Korn Guitarist Brian Welch Reveals The Person Who Was Behind His Decision To Leave Ibanez

During a recent interview with Ultimate Guitar’s Alexander Kiryushkin, Korn guitarist Brian Welch discussed his decision to leave Ibanez and join ESP back in 2017 and finally declared the person who advised him to do so.

As you might know, the Christian metal band Love and Death, founded by Brian ‘The Head’ Welch, is expected to release their album ‘Perfectly Preserved‘ in February 2021. One of the most awaited tracks ‘Down’ was released on November 12 and it has been enjoyed by thousands of people.

With a new album coming up and a possible promotion tour, in a recent interview, Brian Welch was asked about Korn’s decision to switch from Ibanez to ESP. Brian Welch said that the main reason was because there were some changes at Ibanez and that the people he worked with for years were gone and he wanted to try something different.

Brian Welch said that he really appreciates that ESP has incorporated EverTune bridge into their instruments as it has been really helpful for him. As you may know, EverTune is a bridge system that keeps guitars tuned under any conditions.

He also revealed that it was James ‘Munky’ Shaffer, Korn’s co-founder and guitarist, who suggested changing from Ibanez to ESP. As it turns out, it was a great idea and Brian Welch has been enjoying playing with ESP guitars and said that ESP employees are very helpful and professional.

Here’s what Welch said when asked whether differences in instruments influence the writing process:

“I don’t think so. I think the ESP guitars have really brought a cool aspect to Korn, the new sound that we’ve been doing. It’s been fun. I love the EverTune bridge.

And back when I switched to ESP, it was a thing where it was really cool to see ESP really grabbing the hold of the EverTune idea. And they were one of the first ones that were just mass-producing such guitars. I really loved it.”

He went on to say:

“Actually, it was Munky [James Shaffer, guitar] that suggested it to me. It wasn’t like I wanted to leave Ibanez but we did have some people that we were working with at Ibanez for decades that left the company and so I felt like – if I did want to try something else, now would be a good time.

And so that’s what I did. I decided to try it and it’s been really cool. ESP are great. And Tony at ESP takes care of me really well. He’s very professional. And so yeah, it’s been fun.”

Click here for the source and you can listen to Love and Death’s track ‘Down’ below.