The ESP Guitar Company

Hey man, I was real skeptical with the price at first too, (1799.99) but once I got my first ESP E2 M2 Urban Camo and got a chance to look it over, make a few measurements, and check out the undeniable quality and craftsmanship of these guitars, and of course once I played it, I was in heaven, the feel of the thin u neck, I’m an old Ibanez RG guy, used to the wizard necks, but this thin u was incredible, not sacrificing fret radius for comfort, so I was sold, so sold I bought another one, with the same results.  Also having ESP stamped in the 12th fret was a deal breaker. I knew they would have to have ESP stamped in it somewhere.  Kinda gives you that warm feeling that these are just like the old ESP standards.  Being that they are made in the same factory the old standards used to be made in, by the same luthiers, same machines, not just E II MII, a product rebranding.  And man how do they paint the Urban Camo paint job on these guitars, it’s like the wood was born with it already painted, no tape lines, no overspray, no buffing marks, no dull edges, no defects at all,  how do they do it?  And the camo patterns almost match between the two guitars I have, one is a 2016 model the other is a 2018 model, there are subtle differences in the paint jobs but I would say they are 85% identical. One main difference is that the 2018 model is overall darker(blacks and greys)than the 2016 model. Here’s a pic of them:

One on the left is the 2016 model, one on the right is 2018 model(slightly darker overall) I am selling all of my Ibanez guitars to buy ESP, I’m so impressed with their E2 M2 run.  The next guitar I plan on buying is the ESP E2 M2 NTB, Same as Urban Camo but black and 100 dollars cheaper (1699.99) and an ebony fretboard instead of rosewood.  Everything else is exactly the same:  active pickups EMG 81/81, Floyd, locking nut, scale 25.5, tuners(gotoh), strap locks, price(only 100 bucks difference, probably paying for the Urban Camo paint job)  Here’s a pic:

Well I’ve talked enough, bragged enough about th ESP E2 M2 line at ESP, I don’t know much about the other E2 guitars they have, i’ve seen some good reviews on the others, seen some bad reviews too. but I haven’t seen a bad one on the ESP E2 M2 line.

Love your story !! and some really nice guitars you have there  But the link i posted is about the new E ii that's about 3800 US dollar , For that price you can get a own custom made real ESP USA guitar LOL 

i thought the same thing as you when i saw the price of the urban camos, i thought i could get a custom made guitar from ESP for around 3500-4000.  so i got the paperwork together, penned out what i wanted on paper, took a pic of the paint job i wanted: it was woodland camo, the guitar i wanted them to build me was the same as the E2 M2 Urban Camos except i wanted mine in woodland camo.  so i go with my local ESP dealer and he emailed my request to ESP.  Took about 3 days to get a reply but they wanted 6800 to build the guitar, i was like WOW, i was looking at 4000, i dont have 6800, so i nixed that idea and bought another E2 M2 Urban Camo, because i liked the specs and playability of that guitar. but 6800........come on

Paint pattern matches my Kiso Hanneman, which is perfection, and aside just a tiny bit of road rust around the pickup ring bolts from being gigged for 8 years, it still looks brand new.   I believe that they silkscreen these.   There is a Custom Shop tour video or two on Youtube that shows some awesome paint jobs going on them.

I have an E2 M1 coming with Ninja lockers, Protune Rollers, and the guy had a coil tap switch put on it,  a Seymour Liberator in it, and must have messed up the paint, because he stripped the front of it and stained it in cherry, but the rest of the body is still satin matte.    I'm probably going to Tesi it to get the switch profile down, but I love the design of it.

It's breathtaking, and I can't wait to get it here.

Does anyone string their guitars like this - splitting them 3 and 3 to keep them straight off against the nut?

The 'new' M1 is here, and it is incredible.

If you're willing to dump $1,500 on a Fender piece of plastic, put in a few more bucks and get a real instrument, like this E2M1.