NAMM 2025: At long last, ESP has released its first Mick Thomson signature guitar, almost two years after the Slipknot electric guitar hero joined the company’s artist roster.
It was one of the biggest moves of 2023: after some not-so-cryptic social media posts made their way online, it was speculated that Thomson had defected to the ranks of ESP, seemingly leaving Jackson in the process.
A month after the theories spiraled, ESP set the record straight and officially announced Mick Thomson as one of its new signature artists. At the time, signature guitars were promised, but no timeframe was put on when we’d eventually see the pair’s first creation.
2024 came and went without so much as a whisper, but now 2025 is well underway, and we finally have it: the LTD MT-I. However, despite the lengthy wait, the final form of the flagship MT-I might surprise a few fans.
Sure, it retains the double-cut Strat-style shape that Thomson favored for some of his Jackson signatures – and, indeed, for some of the custom ESPs he has been playing on the road – but it in turn opts for a rather unexpected spec.
That is namely the pickup configuration. Whereas Thomson’s older Jacksons opted for an HH setup, the MT-I settles on just one bridge pickup – a Fishman Fluence Mick Thomson humbucker, to be precise.
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Extra tonal capacity is provided via to a two-way Voice toggle, however, while a push/pull volume pot for accessing a third Voice.
Still, it’s a significant departure from Thomson’s signatures of old. The guitarist has also had signatures with Ibanez and B.C. Rich, all of which have come packing two humbuckers.
It’s probably worth caveating that this could be the first in an entire series of Mick Thomson signatures, and so that familiar pickup configuration could crop up on later models further down the line.
After all, the process of putting together an ESP signature has been a lengthy one, with Thomson previously going on record to say it was “taking longer than expected” because there are “too many possibilities for monster guitars”.
“Admittedly, it’s been a great problem to have,” noted Thomson, whose signature guitar roster, when fully formed, will likely offer some more familiarly spec’d ESP and LTD guitars.
As for this first effort, though, ESP explains: “The LTD MT-I is a highly-specialized design built to Mick’s exact specifications for sound and playability.”
It also features 25.5″ scale length, mahogany body with white ash top, and three-piece maple neck, which is topped with a Macassar ebony fingerboard and 24 stainless steel frets – you’ll note the fretboard is cut away so only the top three strings have access to that very top fret.
Other core components include a Thin U neck contour, a 12″ radius and Gotoh locking tuners attached to the reverse headstock.
The Obsidian Metallic MT-I is available to preorder now for $1,599.
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