NGD - E-II Eclipse Full Thickness

PinianPinian
Updated
    NGD - E-II Eclipse Full Thickness

    Ah NGD - always a good time. I recently received my E-II Eclipse Full Thickness.It went on sale for father's day and couldn't resist.

     

    I have had a few hours now playing it, and my first impressions are positive. I've tested it thru various amps to get a feel for the response. So far it's been run thru a '76 marshall 50w, Mark V (Mark 2c+ and Mark 4 settings), Fender custom tweed champ, '64 Fender Vibroverb and the Fractal FxIII with a Matrix power amp. All heads run thru a mesa 2x12.

     

    Finish: A high quality job done. There's a tiny amount of overspray by the bass side of the neck on the body, but it's barely noticeable. In person, it takes a style note from an old 80's silverburst almost, that slightly greened but not fully turned look. I love it...

     

    Neck: Chunkier than the Snakebyte, a comfortable C profile. The shoulders are still thin making it a nice balance. It's not as thin as my '82 LP custom, but no baseball bat either.

     

    Fingerboard: Gorgeous piece of ebony. 

     

    Inlays: Plastic - I guess for the price there's no way it's reasonable to expect MOP. I do wish it had MOP though.

    Binding: Excellent job. Tight corners and just perfectly done.

     

    Top: Not overly flamey. I'm still a bit torn on the fact that it's a veneer. It's still a solid maple cap, which is where the tone comes from, but some part of me finds it hard to get over a veneer. Old personal bias is hard to overcome I guess...

     

    Pickups: My first chance playing a 57/66 set. Holy brightness... I'm finding myself running the tone cut 50% and a 10 band EQ before hitting a comp or front end of the amp to dial it in.

     

    Electronics/hardware: I love the coil tap. I can pull out some late 80's Gilmour'ish sounds like when he played the early 80's candy apple strat with EMGs live. Gotoh locking tuners.. what's not to love. Just wish it had a locking bridge/tailpiece. Oh, did I mention coil tap awesomeness?

     

    Overall it is a fun, great addition that's giving me something new to the stable. A fun guitar from ESP Japan that I'll enjoy for some time to come.

     

    Dislike (0)
      Share
    Dustin M.
    Dustin M. wrote

    So this doesn't have stainless steel frets? I'm almost ready to click "buy" on one of these!

    Reply
    Dislike (0)
      Pushead
      Pushead wrote

      No stainless steel frets.

      Reply
      Dislike (0)
        Mark R.
        Mark R. wrote

        Hello,

        That is one beautiful guitar! I want to buy this model, but I have one concern. I've had guitars in the past with a similar headstock shape (gibson) and the G-string went out of tune most of the time. Did you have any tuning issues with this guitar or did the locking tuners help alot? 

        I won't be able to try one in person since no guitar store near me (I live in Belgium) has one in stock. So I'll Have to buy it online, that's why i'm concerned. 

        Thanks in advance and best of luck with your guitar! 

        Reply
        Dislike (0)
          Pinian
          Pinian wrote

          No issues.

          Usually when that happens, it means the nut isn't cut right (nothing to do with the headstock design or tuning machines) and the channel for the string is causing it to bind up, which in turn causes intonation and tuning stability problems. Also an issue if the manufacturer set it up for say, 9s and you want to roll 11s and now it's too tight for the larger gauge of string. Having a trusted luthier adjust the nut, or putting graphite in it usually does the trick. Swapping to bone is also a good call.

          Dislike (0)
            Mark R.
            Mark R. wrote
            Pinian wrote:

            No issues.

            Usually when that happens, it means the nut isn't cut right (nothing to do with the headstock design or tuning machines) and the channel for the string is causing it to bind up, which in turn causes intonation and tuning stability problems. Also an issue if the manufacturer set it up for say, 9s and you want to roll 11s and now it's too tight for the larger gauge of string. Having a trusted luthier adjust the nut, or putting graphite in it usually does the trick. Swapping to bone is also a good call.

            Okay, thank you very much for clearing that up. I always thought that it was the headstock/tuners that caused the issues. 

            I'm gonna buy one, can't wait any longer .

            Dislike (0)
              Post to Thread

              Cancel