SeriesLTD Standard M

i bought this guitar at musiciansfriend.com, and payed $150 or so for it. its decent for a starter guitar, but im going to be a little harsh because i like playing music of a heavier nature. i cant tune down and have the tuning be stable for a long period of time. i tried tuning down to Bb-F-Bb-Eb-G-C, and had to use a 56 for my lowest string. in about a month the string went, and it wasnt because of the string. so if you want to tune down, youre going to have to save up a little more for a nice Schecter or something like that. Its really good if you want a normal string guage and want to play in standard tuning, nothing wrong with it then. if you want to go any lower that a step below Drop D, then this isnt the guitar for you for $150 its really well constructed, its got a nice neck and its very easy to string compared to my dads Gibson Les Paul that i used to play. Tuning low? if yes, dont get this guitar, get something a little bit more expensive. If you dont have much money, get a cheap Strat and get a replacement baritone neck. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

music123.com, guitar playng is more than a hobby to me, paid $350. this guitar is awesome. it has a neck through body, aroowhead inlays, and the passive EMG H4 set. also has a floyd rose licensed bridge. the neck o this things is ridiculously fast. and it looks hand crafted by satan himself ( the good satan, not the bad one). i would recomend buying this guitar to anybody, but hurry up because they dont make them anymore. i literaly don't dislike anything about this guitar. picks scratch it easily but i like that. its made of mahogany, and maple. and is a neck through body, three peice guitar.it has a floyd-rose licenced trem, EMG Hz pickups, arrowhead inlays, and a reverse headstock. all black hardware. overall, this is simply the greatest guitar ever made. i think everybody who listens to meagdeth should buy one immediately. and then learn all their songs. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

i bought this guitar through musicians friend catalog. i was skeptical about buying without trying but i knew esp had a good rep.and a lifetime warranty so i figured i had nothing to lose and being that all the guitar shops around almost never has any lefties in stock i had no other choice but trust. damn im glad i did!! not only am i proud and confident of the name on the head stock the guitar has looks that kill.eyeballing from head stock on down you see the esp ltd logo going down to the locks next travel down the neck and admire the beauty of its shark fin pearl inlays...continue on down to the twelth fret and get proud again because there we have another logo..the model in this case it displays m-210 in pearl.want more?? we are going to examine the pick ups now...emg baby!! stock..2 hums and the bridge has an eng active after burner!! ouch!!this S.O.B. will shredd your as@ off! i proise you that three knobs the last one is a push/pull to activate the pick-up.not then as if we needed any more options there is fully equipped floyf rose trem set up for fluttering or straight tremolo.and last but not least the sound..well wat can i say the guitar its self sounds better than it looks!and the better the guitarist the better it sounds. nothing really... ive always played pearl dot inlays and it took about a day to get fully used to the shark fin inlays no biggie. immencely flawless a beautiful piece of art smooth silky strong....oops i better stop there lol..you get my drift. for you left handers out there looking for a quality hard rocking guitar and wanna get away from the ibanez for a while lke i did this is definetly the guitar for you im 24 years olde and ive been playing 17 years i havnt played alot of guitars due to the avaliability in left handed instruments but this one is by far the best of the best! it plays just like a broken in guitar right out of the box!i love that../dont you hate new guitar feel? asl stiff and all,but this wawsnt like that i could of played out live with it the day i received it..no B.S. and my dad id 46 years old and he even loves the deadly look to it .so in conclusion is say this is the greatest guitar so come along for a long time. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

ESP seems to have a ton of models like this. This is a pretty simple design which now seems discontinued. This is the ESP LTD M-400. It is a LTD version of a M series ESP. This guitar has set-through construction which ESP use to push a lot. Its like a set neck but with the neck set deeper into the guitar so its like half way to a neck through design. It has a super strat shape which is now a standard shape in the guitar world. It has an alder body with a maple neck. The fretboard is rosewood and has 24 jumbo frets with the ESP Arrowhead inlays. The neck and the headstock are fully bound in white. It has a licensed Floyd Rose bridge and locking nut. The electronics are a set of EMG 81's Kirk Hammett style. There is a tone and volume with a 3 way switch. UTILIZATION This guitar plays well like just about every other mid to high level ESP guitar. It is based off of the classic ESP MII. With the LTD ESP guitars I wouldnt recommend anything below a 400 series. Below that and you are getting into some guitars that are pretty poor in their quality. The 400s have a great balance of performance and price. The neck on this guitar is nice and thin and has a pretty flat radius. This with the jumbo frets mean you can really slam the action down. The Licensed Floyd Rose isnt great. With anything other than the perfect setup on the springs it will go out of tune if you get crazy with it. SOUNDS ESP puts EMG's in a lot of their guitars and this makes the guitars super values. You can get a 400 dollar ESP guitars with a 200 dollar set of EMG's and its not just them putting 200 dollar pickups in a 100 dollar guitar its like getting 200 dollar pickups in a 400 dollar guitar. The dual 81 set is not my favorite set but it is better than what you get in any Ibanez costing up to 3x as much. I like half of this pickups set. There is nothing wrong with an 81 in the bright position. It is a super bright pickup. It is tight and gritty and has the perfect metal tone. It doesnt get muddy and all your riffs come through perfectly. The 81 in the neck I do not like. It does not have the right voicing for a neck pickup. It has too much high end in its sound. It is not smooth at all in the neck position. It actually sounds pretty harsh. I would swap this with a smoother 85 in the neck position. OVERALL OPINION These pop up every now and again. There are current models that are pretty much the same as this but with a different pickup set. ESP doesnt put the dual 81s in many guitars anymore unless its a Hetfield Signature. The current MH-1000 is a very similar guitar but with a more comfortable arched top design. It is a more refined version of this guitar and it also comes with an 85 in the neck like I recommend. If you can get a good deal on one of these used go for it but there are plenty of new guitars that fall in the same category with similar or better specs.