ESP E-II Horizon NT - these any good?

Inearthed

Well-known member
Relevant link - https://www.espguitars.com/products/100 ... fm-nt-dbsb

I received a trade offer of one of the above for a guitar I have listed on Craigslist for $900, condition of the offered guitar looks great from the photos, stock pickups, case included. I have one of the older ESP horizon NT-II’s with the pointed headstock (before the E-II branding) and I really like the guitar.

Are these E-II models of similar quality / worth checking out? I swear I remember reading some posts about the E-II series on here and they weren’t all that positive. Thoughts? I would rather not waste his time and mine if the E-II series are bad.
 
They're supposed to be the same. Just because the branding and headstock changed then people look for excuses for a drop in quality when those guitars are made by the same people in the same factory they've always been made in. At least, that's from what I've read.
 
I have an EII Horizon III and it’s fretwork, fit and finish is every bit as good as any ESP standard I remember from years past. Maybe even a little better in certain areas. I don’t recall my old buddies ESP Eclipse Std. Having fretwork as nice as mine.
 
As mentioned above. The eII are made by the same people in the same plant as the standard was, it was literally just a name change.
I’ve talked to some of my favorite ESP dealers, that purchased tons of ESP’s, that have a great relationship with all the plants including custom shops in japan and US.
 
I am really interested in some of the E-II stuff so interested to hear your thoughts after playing. I had a Standard ESP Viper, MII Deluxe and DV-8 and they were great guitars.
 
LunatiBSW":iaywqgay said:
As mentioned above. The eII are made by the same people in the same plant as the standard was, it was literally just a name change.
I’ve talked to some of my favorite ESP dealers, that purchased tons of ESP’s, that have a great relationship with all the plants including custom shops in japan and US.

I've heard the same thing from the Japanese dealers I know but I just have not found them to be the same. Not that the EII's are bad. They are really nice but from my experience they do seem to be a little lesser than the older ESP Standards. Just my experience and opinion.

Personally I wish they would have just left awesome alone. Many love ESP guitars. Why just limit that branding to super expensive Custom Shop models? Silly move regardless IMO.
 
I forgot to post that I had the weirdest experience meeting up with the dude that wanted to trade and alarm bells were going off the whole time I was with the dude. Glad we met in a public place. I’m pretty sure the guitar he had was stolen and this was some sort of weird scheme to offload a stolen guitar for a non-“hot” one maybe? He was tweaking out most of the time we were there (looking around all shifty like), never touched my guitar to try it out and also seemed to know nothing about guitars in general and couldn’t answer any questions about the guitar like the type of strings on the guitar (even the brand). I asked if he played and he said “not really” - what kind of person has a guitar that retails new for $1500+ that doesn’t play guitar?

When I mentioned that the guitar wasn’t exactly what I was looking for he asked if I wanted to trade a new iPhone for my guitar. I passed and he said “your loss” and left with his guitar.

Fucking weird experience

Guitar player well though, going to see if I can try one out at a shop
 
People and ESP say they are the same as Standard series, and it's probably so.

That said, I've never played a single SS which was less than impeccable. Can't say the same about some E-II I've played tho.
 
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