Esp versus Esp Ltd?

romanianreaper

romanianreaper

Well-known member
Was wondering how big of a difference it is between the ESP Eclipse and ESP Ltd Eclipse, other than price. I'm thinking about getting an Eclipse for gigs and wonder if it is worth the extra $1000 or more to get an actual ESP? I know I'd dig it for sure but wondering if a Korea made one would be closer than expected, especially with ESP pickups.
 
Tone Monster said:
Some LTDs feel and sound decent BUT my ESP (it is a 23 year old custom) smokes any LTD I’ve played. The wood feels more dense or something. In general people give the high end LTDs decent praise.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the Ltds I've played are solid and feel great but I think ESP just raises the bar. I've only ever played one ESP E-II.
 
Have an LTD Arrow that I swapped the Korean junk Floyd with the Original German Floyd and nut. Shimmed the saddles and put in a pop in arm.
It plays and sounds as good as anything.
Its the guitar that keeps me from buying expensive shit
 
My LTD Buz7 is the guitar I just can’t seem to let go of. Every time list it I end up taking it down. I admittedly hate the pickups, but I can’t see how else the workmanship and playability could be improved on, even at twice the price tag
It’s kind of like if an Ibanez S series went to the gym for a summer

Carved Maple cap, maple walnut neck, ebony board, Floyd rose… it ticks the boxes
IMG_9481.jpeg



IMG_9482.jpeg


IMG_9483.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Tone Monster said:
The wood feels more dense or something
Click to expand...

Well it is, imports use nyato, meranthi luan and other timbers in place of mahogany ( much pricier), which are softer, lighter, yellower in color and not as tight and as focused in tonal response.
It's not that sound inherently bad or something, actually I've played many LTD and Schecs that sounded fantastic with huge low end, but you can hear there's a difference with proper mahogany guitars.
 
LTDs are getting made in Indonesia these days too. They’re like anything else. I’ve had great ESPs and I’ve had dud ESPs. Same is true for LTDs. If you get a good ESP it’s definitely worth it. If you get a dud it’s not. I remember my ESP SV-II was my most expensive and worst sounding guitar I owned at the time.
 
rbasaria said:
LTDs are getting made in Indonesia these days too. They’re like anything else. I’ve had great ESPs and I’ve had dud ESPs. Same is true for LTDs. If you get a good ESP it’s definitely worth it. If you get a dud it’s not. I remember my ESP SV-II was my most expensive and worst sounding guitar I owned at the time.
Click to expand...
They seem to flip-flop. I wanted the '87 Custom Horizon when they came out, but they were made in Indonesia.. I won't do Indonesian. I've owned a few and they always had poor fretwork, (even PRS). Now I see them popping up made in Korea. Now I might get one. But, even their Koreans can be bad.. I bought a George Lynch Desert Eagle LTD that was Korean, and it was an absolute turd with problems galore. I'd look at MIJ if you can afford it.
 
Yeah they’re using both factories. I had 2 of the same model, one from Korea, one from Indonesia. I didn’t have any issues with either of them but over time I found they didn’t sound as good as some of my other guitars.

Japanese is usually the way to go if you want the best, but even those can play and look great but sound kinda meh. Just never know what you’re going to get until you have it in your hands.
 
LONG time ESP and LTD player! I have a LTD SC500 that is my #1 guitar and I own several. Very fast, sounds excellent. My #2 is an old skool original ESP (not EII) snow white Eclipse with the black headstock that just sounds amazing on everything it's recorded on. Some of my LTDs are "meh", plastic feeling while some high end ESP's and EII's that I own should sound/play better for their price. I think the key is getting them setup by someone who knows their craft well. My point being is the LTDs, especially the older ones can be good to very good especially after a professional setup. Don't let the letters on the headstock fool you. I've sold some LTDs and got the higher end ESP/EII counterparts and regretted it (not always but it has happened)
 
Last edited:
I think there's a higher likelihood of getting a keeper if you're going EII/ESP versus going LTD, especially if you're ordering online. If you've got a shop local to you that carries a bunch of LTD's just go in and play them until you find the best of the bunch and go home with it. If you're buying an LTD online new make sure you can return it without a charge because the last couple I've picked up I've been underwhelmed by (one was dead sounding and had zero sustain, another had some extremely sketchy finish work to the point where I wasn't sure how it made it out to a store with how crappy it was). In my experience (which isn't vast) most of the newer LTD's at GC kinda feel like toys (super light weight, zero sustain, corners cut on the finishing, hardware can be sketchy) unless you're getting one of the ones that are $1300+. With the LTD new pricing now a days you can get an EII or ESP used cheaper with a case a lot of the time.

I'd go for a used EII Eclipse and try to get something sub $1200 which I think is still doable, might be able to swing closer to $1k if its off a forum and you're willing to deal with some wear and tear. Gone are the days of like $700 ESP/EII ebay/reverb finds unfortunately.
 
Snave said:
ESP Ltds are made by World Musical Instrument Corp., same as PRS SE and Schecter. They're some of the nicer playing budget instruments, but tend to have very thick poly finishes that feel plasticky. None of them are quite on the same level as their core brand counterparts
Click to expand...
So much this. I recently played an LTD at a closing Sam Ash store and I swear it felt like it had an inch of poly on it. Exaggeration of course but it felt thick and made the guitar feel and look so cheap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top