Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
ESP Guitars goes slightly overboard with a £9K Signature Guitar for Japanese Virtual Holographic Pop Star Hatsune Miku
Key Points
ESP Stream‑Miku‑Custom electric: set‑neck light ash body (45mm), 3‑piece hard maple neck, rosewood fingerboard (305R, 25.5" scale), 24 Jescar frets, carbon nut (42mm), Gotoh SG360‑07 tuners, Gotoh Wilkinson VS100N bridge, Seymour Duncan SH‑2M (neck) and TB‑16 (bridge) pickups, volume/tone per pickup with coil split and 3‑way toggle. Weight 8.6 lbs. Limited run of 39; one unit at Andertons in Europe. As of 2026-07-13, the price was £8,999.
Japan will get a cheaper domestic electric; there’s also a signature acoustic with the same shape and distinctive soundhole.
Korg Miku Stomp (discontinued) tracks guitar pitch to Hatsune Miku samples, imperfect tracking, two LEDs (Effect, Peak); vocalisations: Random 2/1, Scat, Looh, Lahh, Ahh, Pahh, Nyan, Phrase 1–3. As of 2026-07-13, the price was £139.
Kotobukiya Bishoujo Remix Hatsune Miku by Shunya Yamashita (discontinued): 1/7 scale, ~9" / 23 cm, injection‑moulded and hand‑painted figurine.
A recent YouTube video from Andertons really tickled me, and I felt compelled to share some thoughts! I’m actually a fan of the Hatsune Miku ’persona’ without being a fan of that quirky high octane Japanese pop music.
Like many I’ve scanned through a number of YouTube videos over the last few years - where I’m entirely fascinated by the concept of Hatsune Miku and quite delighted that such a quirky entity should exist. I suppose Disney Musical Shows of their most popular Animated Characters are a similar phenomena - while none get quite as much adulation as does Ms Miku! There’s an expansive merchandising industry behind the Japanese Virtual Persona and I own both the Korg Miku Stomp Vocaloid Effects Pedal pictured here, as well as the Shunya Yamashita designed Kotobukiya Bishoujo Figurine.
Here follow some further details on each!
ESP Stream-Miku-Custom Hatsune Miku Signature Electric Guitar, Limited 39 Unit Run - £8,999
So surely £9K for a Virtual Persona's Signature Guitar is a somewhat ridiculous proposition despite how good the guitar actually looks. And indeed the guitar is a unique and really interesting sort of mix of a Gibson Firebird and Ibanez Iceman - with a very prettily shaped headstock to boot.
But we're talking PRS Private Stock levels of pricing - without those impossibly rare quilted woods, and not quite enough special details for me to really justify that price point. I actually really like the look and concept of the guitar - but its price is somewhat significantly inflated, and the run somewhat artificially limited to just 39 units.
Beyond the shape and colour here this is a fairly stock guitar in terms of the sum of its parts - with off-the-shelf Gotoh Hardware and Seymour Duncan Pickups. This is high on the artifice scale and I can only see it appealing to an incredibly wealthy Japanese fanboy who would likely just hang it on the wall as artwork / memorabilia!
Key Features / Specs
- Colour : Miku Blue
- Body : Light Ash (45mm thickness)
- Neck : Hard Maple 3-piece
- Fingerboard : Rosewoood, 305R Radius, 25.5" Scale
- Nut : Carbon (42mm)
- Frets : 24, Jescar
- Inlays : Geometric + Lumilay Side Dots
- Construction : Set-Neck
- Tuners : Gotoh SG360-07 MG-T Locking Machine Heads
- Bridge : Gotoh Wilkinson VS100N
- Neck Pickup : Seymour Duncan SH-2M
- Bridge Pickup : Seymour Duncan TB-16
- Controls : Volume + Tone per Pickup with Coil Split, 3-way Toggle Pickup Selector
- RRP : £8,999 / c$11,863
- Weight : 8.6lbs / 3.9kg
- Limited Run of 39
- Only 1 in Europe @ Andertons
Supposedly this is the only version of this guitar we will be seeing in the rest of the world - while there is already a similarly pretty Signature Acoustic Edition - with that same shape, and an interesting design for sound hole - as follows :
I also understand that Japan will be getting a more affordable version of the electric too which is only intended for that domestic market. It's a good looking guitar - and I feel there could be a universal audience for it at the right price point - while I can't see how the £9K version will appeal to anyone outside of this particular quirky Japanese culture.
Korg Miku Stomp Vocaloid Effect Pedal - discontinued - £139 / $159
I got one of these from Andertons back in 2017 - and while I use it fairly infrequently it's a lot of fun whenever I do deploy it - obviously a special use pedal! It essentially syncs your guitar playback / note tracking to specific Hatsune Miku sampled phrases - which are played back at the appropriate guitar pitch. The tracking isn't perfect - which is part of the pedal's charm as it delivers some really interesting quirks.
This was a very popular pedal in its day, and I'm somewhat surprised that Korg decided to discontinue it. Said pedal is currently displayed next to my Kotobukiya figurine.
It has 2 LEDs - one for Effect (on) and one for Peak, and then various options on sounds / phrases / vocalisations :
Vocalisations :
- Random 2
- Random 1
- Scat
- Looh
- Lahh
- Ahh
- Pahh
- Nyan
- Phrase 1
- Phrase 2
- Phrase 3
Kotobukiya Bishoujo Remix Series 1/7 Ratio Hatsune Miku by Shunya Yamashita - discontinued - $169
I've long been somewhat of a Japanophile - History, Culture, Food, Cinema, Manga, Anime, Kawaii, Pedals, Guitars and Figurines in particular. Where I've specifically collected Manga-inspired figurines by Touma and Kotobukiya.
The Kotobukiya Bishoujo Range / Series is all drawn up by Manga-influenced artist / illustrator Shunya Yamashita - who's 2D drawings are beautifully rendered into these fantastic 3D figurines. Those figurines are inspired by a variety of super heroes and character from popular culture and cinema - featuring cutesy female takes on even classically male characters.
I had kind of parked my Bishoujo collection due to a lack of available space. But when the Miku Remix edition came along I shifted things around and was able to fit in just one more!
These are beautifully sculpted figurines with intricate details and vivid colours - which I believe are hand-painted in the end over an injection moulded figurine / statuette in high quality hard plastic / resin.
The figurine is approximately 9" / 23 cm tall.
