Any experience with ESP-LTD guitars?

[Dick Brucinson]

I'm thinking about getting me an ESP LTD guitar, the Alex Skolnick signature "metal"-Les Paul style, blue burst. That one is made in Korea (south I guess), and in the 1990s, Korean guitars were always top shelf. Anybody any experience with the quality of Korean guitars nowadays? I normally try to get Japan and US stuff only, so I'm still hesitating. Thanks for help.

 

[The Garlon]

LTD is great. Even the Indonesian and Chinese made ones.

 

[Eddie's Uncle]

I used LTD F-series for a very long time, both on stage and in the studio. Mostly even the cheaper ones. They could easily keep up with guitars of the next higher price category.
Two years ago I switched to Ibanez, but I still use LTD during rehearsals. I can recommend them, if you want a more treble oriented tone. They are very good for Metal. Only downside is a very high output which can hurt your clean sound a little if you hit the string even a little too hard.
On the other hand, this forced me to learn to control my picking a little better. Don't even know where it was built, but as it cost only 500 bucks, it probably was Korea.
Ibanez is better in the higher price category, but in the lower price segment, LTD beats the cheaper Ibanez guitars any day.

Personally,I would never buy a insert-rockstar-here-signature instrument though. You never get their special tone, because it depends on so much more things than just the guitar amp, FX, crate, pick-up, sound tech), but you pay an extra buck just for the name. A signature guitar is always more expensive than a none-signature guitar of the same quality.

 

[Yax]

LTD guitars are my favorite guitars. My ST1- Elites are the best guitars I've played.

I had a cheap chinese Les Paul style too, LTD 256. The neck was very comfortable (rather good fret job too), and that is I think the singularly most important consideration.

 

[Edington]

Friend of mine's got an EC-1000, the satin black one with gold hardware and EMG pickups - those aren't really for me, but I've have a few goes of it and it plays really nicely. He's had it for over three years now, plays it pretty heavily with his theatre group and has had no problems with it.

My issue with LTD is the pricing, for a sub-company (I see them as ESP's equivalent of Squire or Epiphone) their models seem on the expensive side, even if the build quality's solid I can't really understand how they justify the cost.

Personally,I would never buy a insert-rockstar-here-signature instrument though. You never get their special tone, because it depends on so much more things than just the guitar amp, FX, crate, pick-up, sound tech), but you pay an extra buck just for the name. A signature guitar is always more expensive than a none-signature guitar of the same quality.

Plus, you can get whatever other guitar you want and make it your signature.

 

[Yax]

My issue with LTD is the pricing, for a sub-company (I see them as ESP's equivalent of Squire or Epiphone) their models seem on the expensive side, even if the build quality's solid I can't really understand how they justify the cost.

That is rather a false equivalency tbh - upper end LTDs are killer guitars with high-end specs. But yes, their prices have surged, and it has a lot to do with, I think, the line of thinking in how The Swatch Company flat-out decided to elevate Omega in the early 90s (the Swatch company owns most Swiss watch brands, Rolex, Omega, Longines etcetera). The increased prices of LTD guitars in the past 10 years has more to do with that they've decided LTD is a big enough brand name to warrant the prices rather than a result of increased costs etcetera.

That being said, who cares about whether it says LTD, EII or ESP on the headstock, as long as the specs and quality is there? My two LTD Elites are, identical to the first line of EII Elites (and was in essence a rebranded ESP standard, assembled on the same manufacturing line, by the same people, with almost identical specs). The only difference between LTD Elite and EII was literally the name on the headstock and +-15% on the price.

 

[The Garlon]

That is rather a false equivalency tbh - upper end LTDs are killer guitars with high-end specs.

I love the ec-1000. But I also have a super affordable ex-50 and even it plays great with a decent set-up. Total chug machine. I would recommend an ltd at any price point.

 

[Edington]

That is rather a false equivalency tbh - upper end LTDs are killer guitars with high-end specs. But yes, their prices have surged, and it has a lot to do with, I think, the line of thinking in how The Swatch Company flat-out decided to elevate Omega in the early 90s (the Swatch company owns most Swiss watch brands, Rolex, Omega, Longines etcetera). The increased prices of LTD guitars in the past 10 years has more to do with that they've decided LTD is a big enough brand name to warrant the prices rather than a result of increased costs etcetera.

That being said, who cares about whether it says LTD, EII or ESP on the headstock, as long as the specs and quality is there? My two LTD Elites are, identical to the first line of EII Elites (and was in essence a rebranded ESP standard, assembled on the same manufacturing line, by the same people, with almost identical specs). The only difference between LTD Elite and EII was literally the name on the headstock and +-15% on the price.

It's not an issue so much, I guess I just find it a little strange as I've just always known LTD as the affordable equivalent of ESP, but now they've grown to the point that they can charge the same prices as some ESP/E-II models. Now they're an equivalent or almost becoming a replacement to ESP/E-II. But, if the build quality is there and you're getting what you pay for, then yeah, the name on the headstock is irrelevant, as it is with any brand.

 

[Yax]

It's not an issue so much, I guess I just find it a little strange as I've just always known LTD as the affordable equivalent of ESP, but now they've grown to the point that they can charge the same prices as some ESP/E-II models. Now they're an equivalent or almost becoming a replacement to ESP/E-II. But, if the build quality is there and you're getting what you pay for, then yeah, the name on the headstock is irrelevant, as it is with any brand.

I suppose it depends on what LTD, I suppose. LTD has been around for decades, while E-II 11 years I think, and was introduced to replace the ESP Standard line (they made the LTD ST-1 Elites only for 1 year, and was then rebranded as E-II), so they could elevate the ESP brand name and charge even more. That's the focal point here, that ESP over a few years diversified their brand by creating three price categories with different headstock names, and different manufacturing locations. ESP is made in the US factory these days (and maybe there's some Custom line left in Japan, not sure though), E-II in the old ESP standard production line, and LTD in multiple Asia locations. But top tier LTDs don't really differ from E-II in much, or anything, than the brand name and manufacturing location. They also offer Stainless Steel frets, which I don't think E-II and ESP do for all their models.

... And when LTD started to climb, they added, or rather increased availability of, yet another tier - Grassroots by ESP.

 

[Dick Brucinson]

Personally,I would never buy a insert-rockstar-here-signature instrument though. You never get their special tone, because it depends on so much more things than just the guitar amp, FX, crate, pick-up, sound tech), but you pay an extra buck just for the name. A signature guitar is always more expensive than a none-signature guitar of the same quality.

I guess you are right. I just bought this one here:
LTD Les Paul
I'm excited. It's a Korean crafted one.

So, is this an upper end, top tier LTD already??

 

[Edington]

I guess you are right. I just bought this one here:
LTD Les Paul
I'm excited. It's a Korean crafted one.

So, is this an upper end, top tier LTD already??

I dunno if it's quite top tier but it'll be a fine guitar for certain. Plus if you get bored of the JB/59 combo (yawn) you can get some Seymour Duncan Alex Skolnick signature pickups and still have spent less than you would have if you'd bought his signature guitar

 

[Dick Brucinson]

if you get bored of the JB/59 combo (yawn)

Why do you think this combination is boring? Tell me more please. I know that them ones are used with new guitars as the stock fitting, but isn't that more an evidence they go well together?
If it really turns out to be a boring combo I might exchange them indeed, however, this is my only guitar of all seven electric guitars that has this very combination to it.

 

[Dick Brucinson]

@Edington:
See what kinds of pickups the Skolnick signature guitar has
lol

 

[Edington]

@Edington:
See what kinds of pickups the Skolnick signature guitar has
lol

We've been looking at different models, I missed the "blue one" part and thought you were looking at this:

ESP LTD AS-1 FR Alex Skolnick LB

Electric Guitar Alex Skolnick (Testament) Signature Model, Body: Mahogany, Neck0-thru-body: Maple, Fingerboard: Ebony, Neck profile: Thin U, Fingerboard radius: 350 mm (13.78"), Scale: 629 mm (24.75"), Nut width: 43 mm (1.69"), 22 Extra jumbo...

www.thomann.co.uk

(I still have no idea how to convert links to text on this site )

Why do you think this combination is boring? Tell me more please. I know that them ones are used with new guitars as the stock fitting, but isn't that more an evidence they go well together?
If it really turns out to be a boring combo I might exchange them indeed, however, this is my only guitar of all seven electric guitars that has this very combination to it.

Well, they do work well together. I had them in my Jackson Dinky and didn't really like them, I found the JB to be quite shrill (the single coil-sized JB Junior sounds much better to me) and the '59 just a little unremarkable. The main reason I find them boring is because they're in almost every guitar you see nowadays, Seymour Duncan have such a great range of pickups but 9 times out of 10 when you see a guitar fitted with Duncans it's the JB/59 combo. Charvel have a few models with the Full Shred/Alnico II combo - I have a Charvel that came with the FS and two single coils, wasn't keen on the FS either but I appreciate getting to try something different - and some guitars that lean towards more modern styles are starting to come with Nazgul/Sentient pickups, but the JB/'59 is still most common. It's a little personal gripe for me because I know from experience that I don't like them and would then have to spend more to replace them.

 

[Dick Brucinson]

We've been looking at different models, I missed the "blue one" part and thought you were looking at this:

ESP LTD AS-1 FR Alex Skolnick LB

Electric Guitar Alex Skolnick (Testament) Signature Model, Body: Mahogany, Neck0-thru-body: Maple, Fingerboard: Ebony, Neck profile: Thin U, Fingerboard radius: 350 mm (13.78"), Scale: 629 mm (24.75"), Nut width: 43 mm (1.69"), 22 Extra jumbo...

www.thomann.co.uk

(I still have no idea how to convert links to text on this site )



Well, they do work well together. I had them in my Jackson Dinky and didn't really like them, I found the JB to be quite shrill (the single coil-sized JB Junior sounds much better to me) and the '59 just a little unremarkable. The main reason I find them boring is because they're in almost every guitar you see nowadays, Seymour Duncan have such a great range of pickups but 9 times out of 10 when you see a guitar fitted with Duncans it's the JB/59 combo. Charvel have a few models with the Full Shred/Alnico II combo - I have a Charvel that came with the FS and two single coils, wasn't keen on the FS either but I appreciate getting to try something different - and some guitars that lean towards more modern styles are starting to come with Nazgul/Sentient pickups, but the JB/'59 is still most common. It's a little personal gripe for me because I know from experience that I don't like them and would then have to spend more to replace them.

The LTD Les Paul style guitar has these zebra coloured pickups (well, JB/59), and if I would change to any others I still would love to keep up with the zebra pattern anyway. So that narrows the range of possible options quite a lot already. However, I thought of replacing the bridge JB one with a DiMarzio Super Distortion. I have that one in my US Adrian Smith Jackson and love it.

 

[Maturin]

I have an Korean LTD Kirk Hammett, limited & numbered Nosferatu, and while I think that is a 2016, I wouldn't hesitate to buy an LTD again. Excellent quality guitars. My oldest ESP is a 2009 ESP Eclipse 1CTM, made in Japan Standard Series. I see a slight bit of a difference between a 1000-Series LTD or equivalent artist model and that one to be honest. But I would never pay the current prices of an E-II over an LTD.

Touring artists have been using LTD-1000's for 15 years in great numbers, and that's because they really are that good.

I also have an LTD GL-200T made in Indonesia, which is a surprisingly decent guitar despite the cheaper specs like Floyd Rose Special and ESP-branded pickup. No regrets there either.

My issue with LTD is the pricing, for a sub-company (I see them as ESP's equivalent of Squire or Epiphone) their models seem on the expensive side, even if the build quality's solid I can't really understand how they justify the cost.

They essentially dropped the ESP brand for anything bar the Customshop. Everyone is using LTD's. They produce professional level instruments and are used as such, very much unlike Squier, Epiphone or PRS SE.