The ESP Guitar Company

As the frontman of the world’s most popular metal band and a rhythm guitarist whose influence goes far beyond any other player in the metal realm, James Hetfield has had a massive impact on the world of guitar performance. The Vulture is the most recent of his ESP and LTD Signature Series guitars. It offers a distinctive V-shaped mahogany body with hooks and bevels that are reminiscent of the famed Metallica logo. Handcrafted one at a time with extraordinary detail by the renowned expert luthiers at the ESP Custom Shop in Japan, the ESP Vulture is identical to the guitar James uses for recording and live shows with Metallica. Built with set-neck construction at 24.75” scale, the ESP Vulture features a one-piece mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard with 22 extra-jumbo frets, dot inlays, and a custom vulture inlay at the 12th fret. The ESP Vulture comes with a set of James’s signature EMG JH Het Set active pickups. Designed to capture the clarity and punch of a passive pickup and still retain the legendary active tone that molded a generation, the JH-N (neck) has individual ceramic poles and bobbins that feature a larger core and are taller than the EMG 60 for more attack, higher output, and fuller low end in the neck position. The JH-B (bridge) uses the same type of core but has steel pole pieces, unlike the EMG 81 that uses bar magnets. This produces the familiar tight attack with less inductance for a cleaner low end. Other pro features of the ESP Vulture include discrete volume knobs for each pickup, Gotoh locking tuners, and a locking TonePros bridge and tailpiece. Includes ESP deluxe hardshell case.