myxolidian
New member
My Edwards LP came in from Katana Guitars this morning. :banana:
After swapping out the strings for .011s, tweaking the truss rod, adjusting the action a little higher and setting the intonation, I gave it a good thrashing.
Bottom line is the guitar is fantastic, regardless of cost. At $800, it's a downright bargain!
Packaging:
First off, the guitar came packaged very well. Plenty of bubble wrap and cardboard. It also came with an ESP gigbag. It took 3 days to get to California. However, they didn't ship it until 3 days after I paid so technically it took the whole week.
Fit and Finish:
The fit and finish are outstanding. Fret ends are nicely crowned and polished (no file marks on the ends whatsoever). Paint is smooth, swirl free and glossy. Neck joint and binding are very clean. Ebony fingerboard is smooth and black. Nut looks to be nicely cut with no hangups. I'm real picky on things like this and the Edwards did not disappoint. Below are some pics. Notice the closeup of the binding and fretwork. Great stuff!
Hardware
The hardware is great. Tuning machines and bridge are from Gotoh. Pickups are Duncan Distortion (both bridge and neck). Pots and toggle work smoothly.
Sound
The guitar is fairly resonant and sounds great unplugged. Compared to the 10 or so Gibsons I played last week, the Edwards seems to fit right in. Compared to my Jacksons and Warmoths, it actually resembles my string-thru Tele (in regards to resonance) the most. It's a punchy sound that is slightly brighter than my other guitars equipped with trems.
Plugged in, the Duncan Distortion has a mean grind in the bridge position. That was a given...and I like it. What was surprising what that the Distortion sounds pretty damn good in the neck too. I thought it might be mud city but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't. However, it does have that grind sound to it so I might swap the neck pup out for something a little smoother. But for now I'm pretty happy.
Here's a soundclip of the Edwards vs the Jackson SL2H. Both guitars went thru the same amp with the same setup. The Edwards is panned left and the Jackson is panned right. The Jackson is equipped with a JB/59 combo. Not sure if you can hear the difference due to the mp3 compression but the DD is a bit brighter/grindier than the JB.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=520434
Conclusion:
Is it a Gibson replacement? I don't know...and I don't care. What I do know is that this guitar fits my needs for an LP-like instrument, has outstanding workmanship, and sounds great.
:smokin:
After swapping out the strings for .011s, tweaking the truss rod, adjusting the action a little higher and setting the intonation, I gave it a good thrashing.
Bottom line is the guitar is fantastic, regardless of cost. At $800, it's a downright bargain! Packaging:
First off, the guitar came packaged very well. Plenty of bubble wrap and cardboard. It also came with an ESP gigbag. It took 3 days to get to California. However, they didn't ship it until 3 days after I paid so technically it took the whole week.
Fit and Finish:
The fit and finish are outstanding. Fret ends are nicely crowned and polished (no file marks on the ends whatsoever). Paint is smooth, swirl free and glossy. Neck joint and binding are very clean. Ebony fingerboard is smooth and black. Nut looks to be nicely cut with no hangups. I'm real picky on things like this and the Edwards did not disappoint. Below are some pics. Notice the closeup of the binding and fretwork. Great stuff!
Hardware
The hardware is great. Tuning machines and bridge are from Gotoh. Pickups are Duncan Distortion (both bridge and neck). Pots and toggle work smoothly.
Sound
The guitar is fairly resonant and sounds great unplugged. Compared to the 10 or so Gibsons I played last week, the Edwards seems to fit right in. Compared to my Jacksons and Warmoths, it actually resembles my string-thru Tele (in regards to resonance) the most. It's a punchy sound that is slightly brighter than my other guitars equipped with trems.
Plugged in, the Duncan Distortion has a mean grind in the bridge position. That was a given...and I like it. What was surprising what that the Distortion sounds pretty damn good in the neck too. I thought it might be mud city but was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't. However, it does have that grind sound to it so I might swap the neck pup out for something a little smoother. But for now I'm pretty happy.
Here's a soundclip of the Edwards vs the Jackson SL2H. Both guitars went thru the same amp with the same setup. The Edwards is panned left and the Jackson is panned right. The Jackson is equipped with a JB/59 combo. Not sure if you can hear the difference due to the mp3 compression but the DD is a bit brighter/grindier than the JB.
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=520434
Conclusion:
Is it a Gibson replacement? I don't know...and I don't care. What I do know is that this guitar fits my needs for an LP-like instrument, has outstanding workmanship, and sounds great.
:smokin:
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