The ESP Guitar Company

Hello fellow ESP (and especially Metallica) fans, a long timer here as a reader but never contributed anything, mostly because I never had much to contribute.  Been a Metallica fan since mid-89 at the tail-end of the Justice era, and been playing since almost 30 years.

Been searching for a MX220 or 250 to "collect" since years (and play, of course), went through years of just reading and being undecided, always asking myself when is the right occasion would be (and which exact model) to seriously pursue after one (and totally conditioned on what's available - on the market and in my wallet, of course).  Came close a few times, but never quite pulled it off for different reasons (and at least one unpleasant experience, luckily no money lost).

So I kept browsing from time to time but never rushed it, and months and years went by.  Plus, my knowledge of exactly how the MX's evolved, from the late 80s to early 90s, throughout the 90s into the 2000's, and into the current era, took its own time to accumulate (again, as a casual reader that was just slowly accumulating knowledge, thanks to places like this forum and the Internet at large).  It's easy to browse eBay or Reverb and every so often come across a good-looking MX from the 2000s, and be on the verge of pulling the trigger on buying, at the same time, every time I would see someone with a 90s MX (and you can get a lot on social media that I follow) I'd just be so envious and feeling totally undecided if I should just keep searching or settle for a less rare model.

And I know maybe I should have just bought in to this "club" sooner with whatever model I could get, and maybe over time trade up (or trader older) progressively, I guess I could have, but I didn't have the time to do this really extensively (not a young man with ample free time anymore), so I ended up constantly changing minds about what I would target and settle for.  If all this sounds laughable, that's ok, I laugh at myself too.

And finally, I came across one that just stood out and screamed at me.  Early 90s MX250, with the original bell truss rod cover - more specifically with a 2-screw version of the bell truss rod cover!  And most intriguingly, with a serial number printed on the back of the headstock that did not fit the interpretations you typically read on theforum here or on the Internet.  The serial is 13945574.  The seller, at least the second owner who has had it for almost a decade, can't pinpoint the exact year either, but believes it to be 1990 or 1991, which sounds about right from my own research too.

I contacted ESP Custom Shop, and asked for their opinion.  Here is what they replied:

"After some research and conferring with ESP Japan, we do believe this to be a legitimate ESP MX-250.  Although the serial number does not match the standard format from this time, we believe that this was manufactured in the early 1990's.  Although uncommon, we have run into several other instruments from this era with a similar serial number layout."

... and I didn't even think there *was* a "standard format" from that era LOL

Anyway, a very happy fanboy here, 30 years of under the spell of idolizing Mr. Hetfield on the stage with that iconic 'look', and feeling for the first time legitimate to be a part of this 'club', and yes showing off somewhat here which I tend to not like doing, but also contributing a bit - that not everything you read about serial numbers from the early era is the final word on it ;-)

Here is a picture of the guitar, cheers people!