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Kostas Karamitroudis aka Gus G. (born September 12, 1980 in Thessaloniki, Greece), is an acclaimed heavy metal guitarist currently with Firewind. He has also played in Mystic Prophecy, Nightrage, Arch Enemy and Dream Evil. He is one of the younger players in metal to have reached such proficiency in metal guitar technique. At the age of 18 he left Greece to enroll in the Berklee College of Music, but left after only a few weeks and began working on making a name on the Metal scene. During his brief time at Berklee Gus came into contact with Joe Stump, who he credits as a great influence on his career [1].

Gus G is a popular member of the metal community with friends such as James Murphy, Marty Friedman and the late Dimebag Darrell.

On July 2005, he temporarily replaced Christopher Amott as guitarist of melodic death metal band Arch Enemy on their Ozzfest dates, and also contributed to their album Doomsday Machine by playing lead guitar on the song "Taking Back my Soul".

He has made guest appearances for various artists, such as providing solos on the songs "Felonies of the Christian Art" and "Life Deprived" by Old Man's Child, from the album In Defiance of Existence, and a few solos on the album Gallows Gallery by the Japanese avant-garde Black Metal band Sigh).

The stage name Gus G has two sources of origin - "Gus" is the English equivalent of "Kostas," and "G" was a nickname given to him by a friend during his time living in the USA.

Gear

Gus teamed up with ESP Guitars to make two custom model guitars to his specifications. The guitars are only known as "Gus. G FR" and "Gus G. NT." A Washburn Culprit CP2003 can also be seen in the videos for "The Fire and the Fury" and "I am the Anger".

Gus G. NT

The Gus G. NT is Gus' black guitar, and is seen in the "Falling to Pieces" and "Tyranny" videos. This guitar is not available to be viewed on the U.S. ESP Store, but it is offered for purchase on the Japanese site for 378,000 yen, which is approximately 3,214.07 US Dollars or 1,682.35 Great Britain Pounds.

These are the specs for the guitar according to the ESP Japan site.

BODY : Alder
NECK : Hard Maple 3P
FINGERBOARD : Rosewood , 22 frets
SCALE : 25.5 inch (648mm)
NUT (width) : Carbon (42mm)
JOINT : Set-neck
TUNER : Sperzel® Trim Lock Tuner
BRIDGE : Tune-matic / Stop Tailpiece
PICKUPS : (Front) Seymour Duncan SH-2n, (Rear) Seymour Duncan SH-6b
CONTROLS : Master Volume, PU Selector, Coil Split SW
COLOR : Black
Gus G. FR

The Gus G. FR is Gus' red guitar, and is not seen in any Firewind videos. Like the NT, It is not available to view or purchase from the US ESP website, but is offered on the Japanese ESP site for ¥417,900, which converts into $3,552.45 or £1,858.89.

These are the specs for the guitar according to the ESP Japan site.

BODY : (Top) Figured Maple, (Back) Alder
NECK : Hard Maple 3P
FINGERBOARD : Rosewood , 22 frets
SCALE : 25.5 inch (648mm)
NUT (width) : Lock Nut (42mm/R2)
JOINT : Set-neck
TUNER : Sperzel Trim Lock Tuner
BRIDGE : Floyd Rose
PICKUPS : (Front) Seymour Duncan SH-2n, (Rear) Seymour Duncan SH-6b
CONTROLS : Master Volume, PU Selector, Coil Split SW
COLOR : See-Thru Red

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