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ESP LTD James Hetfield Signature Snakebyte Left-handed - Black Satin

Solidbody Electric Guitar, Left-handed, with Mahogany Body and Neck, Ebony Fingerboard, and 2 Active Humbucking Pickups - Black Satin
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ESP LTD James Hetfield Signature Snakebyte Left-handed - Black Satin
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James Hetfield's Signature Guitar

Built for performance and loaded with aggressive features, the ESP LTD Snakebyte James Hetfield signature electric solidbody guitar doesn't just look impressive — it delivers the sound that made metal what it is today. The edgy design of the body confronts you with a look that is combative while maintaining great balance on your knee or strap. A set of Hetfield's signature EMG pickups balances the best of active and passive tones, and high-end hardware and tonewoods make the LTD Snakebyte a good option for the gigging rock or metal guitarist.

Sleek and balanced Snakebyte body

Aside from being instantly recognizable as one of the world's most iconic metal guitars, ESP LTD's Snakebyte body style makes it one of the most playable and well-balanced guitars you can get your hands on. The body shape ensures the guitar won't neck dive when it's on your knee or strapped over your shoulder. And you'll appreciate how your arm naturally rests on the body for optimal picking placement. There's a reason Snakebytes are a favorite among metal purists here at Sweetwater.

High-performance features

This LTD Snakebyte James Hetfield signature electric guitar boasts a lot of appointments that are normally reserved for guitars costing considerably more. The headstock is outfitted with six of ESP's LTD locking tuners to make string changes a breeze while keeping your tuning stable. A TonePros locking Tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece lock the hardware down to the body, giving you optimal string vibration transfer to your guitar's body. And the sleek ebony fretboard displays James's Snakebyte inlay on the 12th fret.

EMG JH Het Set active pickups

Metallica and EMG have both individually and collectively helped define the modern sound of heavy metal guitar. When James got together with EMG to design his signature set of pickups, they set out to create a pair of active humbuckers that offered the output and clarity of the 85 and 81 pair Hetfield had been using for decades, but with the nuance, punch, and dynamics of a great set of passive pickups. The JH pickup set uses oversized ceramic and steel pole pieces to give your LTD Snakebyte that exact combination for a powerful rock sound.

ESP LTD James Hetfield Signature Snakebyte Left-handed Features:

  • Signature guitar designed by and for James Hetfield of Metallica
  • Balanced mahogany body adds huge, warm tones
  • EMG active JH Het Set humbuckers
  • LTD locking tuners keep your tuning stable
  • TonePros locking TOM bridge ensures reliable intonation
  • Stark ebony fretboard with custom Snakebyte inlay

Why Buy Your Guitar from Sweetwater?

See how Sweetwater goes to great lengths to give you the very best online guitar buying experience. From our online Guitar Gallery that allows you to see and select the exact instrument you want to our 55-point Inspection process and our in-house guitar techs, we take the guesswork out of buying your next guitar online.

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Tech Specs

  • General
  • Number of Strings 6
  • Left-/Right-handed Left-handed
  • Body
  • Body Type Solidbody
  • Body Shape Snakebyte
  • Body Material Mahogany
  • Body Finish Polyurethane Satin
  • Color Black Satin
  • Neck
  • Neck Material 3-piece Mahogany
  • Neck Shape Thin U
  • Neck Joint Set Neck
  • Radius 13.7"
  • Fingerboard Material Ebony
  • Fingerboard Inlay Snakebyte with Dots
  • Number of Frets 22, XJ
  • Scale Length 24.75"
  • Nut Width 1.654"
  • Nut Material Molded Plastic
  • Hardware
  • Bridge/Tailpiece Tonepros locking TOM
  • Tuners LTD locking
  • Electronics
  • Neck Pickup EMG JH-N Active Humbucker
  • Bridge Pickup EMG JH-B Active Humbucker
  • Controls 2 x volume
  • Switching 3-way toggle pickup switch
  • Miscellaneous
  • Strings D'Addario XL110, .010-.046
  • Case/Gig Bag Hardshell case
  • Manufacturer Part Number: LSNAKEBYTEBLKSLH

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Customer Reviews

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Rated 4/5

Great Value For the Money

I got this guitar as a present for my son. I am very happy with the purchase, and imagine he will enjoy it for many years to come.

As a bit of background, I like to build guitars. Because of this, I cannot pick up a guitar without immediately inspecting every inch of it to assess the quality of workmanship. For the most part, the workmanship on this guitar is quite good. I think it is acres better than that of a similarly priced Gibson or Fender.

The good:

As I mentioned, the workmanship is very nice and the materials are mostly of higher quality than you'd expect at this price point. The fretboard is great, the frets are well done. The guitar is much lighter than you would expect given its shape. The neck has a very pleasing feel (a little thicker than many other metal guitars, which I like, but to each their own). The pickups are incredible (I'm very tempted to get some Hetfield EMGs for one of my own guitars now).

The bad:

The number one disappointment me was the workmanship on the electronics. I should point out that I ordered the left-handed model, which was part of the problem. The volume knobs were basically binary - all on or all off and no inbetween. I opened up the cavity, checked the pots with a multimeter, and discovered that they used right-handed pots for a left-handed guitar. Normally there is no such thing as left or right handed pots (you just switch which side you connect the signal wire to), but these were audio taper so the handedness makes a huge difference. My son actually likes the knobs on his guitar to be right handed (righty loud, lefty quiet) so it was no big deal and I would have switched them around anyway, but I'm mentioning it here because not everybody feels comfortable taking a soldering iron to their guitar. If you do like your knobs to be left-handed, you will also have to order LH audio taper pots.

The other thing that stuck out was the plastic nut. There is a lot of debate about how much difference a nut's material actually makes to the tone of a guitar, but to me a plastic nut looks really out of place on such a beautiful guitar. I replaced the nut with a Tusq one and my sensibilities are no longer offended. When I was ordering the guitar Sweetwater offered to replace the nut for a small fee. I would recommend that to anybody who does not know how to replace a nut themselves.

Though I did go into a lot of detail on the shortcomings, all in all I think it is a great guitar, and I would happily buy it again. As always, Sweetwater's customer service was second to none, and I was more than happy with everything they did.
Music background: Intermediate player and builder
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