ESP Guitars

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ESP Guitar Company
Type private company
Genre All
Founded Tokyo, Japan, 1975
Founder Hisatake Shibuya
Headquarters 10903 Vanowen Street
Burbank, California 91605
United States
Area served Worldwide
Key people Matt Masciandaro president,
Peter Trojkovic CEO
Industry musical instruments
Products Custom Electric Guitars
Electric Guitars
Bass Guitars
Owner Hisatake Shibuya
Subsidiaries LTD Guitars
Grassroots Guitars
Edwards Guitars
Website [1]

ESP Company, Limited (Kabushiki Gaisha Ī Esu Pī?), located in North Hollywood, California, is a manufacturer of electric guitars and basses, originally from Japan.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1975, Hisatake Shibuya opened a shop called Electric Sound Products (ESP) in Tokyo. It provided custom replacement parts for guitars. In 1976, ESP gained a reputation as a provider of high-quality replacement parts. At this time, ESP also began crafting guitars under the ESP and Navigator brand in the Japanese market.

ESP replacement parts were first introduced into the US in 1983. ESP began crafting custom instruments for local New York artists between 1984 and 1985. Among these artists were Page Hamilton of Helmet, Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Vinnie Vincent, Bruce Kulick of KISS, and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones. At this time, ESP also introduced the 400 Series as the first production line distributed in the US.

During this same period of time, ESP began making the bodies and necks for Kramer. Other manufacturers using ESP as an OEM were Robin Guitars [2], Schecter Guitar research and Dimarzio. Many traits of the Kramer line are still visible including neck construction and body bevels. ESP tooled up for Tom Anderson's shaved bolt on neck heel on the Schecter bodies, and has since become a feature of their house brand.

ESP Pointed Headstock.
ESP Pointed Headstock.

In 1986, George Lynch discovered ESP while on tour in Tokyo. Lynch walked into an ESP shop looking for a replacement neck and learned that ESP also built custom guitars. As a result, his famous ESP Kamikaze was made. ESP soon introduced the M1 Standard, MI Custom, Horizon Custom, and the Surveyor bass into the market.

In 1987, Kirk Hammett of Metallica discovered ESP and made his ESP KH-2 which was later released as a signature model in 1989. At this time, ESP released George Lynch's Kamikaze as its first signature model. ESP based its headquarters in a loft in downtown New York City on 19th Street. In 1989, the headquarters were moved to 48th Street near the famous music stores.

Between 1990 and 1992, ESP expanded its Signature Series as well as its standard product line. The US replacement parts business was discontinued in order to switch focus solely on the guitar and bass line as well as the custom shop. There are about 41 signature series guitars.

In 1993, ESP moved its headquarters again but this time it was relocated to Los Angeles. There, ESP opened an office on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood. In 1996, LTD was created to produce ESP's high-quality products in a more affordable line of production. Soon after the introduction of the Korean and Indonesian made LTD lines, ESP discontinued selling the majority of its Japanese-made flagship instruments in the United States due to the prices involved in exporting to the Americas. The lone exception was ESP's artist signature lines, which remained ESP (rather than LTD) models. In the early 2000s, ESP resumed shipping the standard Japanese manufactured lines to the United States (where they are very popular among metal and hard rock players), albeit at greatly increased prices compared to the early 90s.

Similarly to Ibanez, ESP's chief competitor in Japan, ESP was initially known for making high quality and customized replicas of famous American guitars, including hot rodded Fender Strats and Teles, as well as Gibson Explorers. The latter model (known as the EXP) shot to fame when avid ESP user James Hetfield's band Metallica became extremely popular in the early 80s. Models similar to Hetfield's black EXP even today sell for hundreds of dollars beyond the original retail price. However, just like Ibanez, when the Gibson company realized the extent to which ESP was denting into the sales of its own guitars, it filed suit to prevent the sales of these guitars in the Americas and ESP redesigned its lines to be less similar to the American models.

In 2002, ESP was ranked among the music industry's fastest growing companies. This is largely due to the Fender buyout of Jackson Guitars, with whom ESP had struggled to compete throughout the 1980s and 1990s. With the buyout, many Jackson endorsers switched over to ESP, due to their stunningly similar design, playability, and quality of their guitars and basses (this has ignited a feud between players, with Jackson players citing ESP as inferior and copy instruments, while ESP players say the same about Jackson). Some of these artists who left Jackson for ESP included Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, Adam Darski of Behemoth, Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom, Roope Latvala of Children of Bodom, Galder of Dimmu Borgir and Silenoz of Dimmu Borgir. In recent trends however, guitarists like Mustaine, Glenn Drover and Rob Barrett of Cannibal Corpse left ESP for another American company, Dean Guitars.

ESP introduced its Xtone line, beginning with the semi-hollow Paramount Series. In 2005, ESP celebrated its 30th Anniversary and released James Hetfield's "Truckster" into its Signature Series. In 2006, ESP showcased 22 of its newest Signature Series and Standard Series models at Winder NAMM 2006. The Standard Series models included such famous models as the ESP LTD EC-500 and the ESP LTD B-500. Among the signature artists showcasing their newest ESP models and signing autographs at the ESP booth were Dave Mustaine, George Lynch, Stephen Carpenter, Michael Wilton and Page Hamilton.

[edit] Manufacturing operations

In 1996, ESP started a new brand, LTD. The LTD guitars are similar to ESP guitars and more affordable. The 400 series LTDs are made on an assembly line in Korea whereas the series below 400 are made in Indonesia. LTDs are made out of cheaper materials than ESPs and ESPs use better quality hardware. The custom ESPs are handcrafted in Japan while the standard ESPs are made in the ESP factory in Japan.

[edit] Popularity

ESP found fame by providing guitars for guitarists who went on to become leading exponents of thrash metal music in the 1980s, along with Jackson Guitars, including Metallica, Slayer and Megadeth. As a result of these endorsements, ESP has gone to become one of the most popular suppliers of guitars for use in (usually) heavy metal music. They have, however, introduced signature guitars from other artists such as Ronnie Wood (guitarist in The Rolling Stones)and Dan Jacobs (lead guitarist for Atreyu). LTD tends to make cheaper more affordable versions of artists signature guitars.

[edit] Models

[edit] Number structure

Structure of ESP's model numbering is somewhat complicated, mostly because the scheme changed throughout time. It can be summarized as following.

LTD F - 400 FM STBLK
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
ESP ECLIPSE - II VB
(1) (2) (3) (5)
ESP KH - 2 BLK
(1) (2) (3) (5)
Xtone PC - 2 V STR
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
LTD B - 405 ASB
(1) (2) (3) (5)
  • (1) brand
  • (2) model name
  • (3) additional index
  • (4) special features
  • (5) finish color

All guitars have either ESP, LTD or Xtone brand (1) (LTD is sometimes spelled as ESP LTD to remind of ESP participation). Generally, ESP guitars are built in Japan using premium woods and hardware and considered to be of higher quality than LTD and Xtone guitars, manufactured on assembly lines in Korea and Indonesia[3]. Note that as of 2006, no ESP guitars are manufactured in US[4].

Next, the model gets its basic naming from the shape of the body (2), such as EC, EX, EXP, F, H, etc, except for some rare custom shop cases. Some body shapes have evolved over several revisions, designated by additional index, such as ECLIPSE-II in region (3). Basic body shapes used by ESP are the following. Note some shapes have both short name and long name, longer name being used by top ESP instruments, while shorter name used by cheaper LTD instruments.

Though they are incredibly similar to numerous other instruments (the AX series bearing a striking resemblance to the BC Rich Virgo and BC Rich Warlock, the ESP M series being similar to the Jackson Soloist and ESP V series similar to the Jackson King V), ESP has been mainly lawsuit free when it comes to guitar shapes. The only major guitar company to file a lawsuit against ESP was Gibson guitars, who claimed that ESP's Eclipse series was too similar to Gibson's famous Gibson Les Paul guitar. The lawsuit was unsuccessful as numerous other companies offered single-cut design shapes similar to the Les Paul, as was the Eclipse. Gibson also sued over the EXP model which was an exact copy of a Gibson Explorer guitar. ESP lost this lawsuit and the EXP had to be changed to the EX after Gibson sued. The original EXP line was made famous by James Hetfield. He also had a signature model based on the EXP line the JH-2. Jackson Guitars also sued ESP in the late 80's because ESP used an exact copy of Jackson's signature "drooping" headstock design. Fender also sued because ESP in the early 80's used a Fender styled headstock on their 400 series models. Paul Reed Smith also sued because on some models ESP used "dragon inlays", which is a PRS only exclusive inlay.

Name Similar body shapes by other vendors
Short Long
N/A Amaze Fender Jazz Bass
AP N/A MusicMan Stingray
AX N/A B.C. Rich Warlock, B.C. Rich Virgo
EC Eclipse Gibson Les Paul
EX / EXP Explorer Gibson Explorer, Hamer Standard.
F Forest B.C. Rich Virgin, superstrats
H Horizon Carved superstrats
N/A Jerk Kramer 1984
M Mirage Ibanez RG, flat superstrats, Jackson Dinky,soloist, Fender Showmaster,
PB Potbelly PRS Guitars, carved superstrats Hamer Studio,
RD Reindeer Similar to F series
N/A Snapper Fender Stratocaster
RS Random Star Charvel Star, Dean ML, Dean Razorback
SV Striking V Jackson Randy Rhoads
N/A Throbber Fender Telecaster
V N/A Jackson King V
VP Viper Gibson SG
N/A Vintage Plus Series Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, Fender Precision Bass

Most signature models have some sort of unique name, such as TRUCKSTER or STEF CARPENTER in this position. However, most signature models are usually just slightly modified original ESP body shapes: for example, TRUCKSTER is a modified EC, STEF CARPENTER is a modified MH.

LTD models include some sort of 2- or 3-digit number in region (3) that roughly estimates quality / price of the guitar. Lowest quality / most budget LTD models have 50 (LTD EC-50), higher price / quality models have this index up to 1000 (LTD EC-1000VHB).

Few other signature models are named in a different manner, for example, KH (Kirk Hammett) models. Model name (2) alone doesn't determine body shape, additional index (3) is used. For example - KH-2 and KH-3 - these are two completely different guitars: KH-2 is modified M body shape, KH-3 is modified EC body shape, but these indexes (2 and 3) are important. Usually, these ESP models have LTD-branded copies that have last digit matching model index from original ESP model. For example, ESP KH-2 — LTD KH-602, ESP KH-3 — LTD KH-603.

Xtone models also seem to use both (2) and (3) to designate a body shape, i.e. PC-1 and PC-2 have different body shapes.

LTD bass guitars sometimes use last digit of region (3) to show a number of strings, i.e. LTD B-405 is a 5-string bass, LTD B-404 is a 4-string bass, LTD B-208 is an 8-string (4×2 string) bass. A similar practice is used on LTD guitars which have 7-strings(i.e. LTD STEF-607)

Normal ESP guitar models usually do not include such index.

Some models include various "special features" designators (4), for example:

  • FM — flamed maple body top.
  • QM - quilted maple body top.
  • SM - spalted maple body top.
  • VB - vintage black color.
  • NT - No tremolo system fitted. This designation is only used on models where the option of a tremolo is possible.
  • V - licensed Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.
  • BARITONE — longer scale, heavier strings, lower sounding baritone guitar.
  • Rosewood - rosewood fingerboard.
  • Maple - maple fingerboard.
  • w/EMGs - guitar is equipped with EMG pickups.
  • w/Seymour Duncans or w/Duncans - guitar is equipped with Seymour Duncan pickups.

And last, finish color code can be included in model name (5), for example:

  • BLK - black
  • BD - black with black diamond plate
  • BLKS - black satin
  • STBLK - see-through black
  • VTB - vintage black
  • BCH - black cherry
  • STBC - see-through black cherry
  • TTM - titanium
  • OW - Olympic white
  • VHB - vintage honey burst
  • SW - Snow white

[edit] Series

ESP Signature Series

[edit] Guitar Series

Dependent of target market (i.e. Asia, US, Europe) and brand (ESP, LTD or Xtone), various models are organized in marketing series.

In Japan ESP has brands of differing quality, most notably the ESP Edwards Series and the ESP Grass Roots Series. The Edwards brand is comparable to the Ltd series, but many have stated the guitars are comparable to the guitars under the name of ESP in terms of quality. Grass Roots is generally considered to be the value-performance range in ESP Japan. The Japanese ESP Navigator Series is the most prestigious and costly range of ESP guitars (Worldwide) and the Gibson and Fender replicas exceed the cost of Fender and Gibson’s own Custom Shops. Ltd is also available in Japan, although in terms of popularity they are ranked lower than the other brands.

[edit] Bass Series

  • ESP Jacoshenk
  • ESP Vintage-4 Series
  • ESP B-1000 Series
  • ESP D Series
  • ESP AX Series
  • ESP Viper Series
  • ESP Eclipse Series
  • ESP Forest Series
  • ESP B Series

[edit] Artists

A number of popular musicians play ESP guitars - mostly from the genres of rock and heavy metal - including:

[edit] External links