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tjon901 « EC with a crazy relic finish »
Published on 06/28/11 at 08:20The Truckster is one of James Hetfields newer signature guitars. It is based off of one of James' personal guitars where they painted different layers of paint and then sanded it down to get a progressive relic look to it. The guitar is basically an EC series guitar with James' custom relicing on it and the pickup selector moved around to his specs. The EC series is one of ESP's most popular designs. It takes what the superstrat did to the strat and does it for the Les Paul. The body is slightly thinner and smaller and the neck is faster with a larger cutaway. The guitar has a mahogany body and neck with a rosewood fretboard. The frets are 22 xtra jumbo ESP frets. It has dual EMG pickups with an 81 in the bridge and a 60 in the neck Hetfields traditional setup. It has tone pros locking bridge system also. The pickup selector is down by the rest of the controls and takes the place of one of the tone controls. The upper pickup selector does not do anything. I dont know why they felt they had to include it.
UTILIZATION
The playability on this guitar is great for the most part. The frets are nice and big and the fretboard is pretty flat. I do wonder why this guitar does not come with the Earvana compensated nut like all the other guitars like this from ESP come with. I guess James does not like playing in tune. The useless pickup selector is annoying. When you are use to playing Les Pauls and similar guitars you will try and hit the upper horn selector on instinct. I dont have a problem with them moving it down to where the knobs are but when you do that get rid of the other one. The tone pros locking bridge is nice. It locks itself onto the guitar so it doesnt fall out when you are changing strings.
SOUNDS
With the EMG pickups you get the real modern Metallica sound. 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. Recently EMG came out with a Hetfield signature set so it will be interesting to see if ESP starts using that in the Hetfield signature guitars. The set is bassically an 81 and a 60 but hot rodded for even more attack.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is good but it is not much different than the normal EC guitars. Some people may not like the finish either. Its a relic finish but it is so blatently fake its almost not really a relic. I probably sound like a broken record but the useless pickup selector is very annoying. I would recommend a normal EC over this guitar. With this guitar you are paying for Hetfields name and the crazy finish. The relicing around the knobs I have only seen on a few guitars where its real and it takes like 20 years to do that and it usually is only around the bridge pickup volume knob. People dont usually go around cranking on the tone knobs and the neck pickup volume knob. If you want to get this guitar I strongly recommend you play a normal EC first and think hard if the finish is really worth that much extra.
UTILIZATION
The playability on this guitar is great for the most part. The frets are nice and big and the fretboard is pretty flat. I do wonder why this guitar does not come with the Earvana compensated nut like all the other guitars like this from ESP come with. I guess James does not like playing in tune. The useless pickup selector is annoying. When you are use to playing Les Pauls and similar guitars you will try and hit the upper horn selector on instinct. I dont have a problem with them moving it down to where the knobs are but when you do that get rid of the other one. The tone pros locking bridge is nice. It locks itself onto the guitar so it doesnt fall out when you are changing strings.
SOUNDS
With the EMG pickups you get the real modern Metallica sound. 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. Recently EMG came out with a Hetfield signature set so it will be interesting to see if ESP starts using that in the Hetfield signature guitars. The set is bassically an 81 and a 60 but hot rodded for even more attack.
OVERALL OPINION
This guitar is good but it is not much different than the normal EC guitars. Some people may not like the finish either. Its a relic finish but it is so blatently fake its almost not really a relic. I probably sound like a broken record but the useless pickup selector is very annoying. I would recommend a normal EC over this guitar. With this guitar you are paying for Hetfields name and the crazy finish. The relicing around the knobs I have only seen on a few guitars where its real and it takes like 20 years to do that and it usually is only around the bridge pickup volume knob. People dont usually go around cranking on the tone knobs and the neck pickup volume knob. If you want to get this guitar I strongly recommend you play a normal EC first and think hard if the finish is really worth that much extra.