LTD EC-100QM

I bought this guitar at AXE Music in Calgary, AB (Canada) for $450 CAD, about, around Christmas last year. I needed an electric guitar, as my Walden Acoustic just wasn't cutting it.

The tone is absolutely excellent when you play it through the right amp, and the two humbuckers in it may be welfare, but they're no joke. The neck action on it is wonderful, making it a joy to play, and you don't have to press hard on the strings at all to keep it from buzzing. The action isn't so low on it that it buzzes and rattles all the time, either. It's nice and sturdy (it could probably take out my Jazz Bass if it tried) and the Quilt Maple finish on it is INCREDIBLE. The machineheads are lovely in their responsiveness, it tunes like a dream, and I haven't broken any strings on it yet. Three knobs, enough to get some tonal variety out of it, and the side-mount jack is nice and comfortable. The headstock looks wicked, but who really cares about that, right? Well apparently all the people who I've showed it to care. You can get everything from a low rhythm growl out of it to a high, crooning twang.

It has a couple tuning issues, in terms of STAYING in tune, but that's probably because I never had it properly set up. On the wrong amp, the tone sounds a bit dead on the low end. Up top around the fifteenth fret, you start to lose a bit of quality on ANY amp, but it's not intolerable. It's an import, so the little plasticy bit on the pickup switch is crooked and doesn't sit right, but I've noticed that on American Gibsons, too, so I'm not overly concerned. It might be a tad on the heavy side, although that is how I like my guitars, most people whine and complain about it. I have no major complaints about this guitar at all.

Solid and tight, no glaring flaws at all. A wonderfully crafted piece of guitar.

Most people buy ESPs for metal and drop tuning and distortion, but the ESP humbuckers have a much nicer tone than the crunchy-no-matter-what EMGs on the high end ESPs. This is an EXCELLENT guitar for $450 Canadian, perhaps a little on the heavy side, but it's beautiful both in sound and appearance.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The ESP LTD EC100 is part of the lower end of guitars that LTD offers. It's meant for people who are on a super tight budget and are just starting out. It has an agathis with a quilted maple top (which I think is a veneer), a bolt on maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets with dot inlays and the name at the 12th fret, a 24.75'' scale length, two humbuckers, two volumes, one tone and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

These guitars are pretty awful. For one, they use agathis wood. This wood is a wannabe mahogany that sounds pretty muddy and dull. I'll get to that in the sounds section, however. The bolt on construction means that there is tons of room for error, and since these guitars don't have a ton of attention put into them, there are some big gaps in the neck joints in these. This hinders overall tone. The fretwork is awful, too. The edges are sharp, and the frets aren't properly leveled. This makes it pretty woeful to play every time you pick it up.

SOUNDS

The guitar sounds dull and like ass, period. The stock pickups are awful and muddy. No matter what you EQ the amp at, it'll always sound like shit. Seriously, don't even bother replacing the pickups on this model as it most likely won't make it sound any good. Even EMGs can't save this thing. The agathis wood isn't helping it either. It's a poor man's mahogany, and it sounds atrocious. Take the worst qualities of basswood and mix that with some dullness. That's what agathis sounds like.

OVERALL OPINION

I highly recommend avoiding these guitars. Seriously, it's not worth considering. There are so many other guitars out there for a much better price, especially once you look at the used market. I always try to recommend buying the 1000 series if you're looking at LTDs, but if you can't afford one of those, buy a used 400 series or something. It'll be way better than this piece of trash.