The ESP Guitar Company

Any ETA on when this guitar will be arriving in Canada?

Will the new production run have stainless steel frets ?

Are there any plans to release this guitar, or any others in a greenburst finish? 

Is it possible to custom order this exact guitar with pickup combo with see thru black instead of purple? I'd buy it but would just change the color.

What is there to be interested in?

This unfortunate specimen came to me via Indonesia with frets so unseated that they snagged my fingernails on either side of the fretboard. The fretboard was obviously kiln-dried recently, and never oiled. The finish was bled all through the binding on the neck and the headstock. It looked like it was done free-handed as a blemish fix in the factory by a temp employee who did not see himself with much of a future in guitar making.  If this is your idea of quality building, then LTD doesn't have much more of future in guitar making than the aforementioned party who did 'the thing' to this one, and ESP might want to sell those Indonesian factories to Fernandez or BC Rich or Target or Walmart or someone of ~that~ caliber.   They're dragging your brand name down.   Nothing remotely close to this should ever come off of a luthier's desk.   Ever.  

This is absolutely shameful.  If you actually think that you can pass this piece of junk and others just like it off at $1,200 and not get called on it, and 'Inspector 11' is running the QA in that department, then you had better retool your Indonesian plant for wood chipping to turn these shameful miscreants into construction material when you get the returns and chargebacks, because nobody in their right mind is going to tolerate this sort of rubbish at these ridiculously high prices.  This is a flea-market-grade piece of junk.   I don't see how Tokyo can know about this.   This goes against everything that ESP stands for.   

After 20 seconds of abysmal astonishment, I had no choice but to put it back in the box and contact the distributor.    They have thankfully issued me a return label, and I'm sure that this will be coming back to you, as nobody is going to accept this particular unit, and if the rest of them are anything like this, you're going to be getting flooded with them, like all of them.  

ESP touts these as tour-grade guitars, and as an owner of a Custom Hanneman, I took them on their word. This is anything but a tour-grade guitar.  It feels like a plywood cracker jack toy, and with a fit and finish to match.   If you're expecting these Indonesian guitars to do 'the thing' for you, then get ready for some major disappointment; kind of like the disappointment that I had with this defect.

I now have cancelled my order for the new M-HT Arctic Metal, as ESP asserts that the construction of those is on-par with the other 1000 series LTD's. You would have to put an LTD 1000 series in my hand and force me to try it under threat of unenviable violence after this nonsense.

If you need any other help running your company, float me a sponsorship offer.    I was thinking of switching from /guess who/, but not looking like it now.   Maybe I'll try an E2 if I can find a used one.   I shudder to think what the USA ESP's are like if Tokyo isn't watching them too.

I guarantee that nothing like what Inspector 11 let out would happen on my watch.