The ESP Guitar Company

I cannot in good conscience recommend buying the LTD Alexi-200 or any similar models in the Alexi line. My experience with ESP has been nothing short of a nightmare, and I won’t be purchasing another guitar from them again.

I bought an Alexi-200 about a year ago. It was my first time ever using a guitar with a tremolo system so I was unfamiliar with how those functioned. However, it quickly became obvious that something was wrong: the guitar would constantly fall out of tune with even the slightest bend. Using the whammy bar made it significantly worse, throwing the entire tuning out instantly.

At first, I thought this was just part of the tremolo experience until I took the guitar in to be professionally serviced. The tech had to completely overhaul the setup due to how poorly it was put together. Later, someone showed me a picture of the neck pocket, and I'll just let this image speak for itself...

Yes, LTD is ESP’s budget line, but how did something in this condition ever pass inspection??? The damage to the neck pocket was so severe that the guitar couldn’t hold tuning, even after professional servicing. ESP eventually issued a replacement, but it took nearly three weeks to arrive.

And the replacement? Somehow even worse. The exact same tuning problems returned, only more severe. After only minimal use of the whammy bar, a string snapped. I'm not even going to bother getting this instrument inspected. At this point, I’m pursuing a full refund.

The quality control on these guitars is absolutely unacceptable. It's a disgrace to the legacy of Alexi Laiho, whose name should never be associated with instruments this carelessly manufactured.

Maybe they will bring back the Alexi 600 models one day. I have one on order since February and Sweetwater has been good about keeping me updated. I regret not getting one months before Alexi passed but you know, bills and more bills.

I have my Arrow to hold me over until then. Love ESP.  Todd B, You're the man.

In January it became clear to me that I was buying the Alexi 600. Somehow I felt it could be discontinued, so I was worried. I'm a student and I did not have enough money, so the worst thing that could happen is discontinuation of the model, and therefore me not being able to buy one ever. It wasn't long before this exact thing happened. But one day I saw a reply here by one of ESP employees. It says "We will soon be making announcements about the Alexi Laiho signature series". It's been 7 months and I just want to ask. Is ESP going to return some models or at least one? When could this happen? Thank you.

Everyone at ESP. Please keep making the Alexi 600 models.  Heck, even the high end ESP model too! 

ESP really should have updated the Alexi-200 series to be a little more higher end like the 401 series of LTD's.