ESP KH-2 SE 'Greenburst' - Where were they built ?

Updated
ESP KH-2 SE 'Greenburst' - Where were they built ?

Hi guys,

After this post about the difference of hardware (Europe, US, RoHS, Black, Chrome, ...) I'm coming with a new question about this guitar :

- Where were they built ?

I saw some "Custom Shop" on Youtube, with the back plate recessed and a K serial, I've got a "Signature Series" with a SS serial.

Do the Custom Shop ones are extras from the original 100 produced ?

Do Kiso factory built guitars can leave the wharehouse with a SS serial ?

Cheers,

G.

muhammad anwar

I agree.... any person can say anything they want to say or anything they want to believe.... how do you expect us to believe you?unless you have emails reply from esp japan, link to official esp website stating it or at least proof you working with the esp guitar organisation..... its more like you hear it from someone else who claim that they get info from esp japan and they pass the info to you etc and now you pass the info to us.... thats how rumors and wild speculations happen.... its either we believe you who is nobody in esp organisation or believe someone working in esp?if you really received reply email from esp japan years ago you can still retrieved it by searching email search typing esp... unless you deleted it which i dont believe so as that email reply is crucial evidence and facts you need to know in the future

muhammad anwar

 

TOP QUESTIONS What is the difference between ESP and LTD models? For example, the ESP Snakebyte seems so similar to the LTD Snakebyte, but the price is significantly different!

ESP guitars are built in our main factory and custom-shop located in Japan. These are completely built and assembled by highly skilled craftsmen using the best parts & wood selection. LTD guitars are produced in our factories outside of Japan (currently Korea, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam), and are manufactured in larger quantities using an assembly-line production method. This results in lower priced instruments. For more detailed information, here is a helpful article that explains the differences between our brands.TOP read this.....believe you or believe this....

Sky Rodz

Btw just for your info ESP will only release whatever guitar only to their so called Authorized distributor. And how & whats make you think that anyone can get or buy direct from their factory?

muhammad anwar

EXPcustom
Sky Rodz wrote:

Btw just for your info ESP will only release whatever guitar only to their so called Authorized distributor. And how & whats make you think that anyone can get or buy direct from their factory?

I'm in the "business" Jeff Hanneman gave me his personal guitars, in fact his tech even ordered a guitar for me through ESP of Japan. I think I know how things work. Like I said you guys can believe me or not. ESP of Japan can clarify this information. If you guys want to believe SS and K serial are the exact same guitars and materials then great. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

 

 

EXPcustom

Your SS ESPs were finished at ESP Japan Factory in Saitama, Tokyo as in painted, electronics stuffed and its final setup. They do not make neck thru body blanks there.

Wood are ocean-shipped by ESP to Vladivostok, Russia where the materials are transshipped by train about 200 km to the Suifenhe Sino-Russian Trade Zone via shipping container. There they enter China at the Suifenhe port of entry and move an additional 120+ km to the ESP factory at Jixi. After the semi-finished guitars leave the factory, it is possible to reach Japan directly by means of overland and marine transport from Suifenhe customs office via Vladivostok or Nakhodka, Russia.

EXPcustom

Here we go. Proof right here, ESP of Japan issues a warning to its Japanese customers that SS serial guitars are not made with the same materials and QC as Japanese ESPs and will not honor warranties on these guitars in Japan:

https://web.archive.org/web/20070607171543/http://www.espguitars.co.jp:80/whatsnew/expotmodel_attention2.html

muhammad anwar

so is the K series esp made by the same wood material import from russia?

EXPcustom

No K series is nice materials. K and T serial guitars or ESP in general for the custom stuff sources wood from all over the world.

Pushead

I'm really not having a difficult time believing this. Does it really matter where the body shapes were cut if all of the finishing and QC details are being done by the people in Japan? They're still high-quality guitars, they're just not the highest quality ESP has to offer. I guess that's why they're called E-II now.

Heck, I have an "American" car, made in Quebeq out of parts from Mexico using steel (likely) from China. I'd bet some of us here have Japanese cars, built in the U.S.

It's a shame that there's a division in the middle of a run of limited KH sigs, though. We had a similar thread a few years back about a guy who bought a SS Snakebyte at CS price. He was a bit miffed by it.

 

So are you trying to tell me that the 100pcs COA that was signed by Kirk and ESP factory manager was not true? So its fake?

 

No, he's saying that the Greenburst KH guitars with SS serial numbers had the body made in China at an ESP factory. Not the same guys as the CS. They're still legit ESP guitars.

Sky Rodz

yah i can read that. But don't expect me to believe him.haha

Pushead
Sky Rodz wrote:

yah i can read that. But don't expect me to believe him.haha

 

Your questions made it seem like you thought he was saying they were fake guitars.

What's the difference between having the body cut on a CNC machine in China vs a CNC machine in Japan?

MetalliDeth

I can believe it! I noticed that on my esp m2 and others on the net the arm cut on the body is different than the cusstom shop m 2 deluxe or the esp kh2 customs! Check it out...

the ss m2 cut is higher on the left side and the custom kh2 is longer towards the right

MetalliDeth

Looks like the esp se has the same cut as my standard m2 ntb... 

 

ESP 348

Wow, interesting observation there Mike! I never, ever noticed the cut on any of my KH guitars. But I will dig through some pics and take a good look at them.

MetalliDeth

Yes! Putting 2 nd 2 together with what that guy said about s being made in china makes perfect sense! The ss body cuts are different than the K or T serial numbers. At first i thought maybe it was just to differentiate from the kh series but that cant be true since even the M2 deluxes have the same cut as the custom kh guitars. Now i 100% believe the bodies for ss are china made. ESP is known for shady marketing anyways.. 

if you have any ss series kh2s compare it to a k or t number and u will see the cut is different!

EXPcustom

I remember when I was at Armands house and he would have a few of Jeff's sig guitars he just picked up at ESP, we would compare them side by side, the T, K and SS serials. You could tell the SS serials were usually heavier and the body blanks were totaly different. Only thing that was similar was the paint. I wish I had taken some more pics in those days.

ESP 348

Did any of them play much differently?? Did Jeff prefer any serial number over another?

HateEvent

I don’t know how valid it is, but I recall reading somewhere that the majority of Jeff’s were ‘T’ serial guitars. 

My 2003 KH-2 Neck Thru is a ‘T’ as well. Incredible guitar that one  

Post to Thread