Both LTD and E-II brands being retired?

Updated
101

I heard this rumor the other day, and thought I would poke around the ghost town to see if any of you had any details or if this is just BS.

Beaten Beyond

LTD isn't going anywhere.  But just speculating, I think ESP USA was doomed from the start and will disappear sometime in the near future.  It just doesn't have a place in the brand and doesn't appear they are selling very well.  I also still think E-II was a poor branding choice.  I understand why they did it and all that, but the name "E-II'?  I just can't take it seriously. 

Dave R.

Neither brand is being retired.

101

Everything is cyclical, so it wouldn't suprise me if things swung back the other way and more color choices were available again.  Maybe someday team built one offs will return as well.

Whatever ESP decides to do next year I hope they recognize the level of brand confusion that has been occuring with their products over the last couple years.

Jeremy D.

Esp Usa definetly needs to have more color choices.  As well the E-II horizon III should be offered in more colors.  I love the reindeer blue flame maple top but how about an orange top, a green burst top going from almost black or very dark green and lightens up as you move towards the center of the body.  A red quilt top would be nice like the EII eclipse. 

phillip L.

It would be something if the e2 is discontinued.. I know what ESP was going for but I think it fell short. I don't see anything wrong with having ESP on the headstock of standard series instruments. One can tell very quickly by looking at them which is a standard and which is a custom, it doesn't make much sense to try to make ESP that exclusive. I say may 2 levels, like they used to. With that, I don't think LTD will ever go away, people associate that name with ESP almost interchangeably. If you think about it, when was the last time you saw a guitar advertised as an LTD and not an ESP/LTD? 

 

Whatever they choose to do I just hope they bring the quality back up, I have heard some bad things about e2 and that's just not acceptable for us, we EXPECT perfection when we look at ESP.

Murdoc

I just wish all LTD's would be made in the Korean plant exclusively.  The Chinese junk (i.e. FM301& the like) is where the quality needs to come up.  Those p.o.s. is what gives the brand a bad name.

Pushead

Not that I have tons of experience with the Chinese made guitars, but the Chinese made EC-401b I have is surprisingly nice.  I wasn't expecting it to be as nice as it is.

tx-ogre

I bought my grandson a Chinese-made Ltd Viper 50 ($149.00 new) a couple of years back for Christmas.  The first ESP or Ltd model that I purchased.  I was impressed enough that I bought a Ltd B-4E bass (Indonesia) and a Ltd H7-2015 Anniversary (Korea).  And I've been very satisfied with all of them.  For many years I was a die hard "made in the USA" Gibson guy, but I have since broadened my horizons.

Rikki Tikki Tavi

My E-II is perfect so don't know how they can improve them. More colour choices would be good.

 

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