LTD EC-1000 Silver Sunburst

LTD is the more affordable line offered by ESP. They are like Epiphone is to Gibson. While all ESP labeled guitars are made in Japan the LTD labeled guitars are made in other places. The quality on most of the LTD guitars is still very nice. The EC1000 is the top of the line model in the EC series by LTD. The EC line is a line of single cut Les Paul style guitars from LTD and ESP. They come in many different finishes. This example has a limited run Silverburst style finish for 2010. The back parts are not as big as on a normal Silverburst but it is ESP's take on the rare old finish. The guitar has a mahogany body and neck with a 24.75 Les Paul scale with 24 jumbo frets. It has a ebony fretboard and the wood they got for it is very nice so it is a nice dark. It has large creme binding and inlays. It has the Earvana compensated nut that helps with intonation. It has EMG pickups with an 81 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck. It has a black tonepros bridge setup.

UTILIZATION

The neck is nice and thin for a Les Paul style guitar. With 24 frets on the shorter scale the higher frets are a little hard to play but the jumbo frets help with this. I am not a big fan of the binding they put on some models. The abalone binding stands out too much. The abalone binding is pretty gaudy and it gets flawed very easily. I am glad they kept it simple for this guitar and it really fits the special finish. The earvana net helps with intonation a bit but a guitar with straight frets can never be intonated perfectly across the entire neck. The tonepros bridge is great I wish more guitar companies but these bridges on their guitars. The bride is locked in so it doesnt fall off when you are changing strings.

SOUNDS

With the EMG pickups this guitar is a metal machine. 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. If you want more tone from the EMG pickups you can do the 18v mod. With the 18v mod you run the pickups on two batteries instead of one so you get more headroom and a more organic tone overall.

OVERALL OPINION

This is a top of the line LTD guitar. The quality on this isnt far from what you get on a full blooded ESP. The EMG pickups and tonepros locking bridge mean you do not have to upgrade these parts. The guitar already comes with these upgrades. The compensated nut helps with intonation but the binding is a little over the top. I wonder why some finishes come with ebony fretboards and some dont. If they can put it on some why not the rest of them. If you are looking for a more metal oriented Les Paul style guitar the EC1000 is a good choice.