The ESP Guitar Company

What does the "BB" mean?

How much does this guitar weigh?

Hello, first of all congrats with the fine guitars you are producing. They have given me much playing joy up until today. I have had my eye on this beauty for a while now but as I am kind of picky when it comes to neck profiles I would like to ask the following.... I own both an ESP LTD Iron Cross and a EC-401VF with Seymour Duncans JB/'59's... For both guitars the specs concerning the neck states "Thin U" although the neck of the Iron Cross is quite a bit thicker and fuller than of the EC-401VF which is a little too slim for my personal taste... Since for this guitar the neck specs also state "Thin U" I would like to know for sure - before spending 2000 dollars - if this is more an LTD Iron Cross kind of neck or an EC-401VF? I hope someone can clear this out. Thanks for any reply! 

Hello from germany! I have two of those beautiful guitars and probably getting a third one soon! One of them i changed the hardware  completely to black  hardware - and EMG 57/66 in black- looks amazing !!! The only thing i dislike is that the neck on both guitars is called thin u, but  it is a lot different from my other ESP Eclipse E-ll Natural Black burst ( which is a lot thicker) and from my other 4 LTD EC-1000 Models- where the thin u neck is a little thinner and narrower. I wish all necks that are declared as ‚thin u‘ would be  the same. Anyway, i love ESP Guitars! ❤️

So I bought this guitar and received it a few days ago via FedEx. I thought I'd write up a review comparing it to A: The 2007 ESP Eclipse II VB I formally owned (as there seems to be some question regarding the "E-II" quality versus the old "ESP Standard" Quality), and B: the Les Paul Studio I currently own. I had to sell my previous Eclipse back in 2014 (gotta pay the bills, and the band I was in switched to 7 string guitars. It pained me to let that guitar go!), so I'm going from memory on any comparison there. Also I'll address any questions here if I can (although these seem to be questions about options or whatever, heads-up, there are no options, this is the "standard series," you buy it like ya see it, or go to the USA or Custom Shop). 

First Impressions:  The guitar arrived in it's case, and included the parts of the strap locks the affix to the strap (which are very high quality actual Schaller Hardware, the improvement of adding a thumbwheel to the strap part was very nice improvement on Schaller's part), what appears to be a 3mm hex key (no hex screws on the guitar so I'm not sure what that is included for. Probably they go out with every guitar (edit: the allen key is for the strap lock buttons)), a wrench for the truss rod (which is a the traditional type of truss rod nut, as opposed to a 4mm hex nut as seen in many import models), keys for the case, and an ESP Decal. (edit: I didn't think of it at the time, but my guitar was not packed with an ESP Fret Protector. I contacted ESP via Facebook and had one within the week at no charge.)

Out of the box, the guitar is set up perfectly (after sitting at the warehouse of the place I bought it from, and being shipped halfway across the continental USA). The action was set really low without any buzzing, just the way I prefer it. The only thing I found with the setup that was not to my liking was the tailpiece height, which was all the way down to the body. A very easy fix! I was I was able to swap the strings of my choice without making any adjustment besides the tailpiece height (I down-tune a full step so I use slightly thicker strings). The supplied Elixir Strings felt really nice and sounded good for the few minutes I played them. As for the fit and finish, for the most part, the guitar is immaculate in every detail. The frets are nicely rounded and polished nicely. The Ebony Fret Board is quite dark, with only the slightest hints of grain showing in just a couple of places. The inlays look great with only a tiny bit of filler visible on the 1st fret inlay. The only imperfection on the guitar I found was underneath the neck pickup ring, the "Southeast" Screw pulled a very small (1.5mm x 1.5mm) flake of paint up. The flake did not come off the guitar, and is not visible with the pickup ring installed (I removed the neck pickup to inspect the neck joint and the thickness of the maple top... the pickup cavity is painted over with primer, so no data for those could be given). No other imperfection was to be found in the paint or finish of the guitar. The only other gripe I would make is regarding the case: the handle on the case is a bit uncomfortable, and I think the handle on my particular case is damaged, but again only in a minor way, and that probably occurred during shipping and handling. 

Compared to my old 2007 Eclipse II VB: Despite the description of a "satin finish," the finish is identical to the "Vintage Black" finish. Which I'm completely fine with, and this is pretty apparent in just about any picture of a BB model. The new tuners are a bit better that the previous Gotoh Magnum Locks, and the thumbwheels for the locks don't stick out in a garish way like a lot of other locking tuner models. I didn't find the original Magnum Locks to be inconvenient in any way, so don't let that be a deciding factor if you're choosing between one or the other. The biggest difference between the two is probably the neck contour and neck joint. The BB Seems to have a slight offset to the contour which is quite comfortable, whereas the VB neck is more akin to a "60's" neck of a Les Paul. And of course the BB Models' sculpted neck joint makes upper register access extremely easy. As both of the guitars sport the same pickup combination, they sound extremely similar (to the best of my recollection at least). Based on my experience, nothing with regards to the Construction, Materials, or QC changed from my 2007 model to my newest acquisition (I'm not familiar with the ES serials but I'm guessing it was made in 2019). 

Compared to the 2012 Les Paul Studio that I currently own as well, I think the ESP is the superior guitar, however at the same price point as a Les Paul Classic, that is probably not a fair comparison (the ESP is still spec'd better than the LP Classic, which doesnt come with an ebony fretboard as an option, at a 2000$ price tag). I didn't buy the LP new, but it was nearly new when I got it (a friend owned who played it only a handful of times). The LP required a lot more setup work to get going, and I swapped the pickups and tuners out. The ESP hardware is much more modern in it's approach than Gibson (no matter which trim), The ESP is a little bit heavier despite being roughly 1/4" thinner (I think the LP body has pretty extensive chambering), and the ESP has better frets/fretwork. The smaller/low frets on the LP make it kind of buzzy with factory spec'd action (which is virtually the same on just about any single-cut, 24.75" scale length guitar). The buzz was what eventually made me go back to ESP after 6 years. 

TL;DR: Its' nice. Buy it. 

Looking at the other questions posted here, I don't see any that I can really answer ¯\_(ツ)_/¯