Grassroots/LTD hardware changes vs signature

NightwindKingNightwindKing
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    NightwindKing
    This may be the wrong place to post... if so, sorry, go ahead and move it. So. I've been reading the forums here for a while but can't quite find an answer to my question, so I figured I'd post myself and hope for some answers. I'm a huge fan of Visual Kei, and the band Versailles in particular... I also love guitars and music in general. So awhile ago I decided it would be really sweet if I could get ahold of one of the guitars that the band members use...preferably one of the Versailles ones, but the ones used by NIGHTMARE or Kagrra are cool too. Primarily because I love the sound, but also just because it would be cool to be able to say I've got the same kind of guitar. Buuut....those guitars, the duplicate ones made like theirs', are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Holy cow. I could buy a CAR for that price, why would I spend it on a guitar? Soooooo...I was looking around and realized two things: firstly, the Grassroots line produces some of their guitars with slight alterations, and secondly there are some LTD guitars that have the same body and design. As far as I can tell, the only big differences are the types of pickups and tuners used, which should be easy to change. Granted, GOTOH tuners aren't cheap, but at least I'd have the shape right and could 'upgrade' the guitar to the real thing over time, right? But there's gotta be a catch. It would cost me around 750$ to buy something like a LTD f-350 and add GOTOH tuner and humbuckers...yet that's still less than a third of the cost of an ACTUAL ESP Forest GT. So... what gives? Why the huge price difference? Obviously it's not the hardware...maybe I'm a guitar idiot (noob, sure, idiot no) but that doesn't make sense to me. Even the woods are the same! So why the HUGE price difference? Second part of my question is: what do you guys think of this idea/plan? And I don't want "it's stupid go away stop posting" responses, thanks. Seriously, I'd like to hear whether this idea would work, and if not what alternatives I have. Thanks in advance!
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    slovakzombiehero
    slovakzombiehero wrote

    The types of wood might be the same, but the quality of said wood, as well as the craftsmanship and man hours put into them are vastly different. Even if you got a Grassroots version and replaced all the hardware and all the electronics to match the ESP equivalent, you'd notice a huge difference.

    It's cool to have the same kind of guitar as someone who listen to/ idolize or whatever, but if you want to get the best bang for you buck, you might want to look for something else. If you're going to save up to modify an F350 ($750, you said) you might as well save a little more and get an Edwards Forest GT, which would be a better guitar.

    Or not. I don't know.

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      NightwindKing
      NightwindKing wrote

      @slovak

      Ah, yeah I didn't think about that. Good point.

      I guess it's more down to not having all the money at the same time...yes, I COULD wait and save up for an Edwards (which run like 1000, right?), but it would take be twice as long to save for on my budget. The idea was that if I could find a cheaper guitar that's the same body quality, I could upgrade the equipment over time.

      Going off that idea, do you have any suggestions for either a body to start with or a certain line? IE, would it be better to start with a LTD f-350 or a used low-end Edwards? Basically I've only got about 500 right now, so anything more will have to wait a while, which...it's not the end of the world, but eh...I'm not a patient dude.

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        NightwindKing
        NightwindKing wrote

        Right.

        Needs? lol no. My list of needs is "as close to what's used by xxxx band member as possible". At the moment, I'm nowhere near producing any records or anything, so having my own custom guitar unique to me isn't important. I care mostly about reproducing the look and sound quality. Whether that means a certain type of wood, pickup, or tuner, whatever.

        I like the Horizon-3 too... but I have a hard time telling what LTD is similar as it's a pretty generic shape.

        I mean, honestly even if I HAD 3000$ I would NOT spend it on a guitar, not unless I was a career musician or pop star.
        So that said, I guess I just want a quality ESP guitar that fits these two requirements:
        1. Has the body shape and wood of on of the following: ESP Forest GT, ESP Horizon-III, ESP Bottom Line GT, ESP Antelope, ESP RF-00SL, ESP N-SS-500, or and ESP N-HH-460
        2. Can take a GOTOH tuner and bridge and Seymour Duncan pickups.

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          NightwindKing
          NightwindKing wrote

          Also, I would just like to say (although this has nothing to do with LTDs...)

          That the Mana Moi Dix Mois guitar looks SICK.

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