I've always dismissed ESP as a second- or third-tier guitar manufacturer. All their models appear to be knock-offs of Charvel/Jackson, Fender and Gibson with no new value added whatsoever. Their signature guitars have traditionally been especially close to downright plagiarism - the George Lynch (of Dokken and Lynch Mob, in case you didn't know) signature models are (depending on which model) Fender Stratocasters or Jackson Soloists with tricked-out paint jobs and either Seymore Duncan Screamin' Demons or Pearly Gates pickups. No extra electronics, no spesial woods used, no special trem system, no nothing. Essentially, you could buy a Squier and a set of pickups and get pretty damn close to the same sound and feel.
The James Hetfield (of Metallica, dontcha' know) "Trucker" model? Epic Gibson Les Paul rip-off, but with woods etc. more akin to an Epiphone. Pimp an Epiphone LP up with EMG's, and you've got the "Trucker" sans the subpar paintjob.
Kirk Hammet (still of Metallica) KH-models? Bolt-On black Jackson Soloists or Epiphone LP's with EMG's and lame-ass skull&bones fret inlays. I've tried several of the KH-models over the years, and I never had the feeling of playing something special. When switching from a KH to, say, a stock Ibanez RG or a Music Man Silhouette, I had a distinct feeling that I just upgraded to a better instrument. When I tried a KH-2 immediately before trying the Ibanez Jem, it felt like I just traded in a cardboard box under a bridge for an oceanview mansion. Guess which one I bought...
The Alexi Laiho (Children Of Bodom) model? An exact replica of the Jackson RR (Randy Rhoads) model with sawteeth instead of shark fin fret inlays, and with a slightly altered geometry of the pinstripes. Big Whoop.
The Jeff Hanneman (Slayer) model? Jackson Soloist with optional Neck-Through, EMG's and lame eagle&dot fret inlays. Michael Amott (Arch Enemy) signature model - the "Ninja"? More like Gibson Flying V with a slightly rounded concave arch and "X" fret inlays. Ron Wood's signature model? Straight-up Fender Telecaster with no fixin's whatsoever. Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) inexplicably left Jackson to make an inferior King V copy with 8-ball inlays at ESP, before leaving for Dean guitars.
My mental image of the R&D department at ESP was eerily similar to an image of a creepy guy with a camera running around at a NAMM show. So imagine my surprise when I noticed this addition to their signature series:
Awesome shape, Set-Thru, proper whammy bar, Seymore Duncan Distortion pickups and a thin, flat neck profile. Gus G (Firewind, formerly of Dream Evil)really has found a great hybrid of the Dean ML, a BC Rich Warlock and the once mighty Ibanez Reb Beach (Winger)model. The only perceivable drawback is that it's only got 22 frets. Damn; ain't that something........
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So, no special nothing, eh?
Check out these ESP from Japan:
http://www.espguitars.co.jp/artist/mana/e-jf-x.jpg
Combination of a cello, the gitar of "the artist formerly known as Prince, but is now again called Prince" (I think)?
http://www.espguitars.co.jp/artist/aoi/A-1_en.jpg
An axe or something?
http://www.espguitars.co.jp/original/images/forestg_bk.jpg
Same basic body design as above, only mirrored and sligthly different carved?
http://www.espguitars.co.jp/artist/hitsugi/N-HH-460.jpg
Actually, I liked the paintjob(?) on this one.
Damn - some of those were way cool. Total Dean/Ibanez Iceman/Jem knockoffs, but at least they would make you stand out on stage.
Not that "Look at my black Hyundai with high-output pickups and star sign fret inlays suspiciously Soloist-looking signature model" shit.
Yes, the second one there would look at home next to your Warlock...
;-)
But I agree, browsing through the ESP pages, there are a lot of Fender, Gibson, etc. knock off's. They don’t even try to hide the forgery.
Yeah; they don't make the slighest attempt at concealing (monster high-brow revision of your sentence) the forgery, which is kind of odd, considering the crap PRS went through with their single-cut models. Those don't look anything like the Les paul compared to some of these suckas.
Jackson, Fender & Gibson need to hire themselves some better lawyers than the pack of ambulance chasers and night-vision goggle stalkers that appear to make up their legal team at present.
Jackson, Fender & Gibson need to hire themselves some better lawyers than the pack of ambulance chasers and night-vision goggle stalkers that appear to make up their legal team at present.
Or, at least for Fender & Bison, start making the guitars so good that people prefer the original over the copy. The design of their best-sellers are all almost 50 years old. How long can they claim patents for such basic designs?
Well; considering the seven shades of Hell that PRS caught recently, the shapes and whatnot are quite well protected.
And Fender makes a way better strat than ESP does, Jackson makes a way better Soloist, etc. The difference is that ESP is throwing endorsement deals at artists, whereas, say, Fender are more restrictive. If you go to the Fender signature model page, you'll find much more familiar names - to a larger market segment, that is - than what you find for ESP.
If you're in a band and you actually manages to live off of it, and you get good publicity from Total Guitar or something similar, it's a no-brainer when someone in a suit (and horns, probably) walk up to you and say: "We'll make guitars identical to the ones you use and give them to you for free + some chump change if you let us use your image in ads and shit". The alternative is having to pay for the gear in an industry where, at least for metal bands, you're three downloads away from needing a daytime job.
I can really understand why PRS got it in their shorts. Say, Linhof are making Tele-copies, which is a "as close-as-you-get" copy of the owners 50's Fender Telecaster, which many prefer over what Fender is pushing these days. And when you go into you run-of-the-mill guitar store, how many guitars have the familiar Stratocaster shape, but a different name on the headstock?
So Fender and Gibson are not only competing with lower quality ESP (and the quality issue may be the reason why they haven't sued them), but also high-end and more expensive brands.
As for the signature-stuff: I don't like it. It's OK if the artist designing or contributing to a brand new guitar, like Les Paul in the 50's or Steve Vai with the JEM-series. But a standard Strat or Tele with a small signature on the headstock? Wonder how much input Muddy Waters and Stevie Ray Vaughan gave to their signature Fenders...
Absolutely - Fender in particular are blatantly copied by high-end brands suxh as Pensa-Suhr, Tom Anderson, G&L (although since leo fender was part of G&L I don't know if it counts), Ernie Ball Music Man and Zion, to name but a few. And several of the guitars mentioned here are arguably light years ahead of Fender - particularly high-end axes like Pensa-Suhr and Tom Anderson. Still, PRS got crap from Gibson.
I kind of agree with you on the signature models - they have to add a dimension to the original, at least. Guitars like the jem (Vai), Fender YJM strat (guess), Music Man John Petrucci and the Ibanez Reb Beach (awesome instrument - a shame that they discontinued it following the collapse of hair metal in the early 90's), the Dean Razorback (Dimebag) and the ESP Gus G, I can see value in. The "different pickups and fret inlays" crew not so much. Or mucho, as they say in Spanish.
The "different pickups and fret inlays" crew not so much.
...nor the polka dot crew.
So I take it you're not in the market for a Buddy Guy strat? You don't wanna get your pimp on with the polka dots?
What you should check out, whatever, are the PRS CE24 and McCarty Soapbar models. Awesome instruments! If you're thinking about investing 20 (CE)to 25 (McCarty) KNOK on an electric guitar and you liked the custom 24 (also 25 KNOK) + some LP's, this is the way to go.
I cannot emphasize enough how much better instruments the PRS CE, Custom or McCarty Soapbar are compared to the Gibson LP......not even if I use both hands.
If you use both hands and feet then?
The McCarty model with 'buckers? Those soapbars are singelcoils, aren't they?
The soapbars sound something between buckers and single coils. Plus they look awesome. You can't go wrong with either one, though.
Unless you convert to neoclassical shredding, that is
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