NAMM 2026: ESP Guitars has unleashed eight new signature guitar models into the world, promising something for everyone, as late greats and artist debutants are celebrated – while its mid-priced LTD Deluxe 1000 Series guitars are touted as “among our best in history.”
In 2025, the ESP portfolio was dominated by single pickup builds, a theme that Gojira’s Grammy-winning riff monster Joe Duplantier has continued into the new year, but there’s a tentative balance between honoring the past and looking to the future across its wider signature series this time around.
Top of the tree in that respect is the LTD Alexi Laiho Arrowhead and Sawtooth SE models, which mark 20 years since the late Children of Bodom virtuoso – a player still highly revered in the metal guitar scene – started his relationship with ESP.
Looking as sharp as ever, the pointed, subtly uneven V-shaped axe sports a black finish and a choice of white or yellow beveled speed stripes. Its three-piece maple neck-thru-body construction with a Thin U profile, Macassar ebony fingerboard, and scalloped frets from the 19th to the 24th position are in place for lightning-quick playability.
The 25.5” scale electric guitar also has a Floyd Rose trem – it would be criminal to have anything else – Grover tuners and, you guessed it, just one pickup in the form of an HZ F-H2 passive humbucker with Volume control.
Another gone but fondly remembered guitar hero, in Slayer’s Jeff Hanneman, is also remembered via the LTD JH-200 CTM. The Super Strat gets an alder body, a Floyd Rose Special trem with whammy bar, a pair of high-output ESP LH-301 ‘buckers, and red star inlays.
Conversely, Joe Duplantier isnt’t the only Signature Series debutant in 2026, with Slaughter to Prevail’s Jack Simmons also welcomed into the family.
The LTD JS-7 Baritone features a V-shaped body, neck-thru-body construction, 24 extra-jumbo stainless steel frets, a Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut, Hipshot 7 hardtail bridge, and Fishman Open Core Modern pickups. With a 27” scale, the elongated V looks deadly and is tailored for tunings lower than the Mariana Trench.
The series is rounded out by new models from old faithfuls. Slipknot’s Mick Thomson has opted for a streamlined, mahogany-bodied S-type with a Hipshot Hi-Mass hardtail bridge, blue Luminlay side markers, and his signature Fishman Fluence pickup for his LTD MT-I.
Deftones’ Stephen Carpenter has built on a bumper 2025 with the LTD SC-607 Baritone that marries mahogany, maple, and ebony tonewoods, his signature Fishman Fluence pickups in the bridge and middle positions, and TonePros Locking TOM trem.
Meanwhile, ’80s shredder supreme George Lynch gets a stripped-back version of his distinctive 1985 Kamikaze guitar, complete with a “hockey stick” reverse headstock headlines, basswood body, Floyd Rose Special, and ESP-branded HS pickup configuration.
Away from signatures, the LTD 1000 Series is defined by a mission statement of “versatile tones, smooth playability, and complete reliability,” and there's plenty of variety as twin-pickup builds regain dominance.
From the TH-1000 Evertune, which boasts a swamp ash T-style body, Seymour Duncan's new multi-voiced MortalCoil pickups, and an Evertune bridge, to the ARROW-1000, a shark fin-esque V with Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers and a built-for-speed profile, diversity is vast.
Other choice picks include the LTD Deluxe RS-1000, rocking its X-like Random Star silhouette with the classic EMG 81/85 pickup combo and a Floyd Rose 1000SE, the EC-1000, a Granite Sparkle-finished single cutaway LP with a classic mahogany/maple/ebony tonewood cocktail, and a Fishman pickup and hardtail-laced offset via the LTD Deluxe XJ-2HT Snow White.
ESP’s affordable Epiphone/Squier equivalent brand, LTD, is also celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026.
With models like the LTD Arrow-400, single cutaway LTD EC-400 QM with a quilted maple top, and the simple but effective T-style LTD TH-400, all of which arrive with EMG 81/85s and other tidy specs for sub-$1K prices, it continues to offer plenty of value for money.
See ESP for more.
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