NAMM 2025: Richard Kruspe (AKA Richard ZK) has added to his stock of signature gear, with ESP/LTD unveiling its latest signature guitar for the Rammstein lead guitarist.
Following LP-style and E-II body shape signatures comes the LTD RZK-III – a refined take on ESP’s Phoenix solid-body design, with a little extra spice added for good measure.
Those who have seen the German metal giants live recently – and not been burned to a crisp – may recognize the guitar, as Richard ZK has been giving it some thorough road-testing.
The guitar’s genesis can be traced back to the music video for Freeze My Mind from Kruspe’s solo project, Emigrate. After being handed a Phoenix for the shoot, he “fell in love with the guitar”, finding great comfort in its shape.
Post-shoot, he pushed that design further with the inclusion of a square, three-a-side headstock, as opposed to the six-in-a-line design on stock models.
Draped in Olympic White, it has a three-piece satin-finished neck, which is part of a neck-through design augmented by alder wings to match the tonewoods on his other signatures.
Its fingerboard is made from rosewood and given 22 extra-jumbo stainless steel frets and glow-in-the-dark side dots.
And, after experimenting with Floyd Rose and string-through-body bridge designs, Kruspe landed on a classic stoptail-style setup. Blindfold testing of the three options was a necessity, with Kruspe saying: “If I knew which one was the Floyd Rose I would have chosen that, but when forced to choose only by sound, that was the winner.
“I was a little bit concerned because normally the stoptail bridge has a different way how your hand lays on the strings. It’s higher,” he continues. “So we recessed the bridge and stoptail into the body of the guitar to use the best sound with the comfort of the Floyd Rose to make the best guitar that ever happened in guitar history.”
Onto the electronics and there’s plenty to play with. His signature set of Fishman Fluence humbuckers sits at the guitar’s heart, with a massive push-pull volume knob – trust us, you won’t miss it – and a mini-toggle switch present to select different voicings.
However, the kill switch is the biggest toy on the guitar, and this time it’s been wired in “the German way”: it only kills the sound when it’s been pressed for a second time. It’s also been moved closer to the strings to a spot that better suits Kruspe’s live performances.
Owning one will set you back $1,999 and the guitar is available to pre-order now.
Head over to LTD for more – but be careful of the pyro.
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