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ESP Jeff Hanneman
ESP KH-2 Vintage
VS
Playability
80
Sound
81
Build
74
Value
63
Score
78
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Playability
80
Sound
79
Build
75
Value
63
Score
78
FIND IT ON:
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ESP Jeff Hanneman vs KH-2 Vintage

Reasons to Get
ESP Jeff Hanneman over KH-2 Vintage

Release Year
2010 vs 2001
From a more recent year
Bridge
Kahler vs Floyd Rose
Intense vibratos and can be locked to stop floating
Fretboard Radius
15.75'' (400.1mm) vs 12'' (304.8mm)
Flatter fretboard makes it easier to play single notes and bend

Reasons to Get
ESP KH-2 Vintage over Jeff Hanneman

Retainer Bar
Yes vs None
Assists you so tuning doesn't change when locking the nut
Volume Knobs
2 vs 1
More volume control
Bridge
Floyd Rose vs Kahler
Allows intense vibratos and techniques like Dive Bombs
Fretboard Radius
12'' (304.8mm) vs 15.75'' (400.1mm)
More curved fretboard helpful to play chords without muting strings

Other Key Differences
ESP Jeff Hanneman vs KH-2 Vintage

Neck Pickup
EMG 85 vs EMG 60A
Different Neck Pickup
Fretboard Wood
Ebony vs Rosewood
Different Fretboard Wood
Headstock
6 vs R6
Different Headstock

Shared Features
ESP Jeff Hanneman vs KH-2 Vintage

Bridge Pickup
EMG 81
Same Bridge Pickup
Body Wood
Alder
Same Body Wood
Neck Wood
Maple
Same Neck Wood
Nut Material
Locking
Same Nut Material
Strings
6
Same playing style
Body Type
Solid Body
Feedback free
Switch Positions
3
Same pickups versatility
Tone Knobs
1
Same tone control
Pickups
HH
High output without hum
Number of Frets
24
Same maximum octave
Neck Thickness at 1st Fret
0.748'' (19mm)
Same neck comfortability
Neck Thickness at 12th Fret
0.827'' (21mm)
Same neck comfortability
Nut Width
1.654'' (42mm)
Same string separation at the nut
Paint Finish
Poly
Resistant paint that ages well
Scale Length
25.5'' (647.7mm)
Same string tension and fret separation
Pickups Power
Active
More output
Neck Profile Type
U
Comfortable neck with more grip
Neck Joint
Neck-Through
Stronger neck and easier access to upper frets
Type of Frets
XL Jumbo
You won't feel the fretboard when pressing down the strings

Common Strengths

  • Neck-Through Build
  • High-Quality Nut
  • From a High-Quality-Standards Country
  • Top Pickup Brand
  • Expensive Wood

Common Weaknesses

  • Pickup Alter Switch/Knob
  • Weight Relief
  • Stays in Tune (Evertune)
  • High-Quality Frets
  • Compound Radius Fretboard
  • Luminescent Sidedots
  • Strap Lock
  • 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • Active/Passive Preamp

Table of Contents

Price History Comparison

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Which One is Better Overall?

After going through our comparison algorithm, the results show that both instruments scored 78 out of 100, which makes them similar in terms of quality.

The ESP KH-2 Vintage wins when it comes to build quality. On the other hand, the ESP Jeff Hanneman has the upper hand when it comes to sound.

If you got small hands, none of these instruments will make a big difference when it comes to comfortability.

Which One is Better for Beginners?

Both meet 4 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players. If you're looking for your first guitar to learn how to play, you can't go wrong with either of them.

New Player Friendliness

ESP Jeff Hanneman
  • Comfortable shape
  • Tall frets
  • Narrow nut
  • Comfortable neck
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Short scale
  • Locking tuners
  • Easy-to-use bridge

New Player Friendliness

ESP KH-2 Vintage
  • Comfortable shape
  • Tall frets
  • Narrow nut
  • Comfortable neck
  • Comfortable fretboard
  • Short scale
  • Locking tuners
  • Easy-to-use bridge

Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing an instrument, you should pick the one more compatible with your personal style. Still, below we'll try you to give you our results as objectively as it's possible to help you decide.

ESP Jeff Hanneman Overview

  • From ESP's 2010 Signature series
  • Jeff Hanneman Signature
  • Made in Japan
  • 6 strings
  • 25.5"'' scale
  • 15.75" Fretboard Radius
  • Alder body
  • 3pc Maple neck
  • Ebony fretboard
  • Bridge pickup: EMG 81 (Humbucker/Active)
  • Neck pickup: EMG 85 (Humbucker/Active)
  • 1 volume and 1 tone Dome knobs
  • 3-way Switch
  • Kahler 2315 bridge
  • Extra Thin U Neck-Through neck
  • 24 XL Jumbo frets
  • Gotoh tuners
  • Compare Specs >

ESP KH-2 Vintage Overview

  • From ESP's 2001 Signature series
  • Kirk Hammett Signature
  • Made in Japan
  • 6 strings
  • 25.5"'' scale
  • 12" Fretboard Radius
  • Alder body
  • 3pc Maple neck
  • Rosewood fretboard
  • Bridge pickup: EMG 81 (Humbucker/Active)
  • Neck pickup: EMG 60A (Humbucker/Active)
  • 2 volume and 1 tone Dome knobs
  • 3-way Switch
  • Floyd Rose Original bridge
  • Extra Thin U Neck-Through neck
  • 24 XL Jumbo frets
  • Gotoh tuners
  • Compare Specs >

Sound Quality Comparison

The wood used in an electric guitar or bass is not as important to determine the final tone. However, some people prefer specific wood types, so we'll take a look at those first. Then, we'll take a look at the electronics to determine the versatility and sound quality of each instrument.

Woods Used in Both

Maple wood pattern used for guitar building
Maple
Alder wood pattern used for guitar building
Alder

Maple is one of the most popular necks for good reasons. It is a strong wood that is relatively cheap to make and looks beautiful. The highest quality maple is the hardest that comes from North America. Find out more about Maple.

Alder is the most popular wood that Fender uses in most of their guitars nowadays. Even though they say it's because of its balanced tone with an emphasis in the upper midrange, it probably is because it isn't too expensive, and it's also pretty lightweight—more than Mahogany. Find out more about Alder.

Woods Used in the ESP Jeff Hanneman

Ebony wood pattern used for guitar building
Ebony

Ebony is a high-end wood, so it is not cheap. It's only used for fretboards because it's also very heavy. It does an excellent job as a durable material while looking elegant. Find out more about Ebony.

Woods Used in the ESP KH-2 Vintage

Rosewood wood pattern used for guitar building
Rosewood

Rosewood is an almost purple-looking wood that is used mainly for fretboards since it's heavy, rare, and expensive. It's sometimes used on acoustic guitar bodies to create stronger warm tones. Find out more about Rosewood.

Winner: Tie.

Pickup Configuration

Both pickup configurations are HH. Double Humbucker (HH) is the choice for people who want a fuller, more round sound with tons of mids and lows. Humbuckers also get rid of the hum noise that plague single-coil pickups. They can work out for almost any genre going from Djent to even Jazz.

Pickups Quality

Both come with very good pickups from at least one of the specialized brands in the market. With pickups like these, you probably won't need an upgrade anytime soon.

However, the ESP Jeff Hanneman has a slight sound quality advantage when taking into account other factors like the type of pickups, magnet, position, etc.

You can purchase similar pickups to the ESP Jeff Hanneman's and use them on any guitar:

We found the same or similar pickups to the ESP KH-2 Vintage's online:

Both use Active pickups. These pickups use an additional 9v battery to be able to increase their output for high gain tones. This is why they're popular among heavy metal guitarists. Their disadvantage is that you need batteries for the pickups, so you'll need to spend money on batteries and time swapping them. Also, the clean tones aren't as clean as other pickups because they'll have really hot output.

Winner: ESP Jeff Hanneman.

Versatility Comparison

Some instruments offer you more ways to explore your creativity than others. Below you'll find how both compare when it comes to versatility.

Switch Options

Both are equal when it comes to the pickup switching option.

Neither of them come with some kind of coil split or pickup mod option. This makes both lacking in terms of versatility.

They both share the following switching options:

ESP Jeff Hanneman and ESP KH-2 Vintage pickups switch and push knobs diagram
ESP Jeff Hanneman and ESP KH-2 Vintage's switch options

When evaluating versatility, we also take into consideration bridge and neck joint type, number of frets, switch options, amount of pickups and more.

Winner: ESP KH-2 Vintage.

Final Sound Quality Scores

ESP Jeff Hanneman
Pickups 95
Sustain 85
Versatility 59
Tuning Stability 85
Sound 81
ESP KH-2 Vintage
Pickups 85
Sustain 85
Versatility 61
Tuning Stability 85
Sound 79

Build Quality Comparison

When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the ESP Jeff Hanneman compares to the ESP KH-2 Vintage.

Country of Origin

The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. Both in this comparison where made in Japan.

Japan has a long history of high-quality guitar building. Little has changed in terms of their manufacturing and quality control over the years. Many guitars made in this country can be compared—and even beat—others made in the US.

Winner: Tie

Nut Material

If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.

In this case, both have Locking nuts. Instead of a regular nut, this guitar has a locking system that will lock down the strings at the nut, preventing it from getting out of tune. It removes one of the disadvantages of tremolo bridges, tune stability.

However, only the ESP KH-2 Vintage has a retainer bar for the locking nut, which is a helpful addition. Without it, the ESP Jeff Hanneman's strings will change pitch once you lock down the nut, so you'll have to make more micro-adjustments at the bridge to tune it correctly.

Winner: ESP KH-2 Vintage.

Fret Material

Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.

Unfortunately, none of them come with stainless steel frets.

Winner: Tie.

Bridge

The perfect bridge for you will depend on your playstyle because they all have advantages and disadvantages. However, some bridges are more expensive—like Floyd Roses and Evertunes—and thus add more value to a guitar.

The ESP Jeff Hanneman's brige is a Kahler. It's a floating tremolo very similar to Floyd Rose but less popular. The main difference is that you can lock it to the body, which essentially turns it into a fixed bridge. Some heavy metal players prefer this bridge over Floyd Rose because it won't move and get out of pitch when they palm mute.

On the other hand, the ESP KH-2 Vintage's is a Floyd Rose. This is a double-locking bridge system that allows you to perform techniques like dive bombs and pinch harmonics. The locking nut allows your guitar to stay in tune even after the most intense tremolo usage. The disadvantage is that it takes more work to change the strings and set up everything correctly.

Since we need to be objective, the most expensive type of bridge will be the winner of this section. In the end, this doesn't matter if you're not going to use the bridge for its original purpose, so choose the bridge that fits your playing style better.

Winner: Tie.

Tuners

Both come with regular tuners. Both come with Gotoh.

Winner: Tie.

Neck Joint

Contrary to popular belief, the difference in sustain and tone that some neck joints give to a guitar is simply unperceivable—if they're all well built. However, some of them do have advantages over the others.

Both have a Neck-Through neck joint. This neck is a lot more resistant and lets builders give the neck joint a more comfortable shape for soloing at the upper frets. The disadvantage is that they're more expensive and that if you damage your neck, you can't simply replace it like with bolt-on necks.

Winner: Tie.

Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:

Strengths & Weaknesses
ESP Jeff Hanneman
  • Made in Japan
  • Expensive Wood
  • Locking Nut
  • Top Brand Pickups
  • Neck-Through Build
  • Tremolo
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • No Locking Tuners
  • No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
  • No Weight Relief
  • No Luminescent Inlay
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Retainer Bar
  • No Strap Lock
Strengths & Weaknesses
ESP KH-2 Vintage
  • Made in Japan
  • Expensive Wood
  • Locking Nut
  • Top Brand Pickups
  • Neck-Through Build
  • Tremolo
  • Retainer Bar
  • Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
  • No Locking Tuners
  • No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
  • No Weight Relief
  • No Luminescent Inlay
  • No Compound Radius Fretboard
  • No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
  • No Strap Lock

Final Build Quality Scores

ESP Jeff Hanneman
Quality of materials 51
Features 70
Quality Control 100
Build Quality 74
ESP KH-2 Vintage
Quality of materials 51
Features 75
Quality Control 100
Build Quality 75

Playability Comparison

Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.

Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.

Nut Width

ESP Jeff Hanneman Nut Width
Both Guitars Have The Same Nut Width

The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, both have a nut width of 42mm (1.654'').

This is considered a narrow width for a 6-string guitar. This means that this guitar will have a narrower string separation at the nut, which will affect your fretting hand.

If you are a player with big hands, you might find it difficult to play chords without muting strings. However, this is good for players who have smaller hands, as it will allow them to reach each string more easily at the nut.

Scale Length

ESP Jeff Hanneman and ESP KH-2 Vintage's Scale Length
Both have the same scale length

The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.

In this case, both have a scale length of 25.5".

This is the scale used in most Stratocasters. It's slightly longer than the typical 24.75'' size found in Les Pauls, and it's one of the main reasons why Stratocasters have such a bright sound in general. A longer scale also means that the strings will have higher tension. This will help you get lower action without suffering fret buzz, which will also be helpful when playing in lower tunings without having to increase your string gauge.

However, this also means that there will be more separation between frets, which can make it more difficult to play. Also, bending the strings will require more strengths due to the increased tension, but remember that a tremolo guitar will offset this difficulty.

Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.

Neck Profile

ESP Jeff Hanneman Neck Profile
Both guitars have the same neck profile

No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.

Both the ESP Jeff Hanneman and the ESP KH-2 Vintage have a U-shaped neck. This is also referred to as ''baseball neck'' because of its shape. It's usually thick, which is why some people with big hands like it. However, they can also be thin, similar to a C shape, but with more shoulders for a better grip.

Fretboard Radius

ESP Jeff Hanneman Fingerboard Radius
ESP Jeff Hanneman's Fingerboard radius
ESP KH-2 Vintage Fingerboard Radius
ESP KH-2 Vintage's Fingerboard radius

Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.

In this case, the ESP KH-2 Vintage's fingerboard radius is smaller, which means it's more curved than the ESP Jeff Hanneman's. This extra arc will make playing chords easier in this model. You won't be as likely to mute the strings, especially if you have big hands. However, playing single notes and bending will be easier on the ESP Jeff Hanneman.

Still, both tend to favor soloing over chords, so if you're looking for a guitar for playing rhythm, you might want something else with a radius closer to a Stratocaster's 9.5''.

Hand Size Comfortability

Everyone has a different hand size, and that's why it's recommended to try a guitar before buying, even if others tell you that it's comfortable to play. However, we can know whether a guitar favors small or large hands just by knowing its exact measurements.

After taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that both in this comparison favor small hands .

ESP Jeff Hanneman:
Big Hands
Small Hands
ESP KH-2 Vintage:
Big Hands
Small Hands

Fret Size

ESP Jeff Hanneman and ESP KH-2 Vintage Frets Size
Both have a similar XL Jumbo fret size

Both have a XL Jumbo fret size. These are really tall frets made like this so you don't meet any resistance when playing techniques like vibrato, bending, tapping, etc. They should make the guitar easier to play, but you have to be careful not to get the notes out of pitch by pressing down too hard, which might happen since the fretboard will be too low to stop your hand.

Final Playability Scores

ESP Jeff Hanneman
Bending & Vibrato Ease 80
Chord Playability 70
Solo Playability 90
Playability 80
ESP KH-2 Vintage
Bending & Vibrato Ease 80
Chord Playability 70
Solo Playability 90
Playability 80

Specs Side-by-Side

ESP Jeff Hanneman vs KH-2 Vintage
General ESP Jeff Hanneman KH-2 Vintage
Brand: ESP ESP
Year: 2010 2001
Configuration: HH HH
Strings: 6 6
Made in: Japan Japan
Series: Signature Signature
Colors: Gray Patterns Black
Left-Handed Version: No No
Body
Type: Solid Body Solid Body
Body Material: Alder Alder
Bridge: Kahler 2315 Floyd Rose Original
Neck
Neck Joint: Neck-Through Neck-Through
Tuners: Gotoh Gotoh
Fretboard: Ebony Rosewood
Neck Material: 3pc Maple 3pc Maple
Decoration: Daggers Skull
Scale Size: 25.5" 25.5"
Shape: Extra Thin U Extra Thin U
Thickness: 1st Fret: 0.748'' (19mm) - 12th Fret: 0.827'' (21mm) 1st Fret: 0.748'' (19mm) - 12th Fret: 0.827'' (21mm)
Frets: 24 XL Jumbo Nickel Silver 24 XL Jumbo Nickel Silver
Fretboard Radius: 15.75" 12"
Nut: Locking Locking
Nut Width: 42mm (1.654'') 42mm (1.654'')
Electronics
Bridge Pickup: EMG 81 (Humbucker / Active) EMG 81 (Humbucker / Active)
Middle Pickup:
Neck Pickup: EMG 85 (Humbucker / Active) EMG 60A (Humbucker / Active)
Switch: 3 Way 3 Way
Knobs: Dome Dome
Pickup Mods: None None
Volume Controls: 1 2
Tone Controls: 1 1