Hatsubai « Not bad for the price »
Published on 09/05/11 at 16:04Since George Lynch is a pretty big figure in the ESP world, it's only natural he'd have his own LTD version of his guitar. This one is a bit different from the actual sig one, so keep that in mind if you want to get his exact tone. The guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 extra jumbo frets, dot inlays with a special inlay at the 12th fret, a licensed Floyd Rose, one humbucker, one single coil, a volume knob that doubles as a pickup selector via push/pull function.
UTILIZATION
The fretwork on this model is what stood out the most. While the edges weren't finished quite as nicely as the normal ESP series, the rest of it was pretty good. The frets were nicely crowned, and I was able to get some good action without much of an issue. The guitar has a licensed floyd rose, and I'm not a huge fan of that. Considering the cost, I can see why they used this, but it's still not something I'm totally happy with. The finish on the guitar was pretty good, and there were no major flaws or anything that I found.
SOUNDS
The guitar has Duncan Designed humbuckers in it, and they were meant to model the Duncans that were in the original. However, I really don't like the original pickups, so keep that in mind. The pickups in this were kind of bland. They seemed to be a bit underpowered, and they lacked the 3d-ness that normal Duncans tend to have. The neck sounded like your average single coil, and nothing about the pickups really blew me away. It's a shame because the guitar itself sounded pretty good when played acoustically, and I bet it would scream with some good pickups in it.
OVERALL OPINION
The first thing I'd do would be swap the pickups in this model. Once you do that, you should have one great playing guitar at an even better price. The floyd on this isn't the best, but that aside, it's a very top notch guitar, especially considering how cheap these can go for on the used market. If you're a Lynch fan but dislike how bright his normal sig is, check this out.
UTILIZATION
The fretwork on this model is what stood out the most. While the edges weren't finished quite as nicely as the normal ESP series, the rest of it was pretty good. The frets were nicely crowned, and I was able to get some good action without much of an issue. The guitar has a licensed floyd rose, and I'm not a huge fan of that. Considering the cost, I can see why they used this, but it's still not something I'm totally happy with. The finish on the guitar was pretty good, and there were no major flaws or anything that I found.
SOUNDS
The guitar has Duncan Designed humbuckers in it, and they were meant to model the Duncans that were in the original. However, I really don't like the original pickups, so keep that in mind. The pickups in this were kind of bland. They seemed to be a bit underpowered, and they lacked the 3d-ness that normal Duncans tend to have. The neck sounded like your average single coil, and nothing about the pickups really blew me away. It's a shame because the guitar itself sounded pretty good when played acoustically, and I bet it would scream with some good pickups in it.
OVERALL OPINION
The first thing I'd do would be swap the pickups in this model. Once you do that, you should have one great playing guitar at an even better price. The floyd on this isn't the best, but that aside, it's a very top notch guitar, especially considering how cheap these can go for on the used market. If you're a Lynch fan but dislike how bright his normal sig is, check this out.