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Hatsubai « More bizarre shape »
Published on 08/15/11 at 19:00This is the crazier version of the Horizon that ESP mainly keeps for the overseas market. You don't see these often in the states for some reason. The first thing I should mention is that I'm not a super huge fan of this shape when compared to the normal Horizon. That's why this category is slightly down compared to my other Horizon reviews. The guitar features alder wings with a figured maple top, maple neck-thru construction with an ebony fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets, side square inlays with a 12th fret name inlay, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch.
UTILIZATION
This is as good as any other ESP Standard Series that I've played. The fretwork is out of this world in terms of how low you can get the action without any serious fretting out. I was able to get some sick action, and even big bends weren't fretting out. The inlay work is very nice with very minimal fillers. The binding is also very nice. The figured maple top on this really pops when compared to other guitars, and I really like that. I'm not a huge fan of hard tail bridges, but I believe they offer this with a floyd rose, too.
SOUNDS
The guitar had a JB and 59 combo installed in it. The JB in the bridge is great for pretty much anything you can think of. I was switching between blues and death metal just by channel switching the amp. The JB is really a great all around pickup. However, it was a touch bright in the treble on this guitar. The 59 in the neck is awesome for those warm leads. It has just enough cut to maintain its presence, but it also has a nice low end to allow you to get that fat, warm tone that I always strive to get.
OVERALL OPINION
These can be very hard to find if you live in the US. They're very rare for whatever reason. A lot of people really like this shape, but I actually prefer the normal Horizon shape. Both are great guitars, and both sound great. If you like this body shape, jump on one of these as they're top notch players.
UTILIZATION
This is as good as any other ESP Standard Series that I've played. The fretwork is out of this world in terms of how low you can get the action without any serious fretting out. I was able to get some sick action, and even big bends weren't fretting out. The inlay work is very nice with very minimal fillers. The binding is also very nice. The figured maple top on this really pops when compared to other guitars, and I really like that. I'm not a huge fan of hard tail bridges, but I believe they offer this with a floyd rose, too.
SOUNDS
The guitar had a JB and 59 combo installed in it. The JB in the bridge is great for pretty much anything you can think of. I was switching between blues and death metal just by channel switching the amp. The JB is really a great all around pickup. However, it was a touch bright in the treble on this guitar. The 59 in the neck is awesome for those warm leads. It has just enough cut to maintain its presence, but it also has a nice low end to allow you to get that fat, warm tone that I always strive to get.
OVERALL OPINION
These can be very hard to find if you live in the US. They're very rare for whatever reason. A lot of people really like this shape, but I actually prefer the normal Horizon shape. Both are great guitars, and both sound great. If you like this body shape, jump on one of these as they're top notch players.