ESP Kiko Loureiro SE

Kiko Loureiro is one sick player, and his guitar happens to be one of my favorite guitars that ESP has ever made. It's based off of a Horizon, but it also has features from the MX, such as 27 frets. That might seem excessive to some people, but the 27 frets make this thing really easy to reach the upper frets on this thing. The guitar features a mahogany body with a figured maple top, a neck-thru maple neck with an ebony fretboard, 27 extra jumbo frets with 12-27 scalloped, a signature mark at the 24th fret, binding, an original floyd rose, HS configuration, one volume, one tone w/ coil split and a three way switch.

UTILIZATION

The flame on these guitars is pretty cool. It's not the most extreme flame you've ever seen, but it's still a nice and showy flame. The construction on this guitar is truly top notch. The frets were absolutely perfect in every possible way. They were nicely rounded off, had a great bevel and were super shiny. The guitar has a scalloped fretboard half way up the neck, and this allows for some super insane vibrato. The coolest thing about this guitar is that it has 27 frets. This means you can reach the 24th fret without any issue, although the 27th fret is a bit cramped.

SOUNDS

The guitar has Seymour Duncan pickups installed in it. In the bridge is a Custom 5. This is a Custom with an Alnico V magnet installed in it. It gives it a bit of a more organic feel to it. It works quite nice with this wood combo, and while I normally prefer the original Custom, it fit perfectly. The Hot Rails in the neck is great, especially with it being pushed back like it is. It means that you get more clarity and less of that annoying mud that can sometimes result. The guitar also has a coil split feature, and this is pretty cool for clean tones and such. I was able to get a real sick clean tone with the neck split.

OVERALL OPINION

These are super hard to find here in the states, but if you find one, grab it immediately. They're amazing guitars for those of you who like to play leads. Nearly everything about this thing is perfect, and playing the scalloped fretboard made me remember how much I love scallops. Definitely a buy.