LTD EC-1000 Amber Sunburst

ESP guitar manufacturing company has a sub product line that is called LTD. Many of the LTD guitars feature a little less build quality standards within the predecessor ESP. But basically all of their instruments sound just as good and feel almost as good as any other ESP instrument. These guitars have a great sound if you're going for that Gibson Les Paul tone. One thing I really like about these guitars is the beautiful inlay within the frets that really has a mystic quality to them. Flamed maple top is another great addition to this instrument. It almost looks too beautiful to play but it is certainly a rockers guitar.

UTILIZATION

Amber Sunburst Finish
Flamed Maple Top
Mahogany Body
Mahogany Neck
Rosewood Fretboard
24.75" Scale Length
Thin U Neck Contour
24 XJ Frets
Seymour Duncan JB Bridge Humbucker
Seymour Duncan '59 Neck Humbucker
Tonepros Locking Tune-o-Matic Bridge and Tailpiece
42mm Standard Nut
2 Volume and Master Tone Controls
3-Way Toggle Switch
ESP Locking Tuners
Nickel Hardware



SOUNDS

If you've ever played any type of Gibson Les Paul guitar do you know exactly what type of tone you're going to get out of this instrument. They are quite exquisitely beautiful to look at this is a rockers guitar. So if you play with a good high gain amplifier such as a Marshall or a mesa boogie than your going to get a great sounding tone. Even if you play this guitar in a clean setting your going to get a very usable and manageable tone that will sound fantastic. Certainly this guitar won't sound as good as a single coil guitar but it will have a nice voicings for pretty much any style of music.

OVERALL OPINION

These guitars you can find for right around $700 or so. That's a pretty good price for help beautiful this guitar is and how well it built. I would recommend guitar to anyone is looking for a good alternative to Gibson Les Paul instrument. This guitar sounds great in a recording session as well but I'm even more tempted to just hang it on the wall and look at it because of how beautiful the build and quality of this guitar is to look at.

The EC-1000 is a Korean make guitar, but don't let that discourage you. It is made with quality in mind. The guitar has a nice set neck and a beautiful amberburst finish with a flamed maple top. It sports some nice passive seymour duncan pickups (JB/'59 combo) opposed to the EMGs in most of the other EC-1000's. The locking tuners on my particular model are Spertzel, but I believe they have ESP locking tuners now. Both kinds work very nice and keep the guitar tuned well. It has 24 frets and two volume controls and one tone control. The body, neck and headstock are wrapped in a nice creme binding and it really makes this guitar aesthetically pleasing. The abalone inlays around the neck, headstock and as the fret markers finish this guitar up and make it one marvelous looking guitar.

UTILIZATION

This guitar is pretty versatile. Not quite as heavy as a less paul, so it's real nice to play standing up. The 24 frets are easily accessible with the cut-away. I've never had any problems there. The pick configuration and the two volumes make this guitar very easily set for different sounds. It's a very comfortable and great sounding instrument.

SOUNDS

I've used this guitar in many amps. My 5150, Fender Blues Deville, Mesa Dual Rectifiers, Marshall JVM2000s, etc. It's a wonderful guitar for any genre and sounds fantastic through the many amps I have played it through. The '59 in the neck is great for leads and the JB in the bridge makes a really versatile rhythm pickup. I like the neck pick up for cleans, it's very full and fat sounding. Keeps my Blues Deville from being so bright and sometimes harsh. Great sounding guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

I've owned a few EC-1000's and a few Gibson Les Paul's (Classic 1960 R.I., and a couple studios) and I always liked the feel of this particular guitar the most. Feels great, I love the neck and it is really well built. This is my primary gigging guitar and I would be devastated if something were to happen to it. I would recommend one to anyone looking for a good les paul-shaped, dual humbucker guitar.

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 but the model I tested had the Snow White finish. The guitar has a mahogany body and neck with a 24.75 Les Paul scale with 24 jumbo frets. It has a rosewood fretboard and the wood they got for it is very nice so it is a nice dark rosewood. It has large abalone 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. I would have preferred simple creme or white binding. The abalone binding is pretty gaudy and it gets flawed very easily. 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.

OVERALL OPINION

This guitar is one of the best LTD ESP guitars you can get. The quality is just about as good as a ESP labeled ESP guitar made in Japan. 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. Only one of the available finishes comes with an ebony fretboard. If one of them can why cant all of them?

The ESP LTD EC1000 FM is the flagship model of the LTD series. The 1000 series itself generally contains guitars almost on par with the Standard series but at a fraction of the cost. This guitar features a mahogany body with a flamed maple top, a set mahogany neck with jumbo frets, a rosewood fretboard, abalone flag inlays, a TOM bridge, a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a '59 in the neck.

UTILIZATION

The LTD 1000 series are among some of the best guitars in the LTD line up. They have features that easily rival the Standard series in the ESP line. However, there are still a few flaws. For one, the binding can be a bit hit or miss, depending on the time of day it was built. The finish itself is good, but the fretwork can also be hit or miss. Generally, the frets are pretty good and properly leveled, but there are a few out there with some low frets that can really hinder the action of the guitar. You'll notice this when you start lowering your action and bending. If the string is choking out only on certain frets, there's most likely a fret level issue with the guitar.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounds great, especially since it's loaded with Seymour Duncan pickups. The JB in the bridge has this awesome bite with some good bass and midrange. It works for most any style you can think of, and it's been the flagship model of the Duncan lineup for the past 30 or so years now. The 59 in the neck gives a nice, buttery lead tone, but it still manages to have a little bit of bite to allow you to cut through the mix without any issues. The huge plus with this guitar is that they're using quality tone woods as opposed to the lower number LTD line such as the EC50.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're strapped for cash and are looking for a guitar that performs just about as well as the Standard series, take a look at this guitar. While they can be a bit more hit or miss when compared to the Standard ESP lineup, they're still generally great guitars that are packed full of great features and cost a fraction of what the MIJ guitars cost.