The ESP Guitar Company

havent played the ntb but i did play a vintage which is also a neck thru and that guitar completely raped ... it was even set up like shit and the guitar felt amazing


mii neck thrus go for about 800-1000 used over here and the kh2's are hard to find but go for arounf 2k used ... chances are it is made in the SS shop, so id go with the MII at that price point since the guitars are a bit similar minus a few tweaks to the kh2

You can't really think of them as separate "shops" or "factories". Most of the factories do both Standard and Custom series guitars. Realistically, it's the amount of time spent on a specific guitar and/or the attention to detail.

As told by our resident ESP Artist, Llexi:
The Kiso facility was geared up to be making batches of Original Series and Custom Shop models on a constant bases - so the bulk of their production capacity was routine catalogue instruments. It seems to me that they would often take on the 'overflow' of international custom orders if it became necessary.

The Tokyo facility appears to have more dedicated 'one off' custom production capacity, mostly for overseas orders, since they deal with the bulk of the domestic stuff in the Craft and Technical Houses (TH, CH)

The way to tell with a post-2003 instrument is usually by the stamp on the back of the headstock. "ESP Custom Shop" would signify the a custom level treatment "ESP Standard Series" or "ESP Signature Series" would typically signify standard level treatment. Older than 2003 would typically have a "ESP Custom Guitars" stamp, which could mean just about anything.

Thanks Pushead. So in short there isn't any difference between the KH-2 and M-II since they are both SS series.