The ESP Guitar Company

I have to say, my first ESP was an E-II MK (the green Mille Petrozza V) and i absolutely love the thing. I've had it two years now and it's come with me to every gig I've played. The ebony is as dark as it gets, it's light, resonant and feels absolutely fantastic. I also have a 2006 SS Alexi and it's also a great guitar but I definitely noticed the fretwork on the E-II was better, with rounded off edges and just a great feel in general. Not that i don't love my Alexi, but just saying the E-II is also great. Since then I've bought an E-II Eclipse which i just toured with because i love the feel and the sound so much and i actually just purchased a Kiso Custom Shop Star a few days ago. That's the only one that i can truly say has a completely different sound and feel to the others, but it's also a $5k custom built guitar made by ESPs best luthiers. In other words, not something I would tour with. For the money, I'm completely satisfied with my E-IIs. And I've spoken to people at ESP about this before, E-II is not rebranded LTD or anything like that. They are rebranded ESP Standards. The same people who worked on the old Standard series are the same people making these. I think that one guy who was saying that is just upset since he probably played one once and didn't like it. It's one thing to not like something, but he sounds like he has a personal grudge against ESP and purposely spreading misinformation. Just my 2c

I am calling BS on the E-II being a rebranded LTD. I have owned over 10 EC-1000's alone and have been playing LTDs for the last 13-14 years. Recently picked up my first E-II Eclipse and its a totally different animal. As Tony says in one of the 2018 NAMM videos..they are the same ESP Standards we know and love. 

I have an '05 M-I Standard, a '15 E-II M-I, and a '19 E-II M-I, and they are all comparable in fit, finish, and build.   They all feel like my Kiso Hanneman, just no custom inlays, winter camo paint, custom bridge, etc...  I am set to put in a deposit on an M-I Custom in white satin here in a couple of weeks because I love them so much.   There is no compromise in these builds, and they are all labeled "Made In Japan".     They might have some dents in them now, but those certainly did not come from Tokyo.  The Standards are certainly 'the standard', but I don't see any drop-off in my E-II's.  

I ordered a MH-1000 series out of curiosity for the new M-HT AM's (any ship date yet?), and it came from Jakarta.   It was no good.    I tried an MH1000 from Seoul at Sam Ash, and it was good.    I have heard that this is a trend, and that the Korea/Japan rivalry spurred the bar up and up again.  Everyone who has a Seoul LTD raves about them.  Indonesia is a vastly different place than Japan.   Japan has a history of being the finest producers of first swords, then machines, then electronics, then guitars, then cars, and so on.  They take their craftsmanship very seriously and with honor.    That same Bushido-driven honor that still drives Japanese craftsmanship to this day simply never made it that far west.   I am very curious to see where the AM's are built, and nobody seems to have an answer other than the 'well, we have pools of talent and pools of work' shell game.   Leery.  I'm all set on Jakarta; once was enough for me.  

The new Jacksons are just Fenders.   If you can get a 90's or an early 00's they are awesome, but they trail off quickly as the years pass under Fender.    If you have a ~really~ old one, they won't cover your failed truss flange.

Be warned.  

I got ESP E-II HORIZON NT II about a month ago

1. fingerboard became brown

2. tone pot got broken after 2 weeks of use.

I don't think such quality is worth the money.

(btw, I bought it from an official distributor and ESP confirmed it's legit)

Ive recently acquired an EII SV and an LTD 351fr. The Ltd is absolute trash, dead in the neck pick up. The Sv is an joy to play, super responsive and I cant complain about the finishing either. All manufacturers have off days, including Gibsons, fenders and the like. Ive never played better than on my EII, and my Modern S Suhr,which is my go to guitar pales in comparison, and thats an awesome guitar too

I have several LTD's, few E-II's and ESP Standards. 

I've played and inspected ESP CS models a lot too. 

I have to say it's always a bit casino what you get. Different woods, diff working days, even Hardware isn't 100% identical, never. It's a different luck, ha. One guitar for example have Cracked fretboard after 3 years of playing and other similar stays just fine. Factory just cannot say for 100% your order is gonna last like the next guitar in line. 

But I've noticed (no s**t) that ESP CS just won't have issues. They are just perfect from fretwork to fretboard, from alignment to every slight smallest detail

Those are usually 5k guitars.

I have to agree with some of you that E-II isn't ESP Standard as much as I'd hope. Yea, it would be cool, but it just isn't. Hate to agree after paying that much from E-II. 

Don't get me wrong, E-II's are quality instruments and I love em. 

But you can tell it by the price E-II isn't directly the new ESP Standard. 

Also, E-II's aren't anymore that MIJ you'd hope. 

Whereas ESP Standard costed, say 3,5k, E-II starts cheaper already. Even after inflation. 

If you sell ESP Standard, you'll get 2-3k from it, used. 

Sell E-II and you get around 2k.

E-II has slight imperfections more often yes, it is closer to best LTD's & that's just a effin reality.

Still, E-II is usually way more better than LTD-1000 /Deluxe. 

I don't even start to say what little this n that gremlins E-II's might have, or what imperfections my guitars have, but yeah, E-II is better than the most expensive LTD.

That's how it is. Ditto. Period. Yup. 

If ESP CS is 100% of quality, ESP STANDARD was 80% and E-II is 70% and Edwards 60%.,. If you wanna rank em some way. 

LTD's, for example these Alexi Ripped /Hexed models WMIC makes in Korea, line up to 50%. They still cost around 1,8k to 2k and are incredible guitars most of the time. 

The most common problem with expensive LTD's are uneven frets. 

Lower the action and you start to have dead spots, or adjusting the neck, you have buzzing 1st fret, higher action in 7-12 area and so on. 

You have to compromise with LTD'S sometimes. 

Well, E-II's won't usually have these Probs alongside with ESP Standard, but E-II's never have the same love ESP's had. 

If I'd start to explain every problem with my ESP/E-II/Edwards/LTD-guitars, it would take too much time haha. 

But it's still 1st Custom Shop, 2nd the Standard, 3rd the New E2, 4th the Edwards and finally LTD's, LTD's being sometimes completely as good as Edwards or E2. 

With those LTD's, I'll upgrade them with Boost, Original FR Trem and Locking Tuners. 

Trust me with this, and I'd still recommend ESP E-II every single day of the week. 

Those guitars are simply to put, Killers. 

ESP as a company, has only CS above the E2 at the moment. 

Ugh, with such great luck getting EC1000's, I purchased my first E-II thinking it was a slam dunk. My ECs have been consistently awesome. My first E-II that I just got has some issues. It's not playability related thankfully, but it's not good either. I'm giving customer service a chance to make it right before I complain, but seeing this many threads on QC is highly distressing. Considering this was more than double my EC prices, I'm very surprised. I've been super impressed with every MIJ guitar I've owned so far. 

I have a Ltd Elite M2, E2 M2 Camo, Ec-1000 and an Edwards E-LP-90CD. All amazing guitars. The LTD Elite had factory flaws but still amazing. All these get the most attention from my collection, they just sound and feel the best. The E2 Camo is the stand out and is worth its weight in gold, it was truly built for war. I have a E2 Horizon QM FR RDB Otw, can’t wait.