This Diablo 4 guitar is probably the coolest piece of game merch I’ve seen in a while; just looking at it gives me pangs of agony knowing that I won’t own one myself. To celebrate the launch of its landmark RPG game, Blizzard has teamed up with Jackson guitars to craft a stunning, custom-made, special edition Diablo 4 Kelly that calls to me, knowing full well I can’t answer. Presumably Andariel, the maiden of anguish, is lurking somewhere, laughing at my torment.
Designed by Jackson’s principal master builder Pasquale Campolattano, this limited-edition Jackson Kelly features the famous shape you know and love in a rich, obsidian-stained mahogany strewn with lashings of the freshest bright red blood. It’s adorned with hand-painted artwork of Lilith by artist Dan Lawrence, and features custom rune designs inlaid on its fingerboard.
It’s “a guitar that we were trying to create to represent Diablo,” associate game director Joe Piepiora says of the axe, “thick, heavy, something explicitly designed to crush enemies, and that would look cool when covered with gore.” It certainly wouldn’t look out of place in the hands of the various Diablo 4 classes, that’s for sure.
Along with its mahogany body, the custom Diablo 4 Kelly features a quartersawn maple neck, an ebony fingerboard, and stainless steel frets. It’s rocking a hand-shaped custom heel contour, a recessed Floyd Rose original tremolo with FU Tone titanium upgrades, and dual active EMG Humbucker pickups, and it comes with its own custom case to complete the look.
“How metal is it to collaborate with Diablo and just make something demonic? It just seemed like a match made in hell,” Camplattano says of the project. I couldn’t agree more. With just ten of these models available worldwide, they’re in extremely limited stock – the rest of us will have to just watch on in awe, and hope someone who does pick one up shares its sound with the world in style.
“It’s a real touring-quality guitar that I’d give to any of our artists,” Camplattano says, “my hope is that it goes to a real player who goes and plays a show with it; plays the music from the game with it; goes and records with it. The biggest honor you could ever do for me is to bring the guitar back in a year and it’s totally beat up – it’s because you played it non-stop, you brought it all over the world.”
While we might not be able to get our hands on one of our own, maybe Blizzard will see fit to release one as part of an upcoming Diablo 4 battle pass so we can equip one in-game. It’d be a great transmog for some of the best Diablo 4 unique items, or perhaps we could just throw one on our back as we ride around Sanctuary – maybe even with an emote to play it as we teleport back home, Lost Ark style?
The Jackson custom shop Diablo 4 special edition Kelly can be found on the Jackson website – you’ll have to contact them directly if you’re interested, though we’d imagine they’ll move fast.
For those of us who’ll have to keep our shredding in-game, we’ve got the best Diablo 4 builds to ensure you’re tearing up demons in style. Make sure to grab these Diablo 4 Prime Gaming rewards, too, so you can ride around looking equally cool.