The need for a lighter guitar
The Edwards Karmaster is a signature model designed for Yoshimitsu Taki, guitarist of "9mm Parabellum Bullet". In 2016 Yoshimitsu took a break from live music due to his health problems. During this time he collaborated with ESP, owner of Edwards guitars, to make a guitar with the focus being entirely on making it lightweight. This is how the Edwards Karmaster was born, weighing in at only 2.3-2.4kg.
Takanaka acquired one of these guitars in 2024 and used it for that years tour. It has since been used in every tour since then, including the 2026 world tour. In a 2025 interview with Young Guitar Magazine, Takanaka explained how he came to own it:
"I learned about the Karmaster in a magazine. What attracted me was its weight of only 2.4kg, so I immediately bought one online... I was worried because I was spending ¥250,000 on a guitar I'd never even touched, but it turned out to have a solid sound"
Takanaka's need for a lighter guitar is due to his age and stamina. During his tour in 2024 he reportedly said at some shows that he was unable to use his Yamaha SG's as much as he used to due to their weight. The Karmaster, with it's humbucker pickups, seemed intended to fill that gap. Personally I don't think this guitar suits Takanaka aesthetically, and many fans agree. After these comments during his 2024 tour a group of Japanese fans took it upon themselves to create the "Karuizawa Project". The goal of this project was to deliver two heavily customised lightweight Yamaha SG's to Takanaka to keep the iconic Yamaha SG in Takanaka's hands on stage, they succeeded. I will go deeper into these guitars in a future article.
Construction
The Karmaster is derived from ESP's XJ series of guitars. It features a custom alder body that is only 17mm thick, while the central section of the body has 2 pieces of 7.5mm thick alder laminated onto the main body which brings the thickness up to 32mm. By removing as much material as possible and only focusing on strength around crucial areas, a significant reduction in weight was achieved.
Due to how thin the body is, all the hardware on the body was moved to the central portion of the body. The guitar features Seymour Duncan SH-6 pickups Distortion pickups, a hardtail bridge, one master volume knob, a 3 way pickup selector, and an output jack. There is no tone control, and all the electronics are located behind the bridge.
