Guitar World Upheaval: KHDK Guitars and Nuno Guitars
Kirk Hammett & Nuno Bettencourt announce their own guitar companies
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This week has seen the guitar world alight with news of two significant and audacious moves by well-known figures in the industry: the unexpected expansion of Kirk Hammett’s pedal brand, KHDK Electronics, into guitar manufacturing, and the official launch of Nuno Bettencourt’s own eponymous company, Nuno Guitars.
Kirk Hammett & Nuno Bettencourt
It’s certainly been an interesting week, with both Kirk Hammett and Nuno Bettencourt launching their own guitar brands to the world! Both announcements mark a bold step forward for the respective founders, promising fresh designs and a new direction for their established legacies.
As a guitarist, I often associate Kirk with ESP (and Gibson, to a lesser extent) and Nuno with Washburn, as both of these players have been loyal to these brands for decades. Seeing Kirk with his ESP/LTDs or Flying V (and Greeny) or Nuno with his Washburn N4 has been something I’ve been accustomed to for 30-plus years, so this week has been interesting.
Yes, we saw Nuno at the Black Sabbath show, wielding a ‘mystery guitar,’ and now we know for sure he has his own company. And Kirk’s KHDK has just revealed a new line of guitars at last weekend’s Guitar Summit in Germany.
KHDK Guitars: From Stompboxes to Six-Strings
After more than a decade of crafting highly-regarded stompboxes, KHDK Electronics, co-founded by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and collaborator David Karon, has made a surprising pivot into the electric guitar market. The brand, known for signature pedals for artists like Chino Moreno and Zacky Vengeance, debuted its new range of six-strings at the recent Guitar Summit 2025 in Mannheim, Germany.
While detailed specifications and pricing are currently scarce, the initial reveal has certainly sparked conversation. The guitars feature unconventional shapes, with KHDK notably embracing the less traditional, reportedly replying to one Instagram commenter, “We love ugly guitars.”
However, not all models are completely radical. The lineup appears to include shapes inspired by classics, such as a Les Paul-style model with P-90 pickups and a Bigsby, an Explorer-esque design, and an SG-inspired double cut. The images in the Instagram post are all a little blurred and in low light, so it’s hard to spot exact details.
Spoke Wheel
One intriguing detail spotted by enthusiasts online is the truss rod adjustment, which is a spoke wheel that appears to be uniquely embedded into the fretboard rather than simply cut around, offering a different take on an increasingly popular feature.
For a company rooted in effects pedals, this move is a significant departure, showing a clear ambition to translate KHDK’s distinct, often metal-focused, aesthetic and philosophy into a complete instrument. Considering Kirk’s connection to ESP and LTD, I found this news very interesting this week.
I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with, as KHDK pedals (The recent Digital Bath was a great example of this) have released some pretty amazing effects in the last few years, and so I’m expecting some interesting designs from this new venture into the world of guitars.
Kirk has an insane amount of guitars available with his name on, so this week’s news was pretty exciting to see what else he can come up with.
Nuno Guitars: The End of an Era and the Start of a New One
The long-running partnership between Nuno Bettencourt and Washburn has officially concluded with the launch of the Extreme guitarist’s own brand, Nuno Guitars. Rumours began to swirl after Bettencourt appeared at Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘Back to the Beginning’ show armed with a mysterious custom electric guitar, complete with a never-before-seen ‘Nuno’ logo on the headstock.
The speculation has now been confirmed, with Bettencourt debuting Nuno Guitars with two flagship models: the Dark Horse (the guitar seen at the Ozzy show) and the White Stallion.
Bye, Bye Washburn
The rumours that Nuno had left Washburn have been circulating online ever since he was spotted with that ‘mystery’ guitar at the Black Sabbath Back To The Beginning Show.
Crucially, the launch also includes the continuation of his legendary signature design, the N4, which will now be produced under the new Nuno Guitars banner. This move, as Bettencourt notes, marks a “departure from his longstanding relationship with Washburn” and grants him “complete creative control over design, innovation, and craftsmanship.”
The Dark Horse is a sleek, almost Strat-like shape with a distinct two-stripe design on a darker tonewood body, while the White Stallion is its visual opposite, featuring a natural body sandwiched between darker tonewood stripes.
Stephens Extended Cutaways
The N4 remains visually faithful to its classic super-Strat design, likely retaining the five-point cutaway neck joint. I’ve been on a few guitar forums this week discussing this one, and the consensus is that Stephen’s Extended Cutaway trademarks have probably now expired, and so Nuno Guitars doesn’t need to have that stated on the new models.
As Founder and CEO, Bettencourt emphasises a direct-to-player approach, aiming to build a community and ensuring fans can acquire “the exact guitars that I play on stage and in the studio.” Though pricing and full specs are pending, fans are directed to the Nuno Guitars website to sign up for updates and first access to orders.
Artist-Owned Guitar Brands
Both KHDK Guitars and Nuno Guitars represent a fascinating development in the market, with high-profile artists and brands stepping out to offer instruments built with a far more personal vision.
We have seen other guitarists do this in the past, I’m thinking of Abasi Concepts by Tosin Abasi.
Just pretty wild to have two major artists announce their own guitar brands in one week!
I also feel that, as many of us are so accustomed to seeing Nuno with his N4, Nuno Guitars is going to be something to keep an eye on. As he is so entwined with this model and I’m interested to see what else he comes up with.
Both Kirk and Nuno could get endorsement deals with any guitar brand on the planet, so it is a great week in guitar news when they both decide to launch their own guitar brands.
Let me know what you think of this week’s news about these two new guitar companies. We’ll keep you all up to date once we have more news of these two new brands.
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