Tell me about the ESP M1 Custom...

[tfridgen]

How do these stack up against today's ESP's? Are they pretty solid guitars? I've got a chance to trade my halfback Mesa Boogie 4x12 for this straight up. Any advice is mucho appreciato!

 

[joseph]

When is that bad boy from?
I've heard a bit that ESP stuff from the 80s is supposed to be really fucking good, because they only had a few luthiers going at it, and they had thier shit dialed.
Can anyone confirm/deny this?

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Here is mine. It plays and feels as good as any of my USA made guitars.

 

[tfridgen]

Nice, love the red! How good is the bridge, is it worth an immediate upgrade or is it pretty stable?

 

[Metlupass2]

Do it. Those 80's and early 90's ESPs are great. They're usually pretty cheap when you find them on craigslist. I've had a bunch.


Heres a few of my old ones, that I've sold within the past year.

This is the only Custom Shop MII I've got, but its from 99 I think.

 

[BeZo]

I had an old blue M1 Custom that was beat to shit. I brought it back to life, first for a customer, and then after I bought it from him. It played great, sounded great, and felt great. However, they don't usually fetch much coin. I got lucky, and traded mine for a Warwick Corvette standard bass. I then traded that for a Ibanez V Blade and a Bugera 333. I then quickly traded the Bugera for an old VHT 4x12 cab. So, in the end, mine brought me luck. I'd get one!

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Nice, love the red! How good is the bridge, is it worth an immediate upgrade or is it pretty stable?

Thanks man. I didn't like the stock bridge much. I upgraded to a Gotoh. It's much better.

 

[tfridgen]

Picked it up last night and I got to tell ya, this guitar smokes. I wasn't expecting too much but I was blown away by the build quality and feel. I'd definitely put it up against my buddy's 90's Jackson Soloist anyday for playability and sound. I had all intentions of flipping it quick but I don't know, it feels and sounds so good that I may just keep it!

 

[Metlupass2]

Nice. It's obviously been modded with all the switches and the single coil pickup ring.

Is that an X2N in the bridge or the stock ESP LH200? The stock pickups actually aren't bad.

 

[tfridgen]

Nice. It's obviously been modded with all the switches and the single coil pickup ring.

Is that an X2N in the bridge or the stock ESP LH200? The stock pickups actually aren't bad.

Not sure about the pickup, sounds pretty damn good though, it is active however, not sure if the lh200 is or not(looking at pics on the net it doesn't seem to be the lh200, it's got the two blades in it for pole pieces). One of the switches splits the single coil, the other one is a selector(neck/both/bridge) and the other actually seems to split the bridge.

 

[nwright]

^I remember seeing that guitar. IIRC, someone on the ESP forum at that at one point. I remember because it had been routed for a neck SC, and they used that (IMHO) ugly pickup ring.

Unless you've for sure seen a battery in the control cavity, that wouldn't be an active pickup, and if there is a battery I'd still be skeptical that's it's for the pickup...Could be for some type of boost or something.

because of the non stock condition with the route for the neck p/up, I'd be curious as to the value of the trade. No doubt they are killer guitars, but they usually don't fetch a lot on the used market. I'm almost positive this sold for around 400-600 bucks on the ESP forum though. But that was a few years back.

 

[tfridgen]

^I remember seeing that guitar. IIRC, someone on the ESP forum at that at one point. I remember because it had been routed for a neck SC, and they used that (IMHO) ugly pickup ring.

Unless you've for sure seen a battery in the control cavity, that wouldn't be an active pickup, and if there is a battery I'd still be skeptical that's it's for the pickup...Could be for some type of boost or something.

because of the non stock condition with the route for the neck p/up, I'd be curious as to the value of the trade. No doubt they are killer guitars, but they usually don't fetch a lot on the used market. I'm almost positive this sold for around 400-600 bucks on the ESP forum though. But that was a few years back.

I'm not really too worried about the value as the guitar just plays and sounds so good. There is a battery in the cavity(I changed it, was getting pretty weak). I'll have to check where the battery is routed to see if it's active or not. Whatever it is, it sounds great to my ears!