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Hatsubai « ESP's take on the superstrat »
Published on 03/17/11 at 09:43ESP 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.
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.