LTD GL-200MT George Lynch [2009-2010]

The LTD GL-200MT is a lower cost alternative to Lynch's pricier ESP signature. It's a fast and commanding guitar. It features a basswood body, with a maple neck (my favourite board wood BTW)and 22 frets, rounding off the guitar is a licensed Floyd that workds pretty well.

The controls are bonehead simple, just one volume knob to control a single bridge humbucker, in the style of Charvel's of old (as a matter of fact the entire guitar owes a debt to Charvel, as I'll elaborate on later.)



UTILIZATION

Strat style guitars always have great upper fret access (for me anyways. This guitar spits out 80s metal riffs like no tomorrow, and it has a well balanced distorted tone. Comfort cuts are in the same places as a strat.

The best thing about this guitar is the neck. It's definitely got a Charvel vibe to it. It's thin and fast, with a satin finish and big frets. I'd steel wool the neck though to get it to be even faster and smoother. It has an ever so slightly squared profile compared to a Charvel neck, which bugs me a bit, but for a shredder on a budget, it'll do.

SOUNDS

The first thing I played on this guitar was Street Fighting Man (one of my favourite Lynch riffs), and man did it sound good! This guitar is at home on a Marshally amp, and higher gain stuff. Having said that, the bridge pickup isn't stellar, and an upgrade to something more agressive would work. You could even stick a screamin' demon in there and get closer to the specs of an ESP Lynch model.

I'm not sure anyone would buy this guitar if they were playing blues through an AC30, or jazz through a JC-120, and needless to say, clean tones aren't the best on this guitar.

I don't like the black chrome hardware, I'd prefer chrome or black. Black chrome hardware screams "lower end asian guitar" to me.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall, the ESP LTD GL-200MT is a solid, giggable guitar. It does one thing, and one thing only, ROCK! The neck is fast and the graphic is an eye catcher for sure! It's a good introduction to the world of superstrats, and it's one of the better guitars out there that represents what a superstrat is all about.