Hatsubai « Old school Kramer style »
Published on 08/15/11 at 19:27ESP is mostly known for their super strats, but they also have a special guitar called a Jerk that is more like an old school Kramer. It's meant for those guys who are big time EVH fans. The guitar features an alder body, a bolt-on maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, abalone dot inlays, an original floyd rose, one humbucker and one volume knob.
UTILIZATION
This guitar was put together fantastically. There were no gaps in the neck joint at all. It was super tight. On top of that, it was carved back a bit, so you could reach the upper frets easier than a standard Fender joint. The fretwork was off the charts on this model. Ridiculously low action was no problem at all. The ends were also nice and rounded. On top of that, the neck felt very broken in, so it was super comfortable to play on. The guitar has an original floyd rose, so it already has one of the best floyds out there.
SOUNDS
I'll start off with the bad first. This guitar only has one humbucker. I'm a big fan of two humbucker guitars because I like that super fat and smooth neck tone. I also like using the necks for cleans. However, this guitar was meant for old school 80s rockers who just want pure power with the bridge pickup, and it delivers. The guitar had a Duncan Custom in the bridge. The Custom helps tone down some of that brightness that the alder body naturally has. It's very fat and thick sounding, but it's also got some good bite to it. On top of that, the ceramic magnet keeps everything tight, so you can really play any genre you want on this guitar.
OVERALL OPINION
These are very hard to find over here, and I think they were released overseas only. If you can manage to find one of these and are looking for a Charvel or Kramer replacement, this is definitely worth checking out. You'll probably have a hard time finding one here, so you'll most likely want to search Yahoo Japan or Digimart for a deal on one of these.
UTILIZATION
This guitar was put together fantastically. There were no gaps in the neck joint at all. It was super tight. On top of that, it was carved back a bit, so you could reach the upper frets easier than a standard Fender joint. The fretwork was off the charts on this model. Ridiculously low action was no problem at all. The ends were also nice and rounded. On top of that, the neck felt very broken in, so it was super comfortable to play on. The guitar has an original floyd rose, so it already has one of the best floyds out there.
SOUNDS
I'll start off with the bad first. This guitar only has one humbucker. I'm a big fan of two humbucker guitars because I like that super fat and smooth neck tone. I also like using the necks for cleans. However, this guitar was meant for old school 80s rockers who just want pure power with the bridge pickup, and it delivers. The guitar had a Duncan Custom in the bridge. The Custom helps tone down some of that brightness that the alder body naturally has. It's very fat and thick sounding, but it's also got some good bite to it. On top of that, the ceramic magnet keeps everything tight, so you can really play any genre you want on this guitar.
OVERALL OPINION
These are very hard to find over here, and I think they were released overseas only. If you can manage to find one of these and are looking for a Charvel or Kramer replacement, this is definitely worth checking out. You'll probably have a hard time finding one here, so you'll most likely want to search Yahoo Japan or Digimart for a deal on one of these.