in the market for a new axe

i never owned a guitar with floyd rose... are they a " real pain " as im hearing from a few guys???
No. Takes just a little getting used to. Find some instructional videos on the web or youtube on tuning it up. It's really simple after about the first 3-4 tunings. You start to get a feel for it.

i have no comments on the ESP/LTD series as I've never tried one.

as for the emgs, I think those will help you get the metallica tone. I'm rather unusual in that I don't like the EMG 81 in my bridge. It's too thin for my taste. On the other hand, I like the 81 in the neck, and 85 in the bridge. The pickup will sound pretty similar in most solid body guitars you put it in (imo) and will drive the amp harder for more gain.

Never owned or played one, but I think that all of the elements that are in that guitar, and certainly the Metallica sound has been in my family for a couple of decades. I watched and listened to the 8+ minute video of Kirk playing it solo, and thrashing it about. Gawd, it sure is a solid thing! He throws it, drags it, kicks it with his foot, grinds it on his butt, and really only needs to play with the left hand on the frets. Tapping looked too easy, and the harmonics were just fantastic.

So, you get a neck through construction, and a 3 piece maple body - it's got to be a sustain monster, but really I would agree with guys on Harmony Central, it sounds like just about any guitar with EMG 81's. I respect that a similar statement was made above, worded differently, and I agree. It is finely crafted, has killer looks, and must be really nice to play. That's all good, but I wouldn't touch a Floyd Rose any more, and neither will my son, who grew up in his early teens playing Metallica. They take a lot of fuss and bother, IMO. Yet the Metal players here are entitled to keep 'em.

So, when my son was 13-ish, our house was filled with the sounds of Metallica, we had that trunk-like boxed set, Live Sh** and all the McFarlane action figures. :lol: I wasn't overly impressed with Kirk's early ESP guitars, so I expected my son to work it all out on a variety of Strats, some on steroids, and it wasn't bad. He kept at it, became even more serious and got a Les Paul and a Flying V. That worked but not as well as EMG's. I think the image below is what Kirk had earlier.

"Kirk Hammett first visited EMG back in the early 80's when Metallica was a local group on the rise. The KH20 system joins the EMG-81 with a pair of EMG-S single-coil pickups. These pickups are all built around ceramic magnets for the tightest, most controlled sound. They're mated with a five-position switch and master volume and tone controls."

Now I entirely concur with what EMG says about their 81 (and the 85 too) and ain't scared to use 'em both. Here's how:

"One of the most popular EMG's the 81 is the one that started a revolution. Utilizing powerful ceramic magnets and close aperture coils, the tone was designed with detailed intensity, incredible amounts of high end cut and fluid sustain. Traditionally used in the bridge position, this pickup will make your leads slice right through even the densest mix. When used in both neck and bridge positions the sound can only be described as blistering. Other recommended pairings include the classic 81/85 setup and the versatile 81/60 combo." http://www.emginc.com/products/category/6/1

I think that he had discovered the potent combination of two 81's here already, and they are fierce, intense or blistering.

BTW, here are two De Temple custom guitars recently delivered to Kirk. They feature Tortoise Shell pickguards, Special Open Back Tuners, DeTemple SweetSpot Pickups, Custom Black Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish, titanium saddles and trem.

You can get used to the Floyd Rose, they aren't poison if you persist and learn the thing and it will keep your axe in tune.

You can stop reading there, if you want, that is all I will say about the KH 620, haven't had one, but it would be super. We use the 81's and I'll get to that, if you have a further interest in guitar-related stories and pics, and our experience. As in why I say the say the things I do, from a background with many guitars, and electronics bits 'n pieces. Trems too.

Here's my son's Flying V. It's a Gibson prototype with Patent #'s before they opted for Ceramics. It'll thrash and be sweet. If Slash can play with Alnico II's, and the EMG 85's use Alnico V's, I suggest that early Patent #s can put the power down.

At 15, he started studying Classic Rock from back in my day, and took a special interest in Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore, he got an SG and I gave him my Toronado with Atomic Humbuckers, but he wasn't able to nail the Deep Purple Sound. At the same time he was copying Vai on a Jem LNG 777 that I found for him but he wanted to build his own guitar with an '81. We knew that Ritchie had Strats and some Lace Sensors. But my son needed more noise, or Kirk's 81.

So, whadd'ya know, he goes with what his first GuitarGod, Kirk had asked for in the beginning, or close to it, and an '81.

He built it from parts, not an existing Strat. For him, it is the ideal guitar that addresses most styles, except for when he needs a Rickenbacker. :roll: It replaced his screaming Jem, and I think the '81 in a Strat is lethal. Floyd Rose had to go.
Again, you'll get used to the FR. We hated it. The guitar took him to where he needed to be and to that homemade Strat.

The Ric is irrelevant really. It's just a guitar that you can't mimic with EMG's which are like Hemi engines in a race car.

I have a collection of mean black guitars, here are some, and related to the sounds you want in your 602 without Floyd.
My Les Paul Std. with 85 R and 81T! I know - Zakk Wylde started it, but it is a Hot Rod I think, by anyone's standards.

And the last '98 Polara from Guild with a Seymour Duncan '59 and a JB, just a classic combo but it splits and goes series.
Y'all know the Strat that has Lace Sensors, like passive EMG's??? - but with 9V active 25db. mid-range boost. 1st Blackie.

Simple Strat with new pups and a JB Jr. to reach for some overdrive. Metal Mudflap Tele and my'Banez, very old with original Powersounds that rival Vai's Evolutions, and pass the Jem by playing through a Fender 250K/1 meg TBX boost.

Get that dyno-myte guitar, and enjoy. It sounds excellent and we can see that it plays like a dream. Kirk's Hot Rod! :lol:

Floyd roses get a bad rep for being hard to tune- but they do what they are supposed to do.

You have to learn how. But within a couple of weeks of having a FR equipped guitar, they're no harder than anything else to work with- just don't forget the allen wrench!

I've only ever had one guitar with a FR- and I love it. Stays in tune much better than any other guitar I've ever had- if you ever want to really WAIL on the whammy, you gotta have one of these. Slam it down till the strings hit the pickups, pull it back till the go higher and higher and higher...let it down fast, let it down slow. Do both in rapid succession- up down up, as far as you like....And (wawawawawaaaa) when I'm done, the guitar is IN TUNE. Unless, of course, I break the strings. Break one, they ALL need retuning, that goes without saying. (And for some reason, I DO break strings more often on this axe. Go figure.)

Try one. If you like the whammy bar, you're gonna love this.

Best,
Ande

PS- the other side of that story: If you don't feel the urge to absolutely WAIL on the whammy bar...then I wouldn't bother with a floydrose.

blue jay... thanks so much for the info... you've pointed on alot of areas i didn't consider.. definetly explaining thing in much detail... you and your son have some super sweet pieces... that les paul is killer.... yes.. i also remember the old school kirk stuff from back in early 80's.. actually i've been a metallica fan since 1984 ride the lightning.. though there have been some times i was pissed at lars for the whole napster thing etc... i'm over that and there new death magnetic is really good.. best they've put out in awhile..

also ande... thanks for your reply too... at this point i'm not totally sure i need a flyd rose or not.. i mostly play rhythm stuff.. but i do want to learn the solo stuff and of course the whammy stuff too.. i was considering the kh-202.. but i'm thinking that if i get the 602.. i will have more room to grow so to speak.... i understand the 602 has the 81 / 60 pickups... and also back to bluejay.. the 81 / 85 i'm hearing is a great combo for shreding....

to others who have posted... thanks so much for the info... keep 'em coming......

also on a side note i did find that my local guitar center has a 202 that i can go check out.. at least it should give me an idea of playability.... not nessarrily the sound.

thanks.. guys.... Rock on!!!!........

I've got an old ESP LTD M-252 that I purchased a few years back at our local GC. It's a H-S-H config with "Duncan Designed" passive humbuckers. It has served as a standard tuning guitar, open G, open with strings raised for an aborted attempt at decent slide and now a dropped 1/2 step guitar. It works wonderfully for the one and only Metallica song I know. ("For Whom The Bell Tolls") as well as a few others. I got it for $127 due to a broken power jack, missing trem bar (no biggie) and numerous dings, scratches, chips, etc.

A nice guitar. Great tone and very good playability, especially considering the abuse it's taken over the years. I don't know if it holds tune well or not when whammy bar is employed (I never got one for it), but I was pretty amazed at how it stayed in tune when I cranked up the bridge to raise the strings. IIRC, not one string was out of tune.

rparker.... right on... about the tuning... my uncle les has a kramer with floyd rose etc... and i always remember it staying in tune really well.... it goes back probibly 20 + years... he had a bunch of custom work done to it.. and it was an awesome guitar.. fast neck.. low action.. and i totally rememnber when checking the tuning and doing harmonics on 5 and 7.. and the little knobs for fine tuning.. it was really cool... im really psycked about the 602.. im getting a lot of positive feedback from here.. just hopeing someone on here has one and will write in....

just wanted to update you all... i did find a unbelevable deal on a kh-202... with the 81/85 pickup set installed in it. i must say it plays like a dream.. really flat neck for lots of speed.... and the 81 / 85 pickup combo is awesome... im still considering putting one of the 2 on the shelf and get a 60 also so i have the same setup as kirk.. as far as the floyd rose i know it's not as goos of quality of some of the better ones.. but.. im not on stage playing this thing like an animal neiter.. and im ok with the bolt on neck... so maybe when i grow out of this i can look at the 602... but for now it clearly is inspiring... one thing that i thought that was weird was the pickup configuration.. was 81 at the bridge.. and 85 for neck.. so i swapped them... also one other problem i noticed is the volume controls do not seem to be working proberly.. i looked at the wiring diagrams from emg and they appear to be right.. still researching this problem a bit.. but other then that totally stoked.... if anyone has an info on the volume pots i sure would appreciate it.. i did also contact emg via email and awainting a response.. i will post the outcome... thanks again for everyones input.....

later
chris

Congratulations! That's a cool guitar. I don't know what to say about the volume controls - not sure how they are or are NOT working properly. Maybe EMG will supply the answer - they're pretty quick - or you can play some posting-tag here, with Q & A's, as I don't know exactly what the problem is. Always start with a fresh battery. It runs down when the guitar is plugged in. 8)

quick update.. i took apart the wiring because it's a soldier less system and easily put back together.. and ran from the pickups to the volume and to the output.. bypassing tone and the switch and eack pot works perfectly.. so then i put it all back together including the switch and now it's working as it should.. really weird.. and yes i contacted emg because that whose electronics are in it.. and they got back to me very quickly.. they wanted pics of the wiring... and thats when i took the opertunity to do my own troubleshooting.. anyway working beutiful now.. thanks on the reply bluejay.. learning the floyd rose quite a bit too... it is a little difficult.. but i'm understanding it now.. from alot of things i read and from my short exprrance with it... basically tune 1 and 2 on the high side.. 3 and 4 just a little high and 5 and 6 right in tune and it's like magic.. the whole thing settles out and your real close... anyway it's been an awesome learning expirance.. and i'm sure i will have many years enjoyment from this 202...

thanks
chris