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tjon901 « Older and better ESP Eclipse »
Published on 07/11/11 at 09:49ESP is a Japanese guitar maker that many people know. People often call LTD guitars ESP's, this is like calling an Epiphone a Gibson. ESP guitars that say ESP on the headstock are super high quality compared to their LTD counterparts. These older Eclipse models are real gems compared to the newer ones. These older Eclipse designs are closer to that of a Les Paul. For the newer models they gave them 24 frets and a thinner body. These guitar have a full thickness body and dual tone and volume controls. This guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top in a brilliant white finish. The body and neck are fully bound. The neck is mahogany also with an ebony fretboard with 22 jumbo frets. The inlays are ESP's traditional flag design. All the hardware on the guitar is top notch. The tuners up top are Gotoh locking tuners and the bridge is locking also. The pickups are dual EMG's. It has the old Hetfield set with an 81 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck with dual tone and dual volume knobs switched with a 3-way.
UTILIZATION
Being closer to the traditional Les Paul Design these guitars retain more of the Les Paul playability which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. The body joins the neck at the traditional place. On the newer ones there is a larger cutaway so you can reach the 24 frets that the newer ones have. Since this guitar only has 22 frets you do not need the bigger cutaway. The locking tuners it has is something every guitar should have. The locking bridge is also a nice touch. When changing strings on a guitar with a tune-o-matic your bridge can fall off and it is easy to put it back on backwards ruining your intonation. You will have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to get a locking bridge and locking tuners on a Gibson. The EMG pickups are active so you will need a battery to run them but as long as you done leave your guitar plugged in 24/7 these batteries will last you years.
SOUNDS
WIth these EMG pickups this guitar is pretty much designed for metal. The 81 in the bridge is a classic metal pickup that has been used for many years on many albums by many artists. The 81 has a classic metal sound. It has a great high end crunch so it retains clarity whatever you are playing and through whatever you are playing. The 81's dont have a great amount of low end but the huge mahogany body helps even out the sound. The 60 in the neck is EMG's classic neck and clean pickup. It does not have much output but this makes it great for clean passages and neck position playing. This is the traditional shortcoming for most EMG pickups so having an EMG that is good at this in your guitar is a nice trade off to the heavy bridge pickup. You may not like it if you intend on playing high gain leads on the neck position. If you intend on playing high gain leads in the neck position you may want to swap in an EMG 85. The 85 has a really fat sound that works well for leads. It is also good in the bridge position too if you want a fatter tone. With EMG pickups they come with quick connect wiring so it is very easy to swap out pickups and you can see what you like best. If you remove the 60 and you still want a good clean tone you may want to do the 18v mod. This gives the pickups more headroom and more organic clean tones.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is a great alternative to a Gibson with EMG's. The quality on this guitar is top notch and the hardware is great. The locking tuners and bridge are something you wont find on any Gibson and it comes with EMG pickups from the factory. This guitar already has all the upgrades you could ever want. If you want these features you would end up playing thousands and thousands of dollars for a Gibson with them. You should check one of these out if you are looking for a metal LP and you can find one. They are getting pretty rare now.
UTILIZATION
Being closer to the traditional Les Paul Design these guitars retain more of the Les Paul playability which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it. The body joins the neck at the traditional place. On the newer ones there is a larger cutaway so you can reach the 24 frets that the newer ones have. Since this guitar only has 22 frets you do not need the bigger cutaway. The locking tuners it has is something every guitar should have. The locking bridge is also a nice touch. When changing strings on a guitar with a tune-o-matic your bridge can fall off and it is easy to put it back on backwards ruining your intonation. You will have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to get a locking bridge and locking tuners on a Gibson. The EMG pickups are active so you will need a battery to run them but as long as you done leave your guitar plugged in 24/7 these batteries will last you years.
SOUNDS
WIth these EMG pickups this guitar is pretty much designed for metal. The 81 in the bridge is a classic metal pickup that has been used for many years on many albums by many artists. The 81 has a classic metal sound. It has a great high end crunch so it retains clarity whatever you are playing and through whatever you are playing. The 81's dont have a great amount of low end but the huge mahogany body helps even out the sound. The 60 in the neck is EMG's classic neck and clean pickup. It does not have much output but this makes it great for clean passages and neck position playing. This is the traditional shortcoming for most EMG pickups so having an EMG that is good at this in your guitar is a nice trade off to the heavy bridge pickup. You may not like it if you intend on playing high gain leads on the neck position. If you intend on playing high gain leads in the neck position you may want to swap in an EMG 85. The 85 has a really fat sound that works well for leads. It is also good in the bridge position too if you want a fatter tone. With EMG pickups they come with quick connect wiring so it is very easy to swap out pickups and you can see what you like best. If you remove the 60 and you still want a good clean tone you may want to do the 18v mod. This gives the pickups more headroom and more organic clean tones.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is a great alternative to a Gibson with EMG's. The quality on this guitar is top notch and the hardware is great. The locking tuners and bridge are something you wont find on any Gibson and it comes with EMG pickups from the factory. This guitar already has all the upgrades you could ever want. If you want these features you would end up playing thousands and thousands of dollars for a Gibson with them. You should check one of these out if you are looking for a metal LP and you can find one. They are getting pretty rare now.