The Fake ESP Thread

Updated
The Fake ESP Thread

Pushead and I are here to help verify ESP and LTD guitars. If you have, or are looking to buy a guitar that you're unsure of, post pictures and questions in this thread. Please post clear pictures of the front and back of the headstock, the fretboard, and the front and back of the body. Preferably before you buy anything.

Anyone else is free to offer suggestions on authenticity. If you answer a post, please tell us why you think it's real or fake.

venndi k.

Hi!

I think it's hard to tell couse of the custom paint, but what do you think, it is a legit ESP explorer?

Pushead

It's legit. 2006.

venndi k.

Pushead,

What do you think, how much is the value of this guitar with that red blood colour? 

Pushead
venndi k. wrote:

Pushead,

What do you think, how much is the value of this guitar with that red blood colour? 

Well, it's hard to say. I think you'd need to find the right buyer. Maybe the right buyer would be willing to spend more than what a "normal" used MX goes for (around the $3k mark).

I suspect that with the damage and the blood splatter paint job, maybe in the low $2k range. Maybe into the mids if it had a hard case. But it's not a Hetfield finish, so that might limit the market.

Do you know if the splatter job was aftermarket? I don't think I've ever seen it on a black guitar (I mean paint, I've seen actual blood on a black guitar, and it didn't look like that.)


venndi k.
Pushead wrote:

Pushead,

What do you think, how much is the value of this guitar with that red blood colour? 

Well, it's hard to say. I think you'd need to find the right buyer. Maybe the right buyer would be willing to spend more than what a "normal" used MX goes for (around the $3k mark).

I suspect that with the damage and the blood splatter paint job, maybe in the low $2k range. Maybe into the mids if it had a hard case. But it's not a Hetfield finish, so that might limit the market.

Do you know if the splatter job was aftermarket? I don't think I've ever seen it on a black guitar (I mean paint, I've seen actual blood on a black guitar, and it didn't look like that.)


Thank you!

It comes just with a gigbag...

It was aftermarket job (the seller said that), and that is what makes me unsure about the guitar's originality. The ESP logo and the "custom" paint is just as good as the original, but if it's an aftermarket job, it's really hard for example that "custom" writing exaclty repaint. I mean, when the blood splatter is done, then the "custom" writing would need to be repainted, but only on those places, where the red splatter is done. I don't think that it would be possible in that way to make it, otherwise, maybe the whole guitar is repainted to black, and than the splatter, but then again there is the swerial number, which looks authentic.

Astor

**EDIT: Ughhhh. iPhone wouldn't upload multiple photos...**

 

Hey guys, I think I need some help.

 

I did a fair amount of research and think it’s real but I’ve seen so many differences in real EX-NTs that I think I’m more confused than I was when I started. I’ve seen several E-II EXs without the model on the headstock, several with and without the battery compartment, and a few without the ESP at the 12th fret depending on year... so what do you think? Please let me know ASAP! Thanks!

 

2015 E-II EX-NT

Pushead

I'm surprised to see it without a battery compartment, but there's nothing there that says it's not legit to me.

Astor

Thanks, man, I appreciate it. I’ve only seen two others without the battery compartment and I have no idea why.

 

Astor

Hey Pushead

I have this guitar on the way but I recently ran across an E-II serial number layout “decoder” and am a little confused/worried. The serial on the back of this EX, and almost all other E-II EXs, don’t match any of the conventions I’ve seen. What are your thoughts?

Thanks again, man!

Pushead



It's a 2015 model. Serial number looks okay to me, as does the logo markings.

dd1983

Everything about this screams wrong to me, but I once asked about 24 fret eclipses, so....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ESP-ECLIPSE-II-24-FRETT-GUITAR-GLOSS-BLACK/153476441185?hash=item23bbe8a461:g:ePEAAOSwxDBczu54

 

No inlays.

Different headstock logo.

Different tone/vol config.

I've been through 2010-2013 catalogues and can't seem to find it.

Body thickness seems comparable to my own Eclipses and S/N seems legit. So I dunno!

Pushead

It looks legit. Could be part of a special run of guitars done for a shop. That happens frequently enough.

Vadim Z.

Hello, guys!

Please help me with this one.

Things that bothering me:

1) "EC-II" logo instead of "Eclipse";

2) no writings on a truss rod cover at all;

3) there is no battery department (I always thought it must be on any Eclipse).

Seller says original pickups were black set of EMG 60/81 and he swapped them to gold ones. Not sure if the furniture originally was gold too.

Thank you!

Pushead



It's a 2013 model, which is the first year of the E-II line. The guitar is legit, the first year didn't get the diamond headstock graphic, it had the model number instead.

No idea why no battery compartment. Despite what the seller says, it may have come with the Seymour Duncan pickups stock.

Vadim Z.

thank you very much!

and please tell your opinion is it worth to swap my Gibson LP Standard 1999 on that E-II? or it's unequal exchange?

Pushead

Based purely on resale value, the Gibson should be worth more than the E-II. But if the E-II plays/sounds better to you, or is more in line with what you want, get the guitar that makes you happy.

Vadim Z.

Thanks for answer 

Michael D.

How about this one?  Sadly, the person selling does not have the CoA.

 

Pushead

The guitar is legit, the strings are silly.

Tyler A.

Looking to pick this one up. It seems legit from what I can tell but looking for another opinion 

Pushead

It's legit. Mid to late 90s.

Turtle m.

How about this one?

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