If you've been shopping ESP's E-II lineup and landed on the RZK-IIF, you've probably noticed it sits in a strange spot in the catalog. It looks, at a glance, like an Eclipse. Same general body shape, same set-neck-style vibe. But the price tag, the hardware, the pickups, and the whole philosophy of the instrument are pointing somewhere else entirely.

So the real question isn't "is this better than an Eclipse?" — it's "is this the same kind of guitar at all?" We'd argue it isn't. Here's why that matters before you spend $4,029.

View the ESP E-II RZK-IIF Richard ZK Burnt Fluence Guitar Product Page

What the RZK-IIF Actually Is

The ESP E-II RZK-IIF is Richard Z's signature instrument — Richard Zven Kruspe, rhythm guitarist for Rammstein. It's built around a different set of priorities than a standard Eclipse: extended range, Floyd Rose stability, custom-voiced Fishman Fluence pickups, and a finish that's literally been distressed and burnt at the factory. This isn't a boutique-cleaned-up Eclipse with a signature on the headstock. It's a purpose-built stage instrument for a specific kind of player.

Starting with construction: the RZK-IIF is neck-thru, not set-neck. That's a meaningful difference in how the guitar sustains and how it responds at the upper frets. The standard E-II Eclipse uses a set-thru construction — which is excellent — but neck-thru on a guitar like this means the note blooms differently, especially on the high register where Richard Z's playing lives.

Specs at a Glance

• Construction: Neck-thru body
• Scale: 25.5" (648mm)
• Body: Alder
• Neck: 3-piece maple, Thin U contour
• Fingerboard: Rosewood, 12" radius (305mm)
• Frets: 24 Extra-Jumbo (XJ)
• Nut: Locking, 42mm (1.654") width
• Bridge: Floyd Rose Original
• Tuners: Gotoh
• Pickups: Fishman Fluence Richard Z Signature — Modern Alnico (neck), Modern Ceramic (bridge)
• Electronics: Active, Volume/Toggle Switch
• Strings: Elixir Nanoweb Light (.010–.046)
• Finish: Distressed and burnt (factory)
• Case: RZK-1 form-fit case included

Where It Diverges From the Eclipse

The Bridge

This is the most functionally significant difference. A standard E-II Eclipse comes with a TonePros tune-o-matic — a fixed bridge, built for tuning stability and straightforward setup. The RZK-IIF has a Floyd Rose Original, a full floating tremolo system. If you don't use the bar, that's dead weight. If you do — if you're diving and pulling and using it as a texture — a Floyd Rose Original is one of the best systems ever made for it. But it changes the maintenance relationship with the instrument completely. String changes take longer. Tuning adjustments require rebalancing spring tension. The reward is a bridge that holds pitch through serious abuse in ways a fixed bridge simply can't.

The locking nut pairs directly with the Floyd Rose — together they create a sealed tuning system. Once you've set it up and locked down, the guitar holds pitch under stage conditions that would rattle a standard nut out of tune.

The Pickups

Standard E-II Eclipses ship with various passive humbucker configurations — Seymour Duncan, EMG, or ESP's own designs depending on the variant. The RZK-IIF runs Fishman Fluence Richard Z Signature pickups: Modern Alnico in the neck, Modern Ceramic in the bridge. These are active pickups in a specific sense — they run on battery power and use Fishman's stacked-coil design — but they don't sound like traditional EMG actives. They're voiced to clean up at lower gains and get genuinely aggressive at higher ones, without the compressed, scooped character that turns some players off of traditional actives.

Richard Z specifically requested voiced variations of the Modern series for this guitar — the neck Alnico is warmer and more open-sounding than a bridge-position ceramic, which is exactly what you want for rhythm parts that need to sit in a dense mix without fighting the bass frequencies.

The Neck Feel

The Thin U contour on a 3-piece maple neck with a 25.5" (648mm) scale and 24 extra-jumbo frets reads like a shred spec sheet — and it kind of is. The Eclipse, depending on the variant, often runs a slightly different neck profile aimed more at versatile play. The RZK-IIF's neck is optimized for fast, low-action rhythm and lead work. The 42mm (about 1.654") locking nut width is on the narrow end for a 6-string at this level, which suits players who keep their thumb wrapped around the neck rather than classical position.

The Finish

We want to say something honest here: the distressed and burnt finish is either exactly what you want or completely irrelevant to you, and neither answer is wrong. If you're buying this guitar to gig behind a stage light and want an instrument that already looks like it's been through something — that's a real aesthetic choice that costs money to produce and adds to the price. If you're a player who doesn't care what it looks like and just wants the neck-thru alder body with the Floyd Rose and Fluence pickups, the finish premium is built in whether you like it or not.

Who Should Buy the RZK-IIF

The player this guitar is built for plays hard rhythm at high volume, uses a Floyd Rose as a feature rather than tolerates it as a liability, and wants active pickups that don't sacrifice dynamics in the lower registers. Rammstein's guitar sound — dense, industrial, wide — is the blueprint. If your reference points are closer to that direction than to classic rock or versatile studio work, this instrument makes sense at this price.

It also makes sense if you're a collector of serious signature instruments. Richard Z is one of the more underrated rhythm guitarists in metal, and this is a proper artist collaboration, not a name on a headstock. The form-fit RZK-1 case included at this price point is a minor but real signal that ESP treats this as a flagship.

Who Should Skip It

If you're coming from an Eclipse and want to stay in that world — fixed bridge, passive or semi-passive humbuckers, versatile across genres — the RZK-IIF is not an upgrade from an Eclipse. It's a lateral move into a different instrument category. You'd be paying for a Floyd Rose you won't use, a finish aesthetic you might not connect with, and pickup voicings tuned for a specific genre.

Similarly, if you're a gigging player who does a lot of open-tuning or frequent pitch changes mid-set, a floating Floyd Rose adds real friction to your workflow. That's not a knock on the guitar — it's a real operational consideration that a fixed bridge just doesn't have.

The B-Stock Option

We have the RZK-IIF available in B-Stock at $3,223.20 — a $805.80 drop from the $4,029 MAP. On a guitar with a factory-distressed and burnt finish, the concept of a "blemish" gets genuinely interesting. Any cosmetic variance on this instrument is, by design, part of the aesthetic. Check the listing photos for the specific noted flaw, but on a guitar that's supposed to look like it's been through something, B-Stock is worth a close look before defaulting to new.

Our Take

The ESP E-II RZK-IIF is not a premium Eclipse. It's a purpose-built, genre-specific instrument that happens to share a body silhouette with the Eclipse family. If the Floyd Rose, neck-thru construction, Fishman Fluence Signature pickups, and that finish all align with how and what you play — it's priced fairly for what it is. If any one of those features doesn't fit your actual playing situation, there are better uses for $4,029 in ESP's lineup.

View the ESP E-II RZK-IIF Richard ZK Burnt Fluence Guitar Product Page

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the ESP E-II RZK-IIF built the same way as an E-II Eclipse?

They share a similar body silhouette, but the construction differs meaningfully. The RZK-IIF uses neck-thru construction with a 3-piece maple neck running through an alder body. Most E-II Eclipse variants use set-thru construction. Neck-thru affects sustain character and upper-fret access differently than set-thru — it's not better or worse across the board, but it's a real structural difference that changes how the guitar plays and resonates.

What makes the Fishman Fluence Richard Z Signature pickups different from standard Fluence Moderns?

The Richard Z Signature versions are voiced variants of Fishman's Modern Alnico and Modern Ceramic designs — the neck pickup uses Alnico magnets for a warmer, more open tone, while the bridge uses Ceramic for tight, aggressive response at high gain. Richard Z worked with Fishman specifically to tune these for his playing and the frequencies he needs to cut through a dense, bass-heavy mix. They run on battery power like traditional actives but don't compress or scoop the way older EMG-style actives tend to.

Does the Floyd Rose Original add significant maintenance compared to a fixed bridge?

Yes, practically speaking. String changes take longer because you're working with a floating system that requires rebalancing spring tension in the back cavity when you change string gauges. Tuning a single string affects the others until the system is in equilibrium. The payoff is pitch stability under hard tremolo use that a fixed bridge simply can't match — but if you don't use the bar regularly, that maintenance overhead is all cost and no benefit. The included locking nut seals the system once set up, which helps considerably for live use.

Is the distressed and burnt finish just cosmetic, or does it affect the guitar structurally?

It's cosmetic — the structural integrity of the instrument isn't compromised by the finish treatment. The distressing and burning is a factory aesthetic process, not damage to the wood or hardware. That said, the finish is thinner in areas where it's been worked, which some players feel contributes to resonance, though that effect is hard to isolate. What it does mean practically is that on the B-Stock unit, any listed cosmetic variance is occurring on a guitar that's already supposed to look worn — worth factoring in when evaluating whether B-Stock makes sense for you.