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ESP Michael Wilton
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ESP Michael Wilton

STC-Shaped Guitar from ESP belonging to the Signature series

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« Great for 80s tones »

Published on 09/05/11 at 17:58
Michael Wilton has been one of the main guys behind Queensrÿche. For those who don't know, that was one of the best 80s progressive metal bands, and while they're a bit of a joke now, they were a force to be reckoned with back in the day. Michael had a really cool signature model released, and this is one of his few sigs he's had. The guitar features an alder body with a bolt-on birdseye maple neck, 24 extra jumbo frets, diamond inlays, a special glow in the dark finish, an original floyd rose, HSS configuration, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The glow in the dark skulls was really fun to play with. I put it on the lights for like 30 or so seconds, and then I went into a dark room. It was pretty cool to see the skulls jump out. However, it doesn't last that long. It's kinda like a glow in the dark sticker that everyone got when they were kids. The fretwork on this was great. There were no issues with the ends or any issues with the frets being partially crowned. The neck felt wonderful, just like every other ESP out there. All in all, it's a very solid guitar with few faults to it.

SOUNDS

The guitar has a JB in the bridge with some ESP singles in the neck and middle. The JB in the bridge is great for pretty much anything. You can go from jazz to death metal with this pickup without too much of an issue. It's not the best thing at all genres, but it can do all genres fairly well. The neck and middle pickups were pretty good. They didn't really jump out at me as amazing singles, but they delivered in terms of a solid single coil tone. I really liked the in-between positions. They delivered a great clean tone. The tone knobs also helped control the brightness.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitar is very solid, and it's one of the cool 80s style ESPs out there that still stands up to today's era of music. The guitar is very versatile, and it can provide a variety of sounds with just the pickup selector and knobs. They don't make this anymore, but if you find one in good condition, I'd consider buying one. Check out various forums for a good deal on one.