ESP Tom Araya is an electric bass model distributed by ESP. Tom originally discovered ESP, when his fellow musicians from Slayer, Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King used ESP guitars (Jeff has his own signature model). He was approached then by ESP, who wanted to make him a signature model. Araya said that this was fine as long as the bass he plays is the same a fan would point out at a music store and buy. He also wanted to have the lower end models be just as good as the high end models, because he said that "not all the fans can afford a bass that costs an arm and a leg" He wanted the bass to have a thin neck, like a guitar so it would be easier to play for him rather than having a really fat neck that would require more effort to reach with fingers.