“We love ugly guitars”: Kirk Hammett’s pedal brand has started making guitars

Pedal manufacturer KHDK Electronics has made a surprise expansion into the electric guitar market, and recently debuted its range of six-strings at Guitar Summit 2025.

The firm, co-founded by Metallica's Kirk Hammett, has spent over a decade making stompboxes. In recent years, there have been plenty of collaborations, with signature pedals for Deftones' Chino Moreno, Kreator’s Mille Petrozza, and Avenged Sevenfold's Zacky Vengeance, among others.

This decision to enter the electric guitar market marks a bold new step for KHDK, one that has seldom been seen before from a pedal maker.

The first batch of guitars unveiled at Guitar Summit gave fans an early glimpse of some of the brand's designs – and, while one commenter on its Instagram post bemoaned copyright laws forcing other manufacturers to make not-so-great-on-the-eye shapes, the firm was quick to respond with, “We love ugly guitars.”

That should tell you what you're getting here. It offers alternative takes on classic shapes with plenty of metal guitars included, but there looks to plenty of more traditional silhouettes, too. There's a Les Paul-like model with P-90 pickups and a Bigsby vibrato, a Z-style axe that takes cues from Gibson and ESP, and a slightly more angular imagining of an SG-inspired double-cut.

There isn't much information available on these guitars yet, but that hasn't stopped us from putting our strongest spectacles on. Intriguingly, on one of models the truss rod adjustment wheel looks to be cut into the fretboard.

Many firms put a spoke wheel for truss rod adjustments at the body-side of the neck, making it easier to access. However, conventional wisdom finds most brands cut around it – here, it feels a little more embedded into the fretboard.

There are plenty of nods to Gibson builds, too, including a TOM-style bridge and Stop Bar-style tailpiece, with block inlays and Bigsby tremolos also available.

Now the secret’s out, we expect more news to filter through in due course. It’s an exciting new chapter for the firm. Stay tuned for more and visit KHDK Electronics for updates.