ESP/Takamine/ENGL Acoustic/Electric Showdown: The Winners

ESP/Takamine/ENGL Acoustic/Electric Showdown: The Winners

When we announce a performance-based contest, we never know what to expect. How many people will enter? How good will the submissions be? It’s always a mystery until those entries come pouring in. In the case of our Fall 2025 Acoustic/Electric Showdown, brought to you by ESP Guitars, Takamine Guitars, and ENGL Amps, we needn't have worried. Tons of people from around the world submitted entries for a chance to win an incredible grand prize. The challenge? So many of those entries were great, to the point that narrowing the field down to a single winner and ten runners-up proved to be a huge challenge. There were dozens and dozens of entry submissions that all could have been selected for inclusion here.

Grand Prize Winner: Daniel Kohary

Daniel’s entry passed all of our judging points with flying colors. The tones and audio recording quality of the entire presentation were terrific. The look of the video — though not a high criteria on our judging chart — was also outstanding. He kept the entry to precisely 60 seconds, which told us he was paying attention to the details. He chose a Takamine G Series GD51CE NAT and an LTD Deluxe M-1007 Baritone for the contest entry… and even has an ENGL Ritchie Blackmore Signature head there in the background. But most importantly, his playing is excellent on both the acoustic and electric portions of the piece he submitted. Daniel will be receiving his choice of any LTD Deluxe “1000 Series” guitar, AND any Takamine G Series guitar, AND the hot new ENGL Ravager IR tube amplifier… a prize package with a combined retail value of up to $4,577 USD!

Here’s the rest of our top Acoustic/Electric Showdown submissions!

Fabio Castillo

Richard Guptill

Yohei Hosoya

Francis Louw

Joey Nicholson

Rodolfo Pachano

Ryan Phillips

Sean Searles

Sinuzeze Shin

Gianluca Sulpizio

Thanks For Entering!

We are grateful for everyone who submitted an entry for the Fall 2025 Acoustic/Electric Showdown. We watched and listened to every single entry, and for those of you who gave us your best effort in the video you submitted, we’re all grateful for your hard work and your musicianship. Big congrats to our winner and all the featured players. For the rest of you, there will be more opportunities to win in the future from ESP, Takamine, and ENGL!