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tjon901 « Made in Japan Eclipse »
Published on 10/09/11 at 13:28Most of the ESP guitars you see nowadays have LTD on the headstock. This means that they are not made in Japan. If you find an ESP that actually says ESP on the headstock that means its made in Japan and has custom shop level quality. This is a fully branded esp model. There are LTD models that look just like this but this is the real McCoy. This guitar has a mahogany body and mahogany neck with an rosewood fretboard and 22 jumbo frets. It has ESP's traditional flag inlays. It has bone nut up top and a tune-o-matic bridge at the bottom. Older models have the Earvana compensated nut but I think ESP stopped doing this. The tuners are a set of Gotoh Magnum locking tuners, LTD versions have ESP locking tuners. There are two EMG pickups in this guitar. There is an 81 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck. This is the pickup set that James Hetfield used for most of his career. The controls are simple with a volume knob for each pickup and a master tone.
UTILIZATION
The fit and finish on all ESP guitars is pretty good but these high end fully ESP branded guitars have custom shop level fit and finish. There are no flaws anywhere to be found. The fretwork is just about perfect out of the box. The neck is pretty thin and the jumbo frets make playing very easy. The locking tuners are great and give you great tuning stability. With the active EMG pickups you need a battery to operate them so ESP provides you a separate battery compartment so you can change the batter without having to open up the entire guitar.
SOUNDS
The EMG pickups in this guitar give it the classic metal tone. People have been using EMG's for decades to get the metal tone everyone knows. EMG's will turn any guitar into a metal monster. The 81 gives you great metal tones while the 60 can do great clean tones. EMG's are some of the best active high output pickups you can get for metal. Since they are active they need a 9v battery to work. The 81 in the bridge is a classic setup for metal. The 81 gives you great high end crunch and clarity even in the lowest of tunings. With the 81 harmonics pop right out and you get a nice searing high end tone. This high end is what keeps the sound nice and clear. The 60 in the neck is a pretty much neck only pickup. It is not super high output and is best used for clean tones. In the neck position I personally prefer an 85. The 85 has about the same output as the 81 and I think it is better for dirty solos in the neck position than the 60 is. With EMG's quick connect system swapping out their pickups takes secconds because there is no soldering involved. If you want more of an organic or passive sound you can do the 18 volt mod which runs the pickups off of 2 9v batteries. This gives you more headroom overall and a more organic tone.
OVERALL OPINION
This is not really a guitar I would recommend to most people. I know some people who will only play ESP's and think every LTD is a piece of trash but this isnt true. A nice high end LTD ESP guitar will be just as good as an ESP like this but cost half as much. If you are looking at a guitar like this I would recommend checking out the ESP LTD EC1000. It is a very similar guitar but costs about half as much and the quality is there. Most ESP artists actually play LTD guitars so the the fit and finish is there on the high end LTD models. If you will only play an ESP and are looking for a single cut with EMG's this is a great choice.
UTILIZATION
The fit and finish on all ESP guitars is pretty good but these high end fully ESP branded guitars have custom shop level fit and finish. There are no flaws anywhere to be found. The fretwork is just about perfect out of the box. The neck is pretty thin and the jumbo frets make playing very easy. The locking tuners are great and give you great tuning stability. With the active EMG pickups you need a battery to operate them so ESP provides you a separate battery compartment so you can change the batter without having to open up the entire guitar.
SOUNDS
The EMG pickups in this guitar give it the classic metal tone. People have been using EMG's for decades to get the metal tone everyone knows. EMG's will turn any guitar into a metal monster. The 81 gives you great metal tones while the 60 can do great clean tones. EMG's are some of the best active high output pickups you can get for metal. Since they are active they need a 9v battery to work. The 81 in the bridge is a classic setup for metal. The 81 gives you great high end crunch and clarity even in the lowest of tunings. With the 81 harmonics pop right out and you get a nice searing high end tone. This high end is what keeps the sound nice and clear. The 60 in the neck is a pretty much neck only pickup. It is not super high output and is best used for clean tones. In the neck position I personally prefer an 85. The 85 has about the same output as the 81 and I think it is better for dirty solos in the neck position than the 60 is. With EMG's quick connect system swapping out their pickups takes secconds because there is no soldering involved. If you want more of an organic or passive sound you can do the 18 volt mod which runs the pickups off of 2 9v batteries. This gives you more headroom overall and a more organic tone.
OVERALL OPINION
This is not really a guitar I would recommend to most people. I know some people who will only play ESP's and think every LTD is a piece of trash but this isnt true. A nice high end LTD ESP guitar will be just as good as an ESP like this but cost half as much. If you are looking at a guitar like this I would recommend checking out the ESP LTD EC1000. It is a very similar guitar but costs about half as much and the quality is there. Most ESP artists actually play LTD guitars so the the fit and finish is there on the high end LTD models. If you will only play an ESP and are looking for a single cut with EMG's this is a great choice.