ESP Samurai Kyomoto Special is the ugliest guitar ever made

On Sunday, Music Thing will be four years old, and I've never seen a guitar quite so eye-bendingly ugly as the ESP Samurai Kyomoto Special, built for Masaki Kyomoto, actor/musician star of Cutey Honey and Ai to Yujo no Boogie-woogie ("an entertaining drama that carries a message of hope in the boogie-woogie rhythm to all housewives around the country"). There's a nice shot of Masaki at work here.
PS. If you're wondering what the veiny, blue erect bit is, it's a fully working samurai sword. Good luck getting that through airport security. Anyway, many more gruesome ESP specials at Monmon's Gadgets. (Thanks, Raimon)

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

That guitar is one of the most amazingly ugliest things I've ever seen. It's so bad, I almost like it. Any idea where I can see it in real life?

# posted by

Keith : 6:05 am

That is one ugly guitar.

If that guitar ever went to the Prom Night at Guitarsville High School, Tennessee, it would be the one guitar no-one would ask for a dance.

# posted by

x.- : 1:39 pm

It looks like an accessory for an action figure.

# posted by

Kevin : 5:05 pm

Oh, man... I wandered into a chain of links through that ESP site, and I ended up in the Alfee band guitar gallery/outlet/retail store thing... I don't know what to say. Sometimes I think everybody on Earth is basically the same, then I run across something like that. Everybody is not the same, man. So weird.

Do some of these Japanese pop guys have a one-off custom built for one show, and then sell it on their website? That's what it seems like.

Anyway, Alfee, as I believe you've pointed out on this blog before, has been trying to corner the market on tacky custom axes for a long time. They're like evil, out of control, androgynous, Japanese Rick Nielsens channeling c1984 ZZ Top. And I don't mean that in the good way.

# posted by

Anonymous : 3:01 am

What does he do with the sword when he is playing...this is such an ugly guitar its almost an art form in itself

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:47 am

Wow. Custom made for smashing up your TV.

# posted by

Anonymous : 10:24 am