NAMM 09: ESP Guitars Booth

By far the coolest thing (in our humble opinion) in the whole ESP Guitars booth was the new limited edition James Hetfield Iron Cross model:


Only 40 of these are being made in full ESP trim, and The Music Zoo will definitely have one or two. It's inspired by the '73 Les Paul James used to play.


The Music Zoo also put in orders for the new Kirk Hammett "Ouija Board" guitars:




There were 3 limited edition LTDs on display, all of which we will be getting:






ESP also had a lot of nice custom paintjobs on Custom Shop guitars, but unfortunately they weren't being offered to dealers. The Music Zoo will be stocking a lot more Custom Shop ESPs this year, so let these whet your whistles while we come up with some of our own:

NAMM 09: Dean Booth

Dean Guitars were up to their usual hijinks: Dean Girls, celebrities, and more Dean Girls. Heavy Metal God Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) was on hand signing autographs:


Dean CEO Elliot Rubinson being interviewed by a highly trained team of future Pulitzer-prize winning journalists:


...which was lead by a woman you might recognize, VH1 Rock of Love's Lacey Conner:


And that wraps up Dean at NAMM '09! Oh, sorry, there was actually a guitar or two... here's the new limited edition Leslie West model:

What We're Watching: That Metal Show

VH1 has a new talk show that promises to deliver Heavy Metal gods and make them wither under punishing talk-format scrutiny. What it delivers is Yngwie Malmsteen being asked, "Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath" to which he replied, "Deep Purple." We like Yngwie even more now.