ESP Axxion

I remember when this guitar came out Dave said it was like his weapon for going into battle or something. This guitar sure is something with its strange shape. It didnt last long because not long after Dave was off to Dean guitars. This guitar was made to celebrate Megadeths 20th anniversary. The guitar has a mahogany body with a mahogany neck and a neck through design. The fretboard is rosewood with X X inlays. It has 24 jumbo frets on its rosewood fretboard. It has a set of Seymour Duncan pickups with a Jazz in the neck and a JB in the bridge. It has locking tuners and a locking bridge like most good ESP guitars. It also has straplocks. The controls are 2 volume and 1 tone control with a 3 way switch.

UTILIZATION

Sometimes the craziest looking guitars have the best balance. The balance on this guitar is pretty good. One thing I do not like is the control placement. With the top horn and lower horn the controls end up being like a mile apart. I would have placed the pickup selector down by the rest of the controls. The locking tuners keep you in tune and the locking bridge prevents the bridge from falling out during string changes and messing up your intonation. Straplocks are nice and flush mounted straplocks are even better on a guitar like this where the strap is on the back of the guitar. With flush mounted straplocks you dont have the locking mechanism poking you while you play.

SOUNDS

This guitar came out before Dave Mustaines signature active pickups came out. This is the set Dave used for many years before getting his own pickups. This is probably the 2nd most popular set of Seymour Duncan pickups. The JB and the Jazz is a good set if you are playing heavier music. The JB is a great bridge pickup when combined with the right wood guitar. In a mahogany guitar like this it is perfect. The low end is tight but not djent tight. It has a nice about of sag to it. It has good midrange and high end to it. It cuts really well and does not get muddy. The Jazz in the neck is clear and tight. The Jazz is like a more modern sounding 59 pickup. It is as smooth as the 59 but it has a bit more top end so it so it does not get as muddy as the 59 when you are playing with high gain.

OVERALL OPINION

I do not think these ugitars sold very well. The shape is just too unusual. This is one of the problems with signature guitars. Sometimes the artists wants something so unique there is really no point in selling it to the public. Only die hard Mustaine fans are going to be interested in a guitar like this. Other than the shape it is a pretty typical guitar with a mahogany body and Seymour Duncan pickups. That stuff makes it good but there are other good guitars out there with that hardware that dont come in a super crazy shape like this.