ESP STC-Shaped Guitars

For many years the ESP M-II design was something you could only get in Japan. Many people in America wanted one because on the base level this is what the Kirk Hammett signature guitar is. For many years the only way to get an M-II in America without importing one was to buy a Kirk Hammett Signature and overpay and get the ugly inlays. Now ESP has listened to everyone and started selling the standard M-II in America. This is a real ESP model it is not an LTD. This means that this guitar is made in Japan to ESP's highest specs. The neck through models feature dual EMG pickups. It features EMG 81's in the neck and bridge positions. It has an alder body with a neck through maple neck with reverse headstock. The back of the neck is raw which is something you dont find on many neck through guitars. This gives the feel of a bolt on guitar. The fretboard is rosewood and it has 24 extra jumbo frets. It features an Original Floyd Rose locking tremolo system. The controls are a volume knob and a 3 way switch, the basic control setup for most shred guitars. UTILIZATION This guitar is a stripped down players guitar. There are no fancy tops or pretty dieseased wood on this guitar. This guitar is made for playing. The neck through construction means there is no heel to be found and get in your way when playing on the high frets. The neck is super thin and smooth so you can really speed up and down. The fretboard is nice and flat and the jumbo frets let you get a low action and really dig in. I would have preferred an ebony fretboard on a guitar this expensive but rosewood is ok with jumbo frets. The Original Floyd Rose is the original and still the best. Once setup this thing is locked down and will never go out of tune. The routing is good and there is plenty of room to move on the tremolo. SOUNDS With the alder body and the maple neck this guitar cuts like crazy. EMG pickups already have crazy top and bite. These things combine to make this guitar scream like crazy. Two 81s is not the best pickup combination. The bridge tones on this guitar are super clear. The 81 is a pretty bright pickup from stock so in a neck through guitar with an alder body this guitar is cutting through anything. The 81 in the neck is not a good choice in my opinion. With a guitar this bright you would want to darken up the neck position tones. I would have preferred an 85 in the neck. The 85 would have been good in the bridge also to thicken up the naturally bright tones of the guitar. With the EMG quick connect system this makes it easy for you to swap pickups so you can try other EMG models and see what you like best. OVERALL OPINION This is right up there with the USA made Jacksons and the Prestige Ibanez guitars. These guitars are top shelf shred guitars. If you are looking at getting an ESP KH you should check one of these out and see if you can save some money when you get pretty much the same guitar.

The M-II is a guitar ESP has made for a while but was not available in America for a long time. This is a real ESP model it is not an LTD. This means that this guitar is made in Japan to ESP's highest specs. Kirk Hammett from Metallica played them for years and years and the only way to get one was to import one or buy Kirks signature model guitar. Now you can get one in America and they are really nice. The neck through models feature dual EMG pickups. It features EMG 81's in the neck and bridge positions. It has an alder body with a neck through maple neck with reverse headstock. The back of the neck is raw which is something you dont find on many neck through guitars. This gives the feel of a bolt on guitar. The fretboard is rosewood and it has 24 extra jumbo frets. It features an Original Floyd Rose locking tremolo system. The controls are a volume knob and a 3 way switch, all you need. UTILIZATION Superstrats are built to play fast and this one is no exception. The neck through construction means there is no heel to be found and get in your way when playing on the high frets. The neck is super thin and smooth so you can really speed up and down. The fretboard is nice and flat and the jumbo frets let you get a low action and really dig in. I would have preferred an ebony fretboard on a guitar this expensive but rosewood is ok with jumbo frets. The Original Floyd Rose is the original and still the best. Once setup this thing is locked down and will never go out of tune. SOUNDS EMG pickups really rip for metal but I am not a fan of the 81 in the neck. The bridge tones on this guitar are super clear. The 81 is a pretty bright pickup from stock so in a neck through guitar with an alder body this guitar is cutting through anything. The 81 in the neck is not a good choice in my opinion. With a guitar this bright you would want to darken up the neck position tones. I would have preferred an 85 in the neck. The 85 would have been good in the bridge also to thicken up the naturally bright tones of the guitar. OVERALL OPINION This is a great alternative to a Jackson or something. Since this is a real ESP you are pretty much getting custom shop level quality on this guitar. It is built for speed and metal. The sound the guitar puts out will cut through any mix even with the heaviest gain and the lowest tunings. If you are looking for a great solid metal guitar this is one of the best.

The ESP Horizon series is an arched top version of the M body, and they're usually neck-thru. However, there are so many different variations that have occurred throughout the years that it's kind of hard to compare one guitar to another without knowing the total specs. The one I'm referring to is actually a bolt-on model. It contains a swamp ash body, maple neck with an ebony fretboard, 24 extra jumbo frets, a slanted neck single-coil sized humbucker, a regular humbucker in the bridge, a floyd rose synclair bridge, one volume, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION This guitar is older, so there are a few flaws that I found. The neck joint itself was nice, but some of the frets were a bit uneven. I found this out when I started really slamming the action. This could have been due to wear since the guitar is so old, so it's hard to say that's ESP's fault. The binding was nicely done, and the fret edges weren't sharp at all. The guitar came with one of those old ESP Synclair floyds. These are great floyds, but they have a tendency to not come with bars. The bars aren't interchangeable with the current floyds, so that can be a big downer if you are missing one. You also cannot drop in an OFR without some slight routing. SOUNDS The guitar sounded great, although it was a touch bright. A lot of that has to do with the swamp ash body coupled with the ebony fretboard. Swamp ash has pretty hyped bass and treble. You need to select a proper pickup to really match with this, and the JB that was in the bridge was a bit too bright for this guitar. I think a Custom would have been a better match. The neck was a slanted single coil humbucker Hot Rails pickup. This delivered some great lead tones that were super smooth and fat. The clean tones weren't the best, but it's workable. If you replace the standard 3 way switch with one that'll split the inner coils of both pickups, you'll get an awesome single coil-esque tone. OVERALL OPINION If you can find an older Horizon, I highly recommend picking one up. They're well built guitars, and they play fantastic. Keep in mind that a lot of them came with the old ESP Synclair bridge. If it has that bridge, be sure it has all the pieces and isn't missing anything. These bridges are getting more and more rare, as are parts for them. If you decide to drop in an OFR, understand that it may require some slight routing to get it to fit perfectly.

The ESP Horizon II FR is part of the Horizon series that ESP has had since the 80s. This guitar features a mahogany body with a quilted maple top, a maple neck-thru body with an ebony fretboard and 24 extra jumbo frets, small square inlays with a name on the 12th fret, binding, an original floyd rose, two humbuckers, one volume, one tone and a three way switch. UTILIZATION The fretwork on the ESP Standard series is usually pretty awesome. The frets are nicely leveled, have a good crown and aren't sharp at all. The neck itself is a fairly thin U shaped neck that's not quite as thin as the Ibanez Wizard neck, but it's fairly close. The binding is clean without any real flaws, the body feels awesome, and the finish is very stunning to look at thanks to its transparent red finish and quilted maple top. As always, these guitars sport an original floyd rose, which I happen to think is the best out of all the floyds out there. SOUNDS This guitar is an absolute metal machine. The EMGs in this thing just kill. The EMG 81 in the bridge creates this harmonically rich and bitey metal tone that can cut through the densest mix, and thanks to the mahogany wings, it helps thicken up what would otherwise be an overly bright guitar. The 85 in the neck gives a super huge, fat and powerful lead tone that sings for days. You can do crazy legato runs without any issues thanks to this pickup. OVERALL OPINION If you're in the market for a great metal great, definitely check this out. Some people may not like the arched top body compared to the M series, but I find it feels pretty nice. It gives it that almost Les Paul kinda feel at times. The biggest issue with these guitars is that they're fairly pricey. In fact, they're some of the most expensive in the Standard lineup. Because of that, I recommend trying to buy one used.

* Bolt-on neck * 25.5" Scale * Alder Body * Maple Neck * Rosewood Fingerboard * 42mm Locking Nut (43mm Neck Width) * Extra Thin U Neck Contour * 24 XJ Frets * Black Nickel Hardware * Gotoh Tuners * Floyd Rose Original Bridge * Duncan JB/59 pickup set * Master Volume * 3-Way Toggle UTILIZATION This is a great super strat! One of the original superstrats ever to be produced for the metal player! Simple design, simple layout and simple controls with the added metalness of the original floyd rose, which is of course very very stable. It is easier than a strat in terms of upper fret access, definitely is, but it's not AS easy as some other guitars out there. I generally don't mind neck through or bolt-on guitars, I have no personal preference I think they're both fine. The thin U neck contour is of course good, it's probably ESP's most popular neck profile. It's not uber-thin like an ibanez wizard but still thin enough to comfortably shred on. Nearly everything about this guitar is high quality, the finish is perfect, the fretwork is of course amazing, the floyd rose is original and stable the pickups are quality pickups also. SOUNDS You can't go wrong with the JB/59 pickup set. It's seymour duncan's most famous and versatile pickup set, not too hot and very usable for metal. I prefer this pickup set over the EMGs as they seem to be a bit more dynamic, you can clean up by rolling the volume down and still get usable sounds, whilst with EMGs you cannot. The sounds are very versatile. I can get any sounds from rock to death metal with these pickups. The JB is generally high output but has a sharp attack so notes and chords are clear.The 59 is tubby, in a good way for thicker leads. Clean the 59 is a very thick clean PAF-type humbucker. The JB is also quite good and has plenty of headroom, it doesn't break up with harder right hand technique on the clean channel of an amp. I'm giving this an 8 simply because I am SO used to the sound of these pickups, they are installed on SO many guitars nowadays that it's sort of becoming way too standardized that instead of sounding great, it's sounding average. But with an alder body, maple neck and rosewood board and this pickup set. You're already going to be getting the sound you'd get from 90% of guitars out there. This is a very common set of woods and pickups being used. Thus the sound would be very common as well, the perks would be that the guitar is well made. OVERALL OPINION Overall it's what I'd call the staple metal guitar. It's got a simple volume and 3 way with a great neck, good high output pickups and an awesome floyd rose that's built to last. And it's all black! What else does one need? My only beef with ESPs overall is their stupid logo on the 12th fret. It's so big, it's like an advertisement on your guitar and it's so ugly. I hate it! Even when you pay top dollar, you'll still get that nasty inlay! I'd want to pay top dollar to NOT have any more advertising! Though the guitar's looks are not versatile, the actual quality of the guitar is great and the sounds ARE versatile. So of course depending on how you rock it, this would mainly be a guitar more suited for heavier styles of music.

ESP has been one of the prominent companies to come out of Japan that delivers quality guitars. The M-II is their flagship model that became famous thanks to guitarists like Kirk Hammett. The M-II is a bolt-on alder bodied, maple neck'd guitar. There are many versions of these out there, but mine has a maple fretboard with a 3 way switch and a single volume knob. The small abalone dots with the ESP logo at the 12th fret keep everything nice and clean. UTILIZATION Everything on this guitar was built for performance. The neck is a very round, slim C shaped neck with a 12'' radius. Upper fret access is quite nice with the recessed neck joint that's similar to Fender's American neck joint. In fact, I think the ESP version one came first, but I'm not entirely sure. The original floyd rose is nicely sunken in the body to allow for a real sleek feel. The body on this is actually slightly smaller than a regular superstrat, so if you're coming from a Jackson Dinky, this should feel right at home. SOUNDS This guitar just flat out rips. It has an awesome grind that really cuts through without sounding overly harsh. It came with a JB in the bridge, and it sounded good, but I replaced it with a Distortion to tighten things up even more. I'm still going back and forth between the Custom and Distortion; both pickups sound awesome in this thing. However, the lead tones on this are somewhat thin sounding for some reason. I tried both the 59 and the Jazz, and both of them aren't delivering exactly what I'm looking for. It's definitely workable, though. OVERALL OPINION ESP makes very high quality guitars, and this is no exception. The M-II is a great guitar that goes for a nice price on the used market. Anybody looking for a Jackson Dinky alternative should definitely be checking out this guitar.

(Originally written by yungsoo/translated from Audiofanzine FR) First of all, I don't own this guitar but I had the opportunity to play it for half an hour at a shop. ESP Custom Shop made in Japan. 24 frets with "Fuck You" inlay at fret 12. EMG 81 on the bridge (sure) and neck (not sure). Original Floyd Rose tremolo. It stays perfectly in tune. Two volume controls, tone control and 3-way toggle switch. Very slim and pleasant body-through neck (I guess). 3-mm inlays! Perfect finish. UTILIZATION Very pleasant, slim and comfortable neck... Very easy access to the upper frets. Ergonomically shaped body. I believe the guitar is heavier than the KH-2. You'll easily get a good sound if your a heavy metal player. SOUNDS I play metal so this guitar is perfect for me. I tested it with a Peavey Bandit 112 (2007 version). It's not a tube amp but the sound was accurate and sharp... awesome. With a a V-shaped EQ you get a great Mesa sound (think Master of Puppets), but the guitar sounds good with any kind of distortion. With a lower gain and another EQ setting you can get a nice soft distortion. The clean sound is not very good. Only the neck pickup sounds ok in clean mode. (but you'll buy this guitar to play heavy metal!) You'll definitely get the best sounds with a heavy distortion (Metallica sound)! I give it a 10 for heavy metal. OVERALL OPINION As I already said, I don't own this guitar. It's a Japanese custom shop guitar (Hammett's signature model)! It's very difficult to find it in a store. That's certainly one of the reasons why it's so expensive. But it's also a high-quality guitar... ESP's "haute couture"!!!