? Ill answer anyway... It plays like butter. I wasn't convinced with the painted necks but its as smooth as just about any and the neck has a nice medium-thin profile that works equally well for rhythm and lead and has helped me rekindle my fondness for shredding away and pullin out the ol' whammy bar tricks. Plugged in I knew how it would sound and it did. It made my amp sound like it was going to burst into flames. Great for crushingly tight and heavy metal. I tune this guitar to B and it handles that range well. Its also great for that shimmery clean chorus sound. Medium gain or bluesy type tones sound unnatural and are better left to the passive pickup in my opinion. To Summarize Id say its a bright sounding guitar, great for the metal and/or lead player.

To the average joe this guitar would've been fine straight out of the box. The action was pretty low and it was very playable and almost in perfect tune. Floyd was well setup too. After the initial excitement of plugging in and playing some riffs I screwed in the whammy and did a big divebomb (what, didnt you?) and it felt like the neck snapped. I shit myself and thought about what had just happened to my guitar. After a while I figured out that the retainer screw for the nut wasn't tightened on the treble side and so it was simply a matter of tightening it, however on a guitar of this price I find that to be a remarkable oversight on the manufacturer's behalf. As for the woods the only visible one is the rosewood fretboard. The color is not uniform and appears to be of a lower specimen as I suspect the rest (neck and body)are when compared to the best, or at least most attractive, tone woods. The frets are well profiled, but the edges are sharp like all mass produced guitars I've seen. 1 tuner is looser than the others but they work fine. The finish is good and wears well but at certain angles it's possible to see grain and glue lines. Thats everything bad I can think of. I work for a huge importer and I fix up to 100 guitars a week, and believe me there are guitars being made with many more and much greater problems than these. You're damn lucky if I've had to fix your guitar somewhere along the line-it'll be fine! Anyway, after a setup this thing is great, the action is low as humanly possible while still allowing big bends. No more neck creaks and the thing will not go out of tune even when in my most heated dimebag-inspired moments. Incidently I can pull up 7 frets on the open g string with the whammy bar before it chokes which is fine by me. \m/

Hmmm, actual it will and wont withstand live playing...
It's been 100% fine for me but I lent it to a friend and it went all spastic 10 minutes before he went onstage at a gig...weird. I sorta think it was him, but still it shouldnt have done anything bad. Murphy's Law??? This guitar is as durable as any of its ilk. Its quite heavy and I have no doubt dropping or throwing it at a marshall stack will cause it some damage but the idea is to not do that. I have replaced the strap pins with Schaller locking type to avoid this happening. Schaller also make the Floyd Rose bridge and lock nut and these will ouplay and outlast any of the copies. The EMG's are pretty bulletproof and all switches and pots are noise free and seem durable enough.

Well, If this guitar ever breaks it's gonna get sent to me to fix it... and I'm an asshole, Ill make me wait months for the right parts to come in hehe

Been playing just shy of 20 years, I own lots of other gear. My rig consists of Morley and Digitech pedals, ESP, Jackson and Ibanez guitars, Hughes & Kettner Switchblade amps. I was sceptical about buying a Korean made guitar, when I grew up they were the worst pieces of shit you could hope to never own. This guitar has changed my mind, the koreans have caught up to where the japanese were 10 years ago and this is a fine playing and sounding guitar that'll hold up to all but the most demented of shred dudes. It plays nearly as good as my prestige and better than my customshop Jackson but tone and versatility wise its the jackson first by a mile, Ibanez 2nd and LTD last, though its best for straight out death metal - purely because of the EMG's. Just quietly I think guitars are overpriced these days though, I paid nearly as much for this guitar as my Ibanez.

2002, korea.
It's great, I like the blcak coat, seems to the piano,also the death's-head inlaid finger board, every thing look great~

It's metal guitar, but you also can play the bule & funk, and pop music by it. my speaker is cheap (fender 15R),BUT it's good enough for me.

Great,such as the finger board is very smooth, I can play 220 speed solo without any resistance.

I like the neck thru constructure, It make the guitar combine to the all and the one, also make it stronger, you know , I don't have the plan to break my guitar, and change it's neck,hey man, you have a guitar, you should take care, it's a musical instrument, not baseball.
Also the FR orginal is much greater than the licensed.

No comments.

I like it, it show my music, will live with it forever. death-son-KH-602

Black Finish,
Its a M series shape esp body
Original floyd rose
I think they are gotoh tuners,
24 jumbo frets with skull and bones, rosewood fretboard
2 Volume and 1 tone 3 way selector switch
H H EMG'S
EMG 81'S ACTIVE PICKUPS
ALDER BODY
see espguitars.com for details

Well this is a metal guitar, hence why its kirks
i am using a line 6 spider 2 amp clean settings
and i am using my line 6 pod xt pro rack for all the delays and distortions etc...
The pickups are awesome, these could drive any amp, and they sound the dogs bollocks...
They are good on clean and with overdrive...
They are full humbuckers, no split coils!!
i like them for the sound , but would have liked a split coil for stratty sounds as well for a bit of variation

It was bought second hand and was like new, the guy that owned it still had the original strings on it, and there was not a single mark on it....
It was set up perfectly from the shop, i havent had to adjust anything on it, it is perfect...
no flaws what so ever, perfect
the action is low and no fret buzz, and it has a thru neck and is smooth..

hell yeah, it would out live us all in a nuke attack///
yeah it is genuine floyd rose and it looks like it has had a lot of attention done to it , to make it like the original esp's....
i can depend on it, i ave used it in my home studio for recording and this guitar is the best of the best... floyds are okay for gigging with as long as a string doesnt brake, so i might take a back up....

19 years playing
1 own 20+ guitars all varied
i knew what i was buying , and i had to get it...
if i could get the same guitar then yes i would buy it again if it were stolen...
i love everything about it, no split coils, i think the neck is great to play on and the pickups are awesome...
i didnt compare as at the time i owned 30+ guitars...
if you can get one at a good price then go for it, as you wont be dissapointed, forget the dear models these are good for there price....

Take a look here:

http://www.espguitars.com/guitars_kirk.html

(Excuse my english it's awfull)
EMGs 81 are simply amazing!!! Absolutely noiseless and cristalyne tone, he lack the heat of the passive pikcups but who cares?
81 on bridge is simply a beast, it's a riff machine. Sound with distortion reminds me a razor edge because of it's sharpness and a chainsaw, just excellent. On clean tone you can go to heaven and back, just amazing, very rich and crystal like tone perfect for metallica like clean sounds.
81 on neck is as amazing as on bridge. Before buying the guitar I though it will be not good but not bad, but after rising the pickups on the guitar (active pickups must be as near as the strings as possible) I just loved the sound. It sounds quite warmy and bassy but no as 85 or 60 do, more moderated tone ideal for playing from Santana to G'n'R stuff. With this pickup you can get nice soloing tone, with a very glued sound just like Creeping Death solos.
Using both pickups can made the tone a little bit brighter than using only the neck pickup, just to give an example, using both pickups made the guitar sounds like Welcome Home sanatarium intro, bassy but sharp, I like it a lot too.
I love this pickup config but I will give it an 8 because of the heat the lack, but actually I prefer active clean sound a lot more than hot and warmy passive sound. For my style and my opinion this pickup config is IDEAL (10!!)

(Excuse my english it's awfull)
The guitar was flawless, from the head to the bottom. The inlays are simply perfect, with no faults at all. The neck joint is amazing, it gives the guitar a quite nice looking and feeling while playing and of course a thoughter and sustainless sound. The body is HEAVY, when you first pick the guitar up you now that the axe you have in your hands is real, not a toy... really it makes all my axes look like child guitars!! Reverse head is also quite nice. The best things are the fretboard and the bridge, the fretboard is made of rosewood but it looks like abalon, quite dark, flat and plain tone, there are not brighter parts like in others guitars, and it's like butter, very nice to put your fingers on... The original floyd rose bridge is just fantastic, previously I had some doubts about the tuning, but after wasting an afternoon divebombing like a beast I found that the bridge had exactly the same tuning that in the begining, just amazing.
Man... it is shouting GIVE A TEN!

(Excuse my english it's awfull)
This guitar will withstand a nuclear blast, it's as heavy as a tank, perfect wood, perfect hardware and it looks like it's quite difficult to relic it soon. The straps buttons are not as safe as straplocks, and the floyd rose bridge can cause some problems if you break a string, but with patiente you'll be able to retune and change strings quite fast, obviusly not as fast as in a standard bridge, but not like a tortoise.
Pickups were a little bit low, and so on, the sound was a little bit chunky too, after rising them the sound goes from 7 to 10.
Only morons gig without backup ;)

(Excuse my english it's awfull)
This guitar is a LTD, and it's supposed to be not as good as an ESP is but really, this axe is REAL not a toy as I said before. You can compare it to some ESPs and it will make it quite good. The finish is as good as an ESP, flawless and with a HIGH quality control, best woods and best hardware, it worths it's price. Sound is superior and the feeling you have playing with this beast is amazing, I simply LOVE this guitar.
If you wanna hear the guitar in action or just some more info or a spanish review, contact me at msn messenger mail.

i bought this guitar because i wanted a metal guitar. for specs see other reviews build november 2005

with the richt amp and effects you can play everything;super sound from the EMG 81,even in the neck possition

guitar was perfect from the guitarshop,was it the guitarshop or the factory i dont now anyway it was pefect

if you take care with your guitars and dont drop them.respect fellow guitar players take care of your instrument.they will last for ages

i ask them with email for the year it was made.the answer was there in 8 hours.super fast thinking i live in belgium

super guitar if stolen i buy a new one.first i brake the thief his hands.sorry for my englich i live in belgium.

I won't go over the facts again so read the previous reviews.
Although I must say I really like the neck-thru-body construction, never mind what some of the previous reviewiers say. If the guitar breaks down, so what, you buy new one. It is much more important that you got the right feeling when you are soloing. You can not ever feel the same with bolt-on neck, that's just my opinion.

The sound is amazing! Bridge EMG is fantastic and you really can get with it the right Metallica sound. Many reviewers have dissed the neck pick-up, but I must say I really like it, especially with the clean channel, it is so smooth. Also the sustain is good, it will sustain forever. Best sustain compared to any guitar I have played and I have played for 12 years and tried numerous guitars. Sustain (and sound) is much better than the Tokai LS-80 I have and that Tokai is not that bad guitar at all...

My guitar came with perfect action, I would not change a thing. Finishing is also good. Only little problem was with the Floyd Rose when E-string used to go out of tune pritty quickly, but the problem got solved when that "new set of string-issue" went by.

I think the guitar will withstand live playing just fine, I really can't comment that just yet because I have had it so little time.

You should never use any guitar on a gig withou a backup because you nver know what might happan (strings etc) so that goes also whit the KH-602.

Don't know and I hope I`ll never have to find out!

I tink this guitar is a good buy. If you buy it you wont waiste your money. Of course there are better guitars around, but when you think what you get on that price there no better deal, especially if you like Metallica-sound, like I do.

It is made by the ESP Korean based franchising in a more affordable line of LTD modules. It has 24 frets, 2 EMG 81 ACTIVE pickups, a maple body with 3 piece maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and a double cutaway body design with a gleaming black finish. It has an Original Floyd Rose and 2 volume control and a tone control. It has a 3-way blade switch and a solid top.

The guitar suits my style perfectly as I play metal and pure metal, such as Black Sabbath, Deftones, Slayer, Soulfly, Rammstein, Anthrax, Metal Church and Megadeth.

The bridge pickup really shines, especially in distortion. It has so much of life and i am really amazed!!The clean sound is also great and its perfect.

The neck pickup is much rougher than the bridge and so, i dont really use it. It would be great for shredding but i am not in that level yet!

My opinion is this guitar is not very versatile, so its not really a good buy for players playing many type of music. But for those playing pure doom metal, thrash metal, speed metal, nu metal and other metal and underground stuff, this is a must buy!!Its the best in the business! So i have given my view, and i play pure METAL and UNDERGROUND.....i WOULD HAVE LOVE TO GIVE AN 11!!!!

When i got this guitar, i couldnt even find a filthy flaw! ESP quality control is at top notch.

It shines really well and i love this shit. I just feel the Floyd Rose worths much less for the hassel but thats life right? The strap buttons rocks and i would have loved to play it without a backup, but the Floyd Rose just kills my dreams!!!

I have a a Jackson Flying V for metal and a Les Paul and PRS CE 24 for my other affiliations, and this shines for its price, although its my second choice for metal, its still a good buy. I just feel ESP should start adding versatility to their products if they really wanna have PRS and Gibson a run for their money. I mean its no problem to me as i play metal, but what about those who plays everything from country to blues to rock to metal? Thats what i meant. But this guitar is worth it even if its double the price!!!!!!

It looks kinda good but i really dislike the skull@bones thingy coz its kinda gay. i prefer the spider on the KH-3, but oh well!!!!

OK, the LTD 602 DOES come with an EMG Pro Series, but i would like to make a powerful statement here; The Emg Pro Series doesnt change the sound of a regular 81/81....get it!!!The pro Series is just to slightly improve the coordination of the pickups and the configuration of the magnet...but the neck pickup still sucks. An 81 in the neck means trouble. i cant play anything using the neck pickup. for instance, if i wanna play jazz, i will use the bridge, if i wanna play metal, i will use the bridge, if i play blues, i will use bridge, if i play country, i will use bridge. the neck is useless. Its like buying a guitar with only a 81 in the bridge, but it rocks. thank god i play metal only and dun care about my neck pickup. i dont like changing pickups because it can harm the guitar configuration.

Came with no flaws and action was perfect.

Its a neck-thru, it can break, so never 7 and above. it should have been set neck.