LTD EC-400AT

Most ESP guitars are setup for metal playing. This guitar is set up for more of a classic rock sound. This guitar is an LTD that means it is part of ESP guitars cheaper line of guitars. LTD is like ESP's Epiphone. These guitars are made outside of Japan but to exactly the same specs. This guitar is the EC-400AT. EC means its ESP's single cut shape. 400 means its the middle of the line in the series. AT means it has an arched top. This is as close to a classic Les Paul as you can get with LTD. This guitar comes with a cool goldtop finish just like an old Les Paul. The body and neck are mahogany. The fretboard is rosewood and has nice cream binding. There are 22 jumbo frets on the fretboard with ESP's flag inlays. Up top it has the Earvana Compensated nut that ESP likes to use along with a tune-o-matic bridge. It has dual Seymour Duncan 59 pickups for more classic tone. There are two volume controls and a master tone on control with a 3 way switch.

UTILIZATION

LTD guitars from the 400 level up all play decently well. With a good setup they can play great like a real ESP. Even with the traditional looks this guitar has a pretty modern feel to it. It has big frets and a decently flat fretboard so you can smoke up and down the frets. The neck is pretty thin too. The body is thinner than a normal Les Paul so it is very light and doesnt hurt your back. The single cutaway is slightly opened up more so upper fret access is slightly better but not by much. The Earvana compensated nut is a nice piece also. It slightly moves where some of the strings meet the nut. This really helps intonation all across the frets. So your notes and chords up and down the neck sound more in tune. When chords up and down the neck ring together better you also get more sustain.

SOUNDS

59's in the neck and bridge is not a very common combination nowadays but it really gives you an old school tone. The 59 in the neck is a pickup that matches well with anything. you get a bit smooth neck pickup tone. In the bridge it is very very old school. It is nice and loose. If you are looking to play heavier music you may want to swap out the bridge 59 for a JB or Custom. These match well with the 59 in the neck if you cant handle the 59 in the bridge.

OVERALL OPINION

With ESP making so many guitars for metal and heavy music it is a nice change to have something that does not come with EMG's. This guitar is very old school and traditional. The 400 series of guitar from LTD is the perfect match of price and performance. This is the cheapest level that you can get aftermarket pickups stock in your guitar. This level gives you all the great basics of the guitar. If you are an ESP fan and want a guitar that is not for metal but is great for blues or classic rock this is a good model.