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Over the years, Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora has been associated with plenty of brands, but this new model from ESP bears little resemblance to any guitar that's previously passed through the man's hands. The guitar is the brainchild of Sambora and his long-time guitar tech Chris Hofschneider, who's been with the guitarist for 22 years on and off.

"Richie and I started to collaborate when I was running the Kramer Custom Shop," explains Chris, "during which time we developed the Kramer Richie Sambora model. Later, after Kramer's demise, we did the Fender Sambora Signature Strat, with the heel access behind the bottom horn cutaway.

"During breaks from touring, I've always continued to build custom guitars. I'd been thinking of a guitar that would meet players' requirements. A guitar that had sleek looks, played comfortably in both standing or sitting positions and, of course, had the tone."

As result of this, the pair formed a company, Times Square Guitars, whose circular decal can be seen on the rear of the body, just behind the three-way toggle.

"The R&D was addressed and we took prototypes on tour," continues Chris. "Then Floyd Rose, JT Riboloff and Andy Papiccio came out to visit in Seattle. Now, as Floyd is an old friend of mine and Richie's, we made just a few prototypes with his new Speedloader trem. We held onto these guitars, as people will have seen on videos, on TV and on stage."

"We had the opportunity to get to grips with Sambora's number one original during Bon Jovi's last UK tour.The neck here is marginally flatter in feel."

JT Riboloff made his name in the Gibson Custom Shop and R&D division, and has built guitars for many of the world's best-known players, while Andy Papiccio is another long-time associate of Hofschneider's from the earliest Kramer days.

So why ESP? "We wanted a guitar of quality, with sleek looks and voice, at an affordable price for students as well as players. One that didn't hinder playability like the guitars most of us cut our first chops on," states Chris. "I'd had a friendship with ESP's Matt (Masciandaro) and Jose (Ferro) since I was young, so it made total sense. ESP have and always will have, a great reputation; it was natural."

So how much does the spec of the SA-2 differ from Richie's own versions of the guitar? "Richie still owns the prototypes – two black and white guitars, one of which is fitted with the Speedloader. [For the SA-2] we decided to go back to the original Floyd trem although, for the record, we were additionally planning to use single-coil pickups to go along with Speedloader.

"However, we never put the single-coils into production and ultimately decided that we only wanted the production SA-2 in black. And it stays that way, with ESP as the only source of distribution."