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tjon901 « Early Eclipse with the cool satin finish »
Published on 08/08/11 at 09:10This is the early version of the EC of Eclipse guitar. It has a more Les Paul like shape which is one of the reasons it is out of production. This was the cool finish they had at the time. Hetfield use to play these guitars alot. The DPS in the name stands for Deep Purple Stain. Its like a satin finish but dark like a poly finish. It also has yellowish binding to break it up. This is a full label ESP so it is made in Japan with essentially custom shop level quality. The guitar has a mahogany body with a maple top. It has a set neck mahogany neck with an ebony fretboard. The fretboard has 22 jumbo frets with ESP's flag inlays. The neck is nice and thin. The body and neck are fully bound with the yellowish gold binding. It has Gotoh locking tuners up top and a Gotoh tune-o-matic bridge. It has EMG pickups in it in a classic setup of an 81 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck. The controls are standard Les Paul style with a volume and tone for each pickup.
UTILIZATION
The satin finish on this guitar is very smooth and helps making playing very easy and fast. The neck is a bit thinner than that of a Gibson and the fretboard is flatter so this lets you get a nice easy action on the strings. The large frets also help this. The ebony fretboard is super smooth and feels good under your fingers. Locking tuners are something every guitar should have. Even without a tremolo locking tuners help you stay in tune better than normal tuners. Since this guitar has active EMG's you will need a 9v battery to operate them. ESP was smart and added a quick access battery compartment so you can change the battery without having to open up your main control cavity.
SOUNDS
This guitar has a classic metal tone with the EMG active pickups in it. the 81 and 60 set is a classic set that James Hetfield has used for decades up until very recently when his signature pickup set came out. This set provides you a great overall tone for both dirty and clean. The 81 in the bridge gives you a ripping metal tone. It has a high end grind that prevents your riffs from sounding muddy. If you down tune these pickups are great as well. This high end grind lets your notes cut through no matter how much distortion you have. The 60 in the neck compliments the 81 nicely. It is not a hot pickup like the 81 it is more of a clean bluesy pickup. Since the 81 does not clean up very well the 60 is there for your clean tones. If you want a neck pickup that is good for dirty stuff I recommend the 85. It is smoother than the 81 so it works well for the neck position.
OVERALL OPINION
If you can find one of these guitars they are a great deal. I think they go for around 1500 used. The newer Eclipse models have a different shape and control layout to them. ESP went away from the more traditional shape that this guitar has. The new models are good as well but if you want the more traditional shape this is the way to go. If you want a good metal Les Paul type guitar that can rip right out of the box ESP has some good offerings.
UTILIZATION
The satin finish on this guitar is very smooth and helps making playing very easy and fast. The neck is a bit thinner than that of a Gibson and the fretboard is flatter so this lets you get a nice easy action on the strings. The large frets also help this. The ebony fretboard is super smooth and feels good under your fingers. Locking tuners are something every guitar should have. Even without a tremolo locking tuners help you stay in tune better than normal tuners. Since this guitar has active EMG's you will need a 9v battery to operate them. ESP was smart and added a quick access battery compartment so you can change the battery without having to open up your main control cavity.
SOUNDS
This guitar has a classic metal tone with the EMG active pickups in it. the 81 and 60 set is a classic set that James Hetfield has used for decades up until very recently when his signature pickup set came out. This set provides you a great overall tone for both dirty and clean. The 81 in the bridge gives you a ripping metal tone. It has a high end grind that prevents your riffs from sounding muddy. If you down tune these pickups are great as well. This high end grind lets your notes cut through no matter how much distortion you have. The 60 in the neck compliments the 81 nicely. It is not a hot pickup like the 81 it is more of a clean bluesy pickup. Since the 81 does not clean up very well the 60 is there for your clean tones. If you want a neck pickup that is good for dirty stuff I recommend the 85. It is smoother than the 81 so it works well for the neck position.
OVERALL OPINION
If you can find one of these guitars they are a great deal. I think they go for around 1500 used. The newer Eclipse models have a different shape and control layout to them. ESP went away from the more traditional shape that this guitar has. The new models are good as well but if you want the more traditional shape this is the way to go. If you want a good metal Les Paul type guitar that can rip right out of the box ESP has some good offerings.