donaldr
New member
Ah ah!!!!
Pulled the trigger... New guitar incoming!
- Thread starter Rex_Rocker
- Start date
Ah ah!!!!
EmiAba
New member
It is gorgeous. Congrats
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
It's in! The top is pretty decent. This angle shows it a bit washed out, but it's pretty solid on other angles for a mid-priced guitars.
It's pretty heavy and the neck profile is fantastic.
It needs new strings, though.
I'm happy!
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
I'tm totally in the honeymoon period, but damn, the neck profile is so much more comfy than my Gibson 50's rounded, LOL.
Is it comparable to the 60s Gibson neck?
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Yeah. I think Gibson 60's necks vary a lot from year to year of production, though. So I'd say it's probably around the thickness of the thinner Gibson 60's. But the nut width is narrower, so it feels overall smaller and faster with the jumbo frets.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
OK, so I set it up in Drop C with my 11-59 set of strings.
Plays incredible. Out of my three guitars, it's the comfiest, no question. Action is low with absolutely no fret buzz, and the neck profile is to-die-for.
Sound-wise, it's great... but it's not a Gibson killer. Don't get me wrong, it sounds vibrant and lively unplugged, but I don't know if my Les Paul Tribute is a freak or all Tributes are like that because of the thin finish, but unplugged, when you strum it, you almost feel the acoustic sound smack you in the face, and that really translates to the amplified sound as well. This LTD sounds good: Fatter and throatier than my Strat. But it's not the same as my Gibson.
The pickups... hmmm... I like the JB, and the '59 works better with it than I remember it sounding, but it's kinda hard not to compare it to my two other guitars with a Nazgul and a 500T. The JB just doesn't have the power, the agression, and the balls of either. It's probably coming out sometime in the near future. The '59... I mean... it works. It's fine. It sounds like a pretty generic good pickup. But it does sound like a good pickup, so I'm not in a rush to swap it out for how little I really use the neck pickup.
I'm super super super happy with it, though. For the equivalent of 350-ish USD that I paid for it, I mean. It's a lot of freakin' guitar for that amount of money. I think I like how it sounds and plays better than my Strat, TBH, and it plays better than my Gibson, just doesn't sound as nice... yet.
I'll post some pics tomorrow with better lighting! I made a couple of simple mods the guitar.
Plays incredible. Out of my three guitars, it's the comfiest, no question. Action is low with absolutely no fret buzz, and the neck profile is to-die-for.
Sound-wise, it's great... but it's not a Gibson killer. Don't get me wrong, it sounds vibrant and lively unplugged, but I don't know if my Les Paul Tribute is a freak or all Tributes are like that because of the thin finish, but unplugged, when you strum it, you almost feel the acoustic sound smack you in the face, and that really translates to the amplified sound as well. This LTD sounds good: Fatter and throatier than my Strat. But it's not the same as my Gibson.
The pickups... hmmm... I like the JB, and the '59 works better with it than I remember it sounding, but it's kinda hard not to compare it to my two other guitars with a Nazgul and a 500T. The JB just doesn't have the power, the agression, and the balls of either. It's probably coming out sometime in the near future. The '59... I mean... it works. It's fine. It sounds like a pretty generic good pickup. But it does sound like a good pickup, so I'm not in a rush to swap it out for how little I really use the neck pickup.
I'm super super super happy with it, though. For the equivalent of 350-ish USD that I paid for it, I mean. It's a lot of freakin' guitar for that amount of money. I think I like how it sounds and plays better than my Strat, TBH, and it plays better than my Gibson, just doesn't sound as nice... yet.
I'll post some pics tomorrow with better lighting! I made a couple of simple mods the guitar.
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See, I would really like that neck profile.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
It's nice. It's definitely leaning more towards thin than to thick, but it's not paper thin like an Ibanez Wizard. It's one of my favorite neck profiles, TBH.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Alright, some pics!
Replaced the bridge with a Gotoh I had laying around, the knobs with top hat knobs and the tuner tips with Kluson-style tulips!
The top is hard to photograph. It's no AAA or whatever, but it's certainly not as washed out as the pics make it seem. It's actually somewhat active, and that's why the figuring is more subtle on some angles. I went to the store yesterday to get some strings, and they had some new Epiphone Les Paul Customs with "figured" tops that were pretty sad-looking. This one isn't like that, fortunately.
Replaced the bridge with a Gotoh I had laying around, the knobs with top hat knobs and the tuner tips with Kluson-style tulips!
The top is hard to photograph. It's no AAA or whatever, but it's certainly not as washed out as the pics make it seem. It's actually somewhat active, and that's why the figuring is more subtle on some angles. I went to the store yesterday to get some strings, and they had some new Epiphone Les Paul Customs with "figured" tops that were pretty sad-looking. This one isn't like that, fortunately.
soulforger
New member
These 401s are sleepers, killer guitars no doubt, congrats!!
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Mine is a old one. It's from 2007. Long out of production. I got mine used for the equivalent of 350-ish USD. Almost mint condition.
Nowadays, the cheapest Les Paul-thickness models don't go below the 1000 series which is about 1,400 USD, but that one has Fishman pickups and locking tuners and TonePros bridges.
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Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
TBH, I've always had better luck with the 400 series than the 1000 series. I prefer dropping my own choice of hardware upgrade on a 400 series than the no-name locking tuners on the 1000 series and the lower-end Zinc TonePros bridges in there. And I don't like the abalone either.
Each to his own.
Thank you!
real esp arent cheap. mij eclipse probably start around $2500, mia might be $5k
What are the models numbers for the thinner-than-LP models?
Well, at those prices, there is lots of competition.
Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
Anything like EC-(some number)T means it's full-thickness. Everything else is thinner than a Les Paul. The vast majority of the models are thinner than Les Pauls.
https://www.espguitars.com/products?categories=ec-series
They have several price points. I think the EC-256 is solid and can usually be found for cheap used. I'd say those are around the same quality level as Squier Classic Vibe. The 1000 series is at the higher-end of mid-priced guitars when it comes to price, but they're consistently solid and reall well spec'd.
That's within the LTD realm. It's kinda like ESP's Epiphone. The higher-end LTD's are IMO/IME better spec'd and better built than anything Epiphone, though.
Like Jeremy mentioned, the MIJ E-II is pretty expensive. They also have a Japanese Custom Shop and a USA Custom Shop.
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Rex_Rocker
Well-known member
One of my best friends has one exactly like that and he loves it.
