ESP USA Eclipse

[JKingV2]

Hello all.. Just bought a 2014 ESP USA Eclipse in see thru black cherry. When I was in the market for one, there wasn't a whole lot about these guitars from a user perspective that I could gather info from, so I thought I'd post here if anyone is considering forking over the 3-4 grand they go for. I will say this.. They may be expensive, but it feels worth every penny. The flame maple top is the best I've seen on any guitar. The neck joint is also ingenious on this style of guitar. They say it's a set thru neck guitar, and I wonder just how far the neck tenon extends into the body. If anyone has any info on that, please let me know. It has the Seymour Duncan APH pick up set and they sound good, but being a metal guy, I might go with a Bare Knuckle set. I know these guitars also come with EMGs but I didn't wanna go with active pickups. The Duncan's are good, but I think ESP figured being an LP style guitar, they'd go with a rock sounding pickup. Everything else on this guitar is superb tho, I haven't been able to put it down. The neck is super comfortable for fast playing and anything else.

 

[Metaddict]

Played one at my local store and as you said....plays and feels great.and it is a full thickness body which is also really nice.
I think this neck-thru design is great and i believe that the neck tenon is between the pickups.
Do not forget that you can split the pickups

 

[d1469d]

Great guitar.

 

[JKingV2]

Thanks for the replies! It is an amazing guitar. I just had my guitar tech give it my preferred setup and literally can not put this thing down. I mentioned changing out the pickups, but I'm getting used to them and they're the kind of organic sounding pickups that reacting with the wood and a good pedal or amp overdrive, you can get a really fat heavy sound

 

[AmpliFIRE]

Beautiful guitar. Are they that much better than the full thickness MIJ models? There's a hefty price difference between the two...

 

[JKingV2]

I

Beautiful guitar. Are they that much better than the full thickness MIJ models? There's a hefty price difference between the two...

I lived in Japan for three years and have been to both ESP custom shop "headquarters" as they're called and have seen the high end, one-offs, and originals being built. That was what got me hooked on ESP Japan guitars, the customs and standards. I've owned a few. I had a MIJ Eclipse, an LTD Eclipse, a Steph Carpenter ESP Custom, and another kind of one off Eclipse full thickness model and enjoyed them all, but there's something truly special about the ESP USA Eclipse that just feels right. At first I was a little put off that I bought into the 'set thru' gimmick, thinking it was gonna be an extra long tenon extending the length of the body, when it's really just a little past the neck pickup, but I got past that because it's just such an awesome guitar. I have a Gibson Les Paul Custom and this thing is just as good, if not better for the comfortability of play. It stands up to some of the super high end model ESP's that I've played before, and I kinda' feel it's worth the price, even if it's between 3k-4k (got mine for a steal at 3k on the nose). It's weird because you really don't see a whole lot of online reviews or people playing them, and you really don't even see them in stores anywhere. So even if this whole ESP USA venture that ESP is in gets cut short, it'll be awesome knowing I got a USA made guitar from a Japanese brand and I really feel these guitars will catch on later in the game when they're harder to come by.