EC Series Guitars

jfk911jfk911
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    jfk911

    Hey guys Im new to this forum and thinking of picking up a EC series guitar, Ive been gasing for a single cutaway guitar. My main two guitars right now are a classic players 60s strat and a standard Telecaster. I want to add a humbucker guitar to the mix, i have a Ibanez RG im not a huge fan of the neck or the floyd rose so it only gets used when i absolutley need too. I also have a schecter S1 elite that i have had for ages, things plays and sounds awesome but i want something not as flashy. Since i dont play my humbuckers close to as much as my single coils im going to buy used.

    Now i know the questions im going to ask have been kinda answered in this forum and in others but i still dont have a clear answer in my head.

    I have narrowed my search to a couple guitars now playing each one before i make up my mind is kinda hard as they are spread over the province.

    1) EC-256 MGO aged finish with upgraded Seymour duncan Alnico II Pro pick ups c/w gig bag 

    2) EC-500 in Olympic white with  the stock 81/60 pair of EMG's, If i buy this guitar i will swap the pick ups as i dont want active. c/w HSC

    3) 2013 LPJ all stock, Now i know this guitar is kinda the odd one out but i really dig the rubbed finish that these guitars have and will adapt to the neck difference. c/w gig bag

    4) EC401 VF not 100% sold on color yet but has passive pick ups which is a plus.

     

    If i buy option 1 or 3 ill need to buy a HSC, Option 2 would need a pick up swap would sell the EMGs but looks like i will only get $150 for the pair. Option 4 i would need to verify if it comes with a case.

     

    Now my problem is i have always wanted a gold top and really like the aged finish of the EC256 but it has inferior hardware to the EC500 or the EC401. Now i have read in a couple places that the build quality is different as they are all built in different countries.

    My gut tells me i should suck it up and buy the EC500 and do the pick up swap as it should be the better guitar, however the color to me is just meh. I dont mind the white but if i bought new i would not pick white.

    My heart tells me to get the aged gold finish and replace hardware as i see fit, but how different is the build quality of them all? In a blind test would i be able to feel the differnce between all? 

    Anyways hopefully you guys can shed some light on this for me as i have no experiance with any ESP/LTD products.

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    Auriemma
    Auriemma wrote

    Or wait and keep looking for an EC-1000 and be done with it. 

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      jfk911
      jfk911 wrote

      I've thought of that, I'm just unsure if i want to spend more money on a guitar that might not get a lot of playing time.

      There is the possibilty that i completley fall in love with it and which point id invest in a EC1000 vintage black or gold top. Unfortunatley most EC1000 that are for sale used all have the abalone binding which i dont want or they are asking a stupid amount for.

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        Nathan S.
        Nathan S. wrote

        Might I add in to the mix the EC1000T. Traditional 22 fret vs 24, thicker body which in my opinion gives thicker tone than my standard EC1000. And, the newer models have traditional multi-layer binding instead of abalone. Can pick up used ones pretty reasonable.

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          jfk911
          jfk911 wrote

          I found a couple of them used was a little more than i wanted to spend right now maybe i can talk them down a bit. I didnt want to spend more than $500 as i said it could very well not get very much use.

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            Adam Kasnyóczki
            Adam Kasnyóczki wrote

            I have an EC-200 now, and dude, it's more comfortable than my bed. You can check out that too and it's great upgrade material and has coil split. But you can save money and go for a VF, older ones have SDs, newer ones come with DiMarzios.

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              jfk911
              jfk911 wrote

              Thats what i think im going to do is wait for a VF to come available. Despite me wanting the gold top, i think this will be the better decision. So ill be patient and wait for one to pop up where they are not asking $750 bucks for one.

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