M-100 98/99 Questions

Updated
Corey B.

Literally just got back in to playing guitar again. After some pretty good damage to my left hand and forearm, and life events (30 years wrenching) I'm going at it from scratch. I started modding guitars as a hobby to keep my mind active. I recently came across a diamond in the rough. 98/99 M-100. I was going to make a ouija replica but after having it stripped for refinishing, while I was having it painted I was told the body was alder not basswood. I chose to just leave it black. The sn# is E036239 made in Korea. Has any one else found one as a alder body? I  modded the bridge rout to follow the frs. Emg khbb, frs with brass block and steel saddles.

91horizon

These ollder ESP LTDs are awesome guitars. I have some also that are alder. The quality of them are really close to my Japan ESPs. Anytime I see a H-100,200, or 300 from these early years (96-02 or so) I try and buy them. Nice score.

Corey B.

Thank you, I have a kh602 neck through, and mh350 set in neck, and the m100 proudly holds its own against them. I call it my working man's kh2 bolt on.

Grendels_Grundle

Alternative theory... maybe more of a 2001-2002 and possibly agathis wich is often referred to as "Asian alder". Most of my Korean 'E' serials are from models i know were produced from 2000-2002... this is also backed up by forum user Pushead who iv seen post here often and who seems quite knowledgeable about esps/ltds. (post linked below)

https://www.espguitars.com/forums/1963220/posts/4691299-serial-number-information

while the catalogs are missing from the product archive under the support section of this site, from 2001-2004 I'v tracked down the 2003 and 2004 catalogs and sure, as of 2000 they were listed basswood, but as of 2003 the 50 and 100 series of similar models were listed as agathis. the 2003 catalog also has no M-100, but instead has the M-100fm and says "new for 2003" which leads me to speculate the m-100 may have carried on to 2002? possibly they transitioned to agathis in those 01-02 years? a bit speculative on my part for sure but at least  thay're educated speculations.... maybe someone with those missing 01-02 catalogs can confirm or deny?

agathis sits above basswood and poplar on the janka hardness scale and depending on the specific sub-species or what ever covers the alder range and gets as hard as the softest ash and just under mahogany (info from the wood database web site) i own 2 agathis ltds and they put me more in mind of ash guitars tonewise. they're both a bit heavy/dense but have excellent sustain and a bit more of a scooped lower-mid range and an aggressiveness in the scrapey high-mid to high frequency range. good metal guitar wood, less of a warm vintage style guitar wood... but again it can vary so dont judge an agathis guitar with out playing it. gets a bad wrap i feel cause its often used on cheap guitars with cheap parts, maybe just cheap due to availability? 

 

Corey B.

I was told that 2000/2001 were moved to China, thats why I was going off 98/99 korean production theory. Regardless this does compete well with the higher tier guitars, and holds it's own. I'm definitely impressed with the quality of a lower model.

Grendels_Grundle

sooooo i was trying to find an original 98 or 99 catalog to stick in the case of my green 98/99 eclipse standard (cause im a collectory weirdo) and came across this photo in a listing on reverb today... i never realized having only quickly flipped thru the pdf on esps product archive for info on various other models that it was actually missing a page for the 100 series.... i thought the 200 series was just an arbitrary model number and they moved to the multi tiered 100/200/300 series system the next year... the table of contents should have tipped me off i guess.

anywho... you were right! this page confirms in 98 they were in fact alder. super sweet score of a guitar! case closed.

Corey B.

I know Esp/Ltd supposedly had bad organization and record keeping during that period. That's why trying to get info is a little difficult. I'm glad you were able to find that, it helps remove some of the headache with identifying it.

Thank You for finding it.

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