New Eclipse owner- a couple minor questions, with pictures

Updated
Steve A.

Long time guitar player/collector here.  I stumbled upon a nice pre-owned Standard Series Eclipse a couple days ago and took the plunge.  Pictures below.  Would anyone be able to answer the following few questions?

1.  I am assuming this was built in 2012.  Correct?  Anything else we can conclude based on the S/N?

2.  Did these ship with a "Made In Japan" sticker, either on the headstock or heel?  An image search shows me that some have it, some do not.  Mine is sans sticker.

3.  I have yet to take the knobs off to view the pot shaft type.  I am leaning towards swapping the stock top hats out for dome knobs.  Can anyone tell me which type of shaft these have (assuming they are stock), or what type of knobs you've used?

4.  I know the tech at the store where I made the purchase had to make some soldering fixes before the sale.  It looks like he did a good job.  What I am seeing is "traditional" soldering with these EMGs- no PCB / solderless style pots.  The pup leads are soldered to the back of the pots just like it would be with passives, the cap is there, a battery run, etc....  Based on my description does this sound like the stock, pre-solderless wiring style?

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

Pushead

Hey Steve,

Congrats on your new Eclipse!  It looks like it's in great shape.  Here are some answers:

1) Yep, it's a 2012 model.  The rest of the serial number can be deciphered as such (via bMusic)

For the Custom Shop and Original Series models you'll have:
K, S or T.
K = Kiso, S = Sado, T= Takada (that last one might change later this year but as it stands, that's it).
The Signature Series and Standard Series will have SS prefix.
The numbers then go like this, using the above serial number as an example:

K0340506

K = As detailed above
Two Digit Year
Week of the Year
Day of the Week - Monday=1, Tuesday=2, Wednesday=3 etc.
Number off the line that day

2) Yes, it likely came with the sticker.  They're easily removed and not that uncommon to find without the sticker.

3) The pots are knurled and split shaft.

4) ESP guitars that come with EMGs still have soldered pots.  The pickups have the quick-connect connections, but ESP uses soldered pots instead of the quick connect pots. I'm also not a fan of the quick connect pots, so I prefer it that way.

Steve A.

Thank you very much!  My Les Pauls have been giving the new family member the stink eye, but I sat everyone down and we had a long talk.  I think we're good now. 

Pushead

Yeah, I find the Eclipses fit in well with a group of Les Pauls.  Very similar feeling, so it's not difficult to swap between them.

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