Feature:
Features in this guitar are killer and honestly I couldn't ask for better. The Earvana nut is great for tuning ands staying in tune, plus teamed up with the ESP locking tuners it couldn't be more secure. If you have tuning problems it's your strings. Seriously. the inlay is really beautiful on the Vintage Black model, I don't really care for abalone. For me it's ether inlay all the way to the first fret or not inlay at all. Really I like a non-detailed neck, but on this guitar I couldn't do without the flag inlay. It's awesome. Ebony finger board is the best. I always make sure my guitars have it because they are very smooth and easy to play. The 24 frets is a big bonus, plus they are extra jumbo which is really nice. Finnish on the Vintage Black is really cool. Doesn't show finger prints or anything.

Quality:
The quality is amazing for a guitar of It's price and make. ESP is the best when it comes to metal guitars and they have never let me down and I don't think ever will. I'll keep buying these good quality beast's until I die.

Value:
I would easily pay a hell of a lot more for this guitar. I've seen it at my local store for $1,200 and would totally buy it for that much. Fortunately Zzounds had my back.

Desirability:
I don't think I even need to say anything. 11 out of 10.

Sound:
The sound out of this baby it incredible for a guitar if it's price. I swear by EMG's ether the 81/60 combo or 81/85. I couldn't play with out them. I run this through a Fender FM100 head and a Fender FM412 cab. I'm not an amplifier snob and I believe the 1/2 the tone is in your guitar so when I bought this baby I new it would blow my half stack away. It sure did. Great crunch from the 81. Brutal lows made for metal. As most of you know the 60 is made more for cleans which is nice, more options. I recommend keeping the 60 at about 6.5 volume for that creamy clean sound. But do not get me wrong this guitar is built for the heaviest of metal. \m/

Ease of Use:
This guitar is sophisticated but not so much that you'd rather play something else. The reason why I gave it an 8 is because the ESP locking tuners are nice but you can't use any heavier than a 56 gauge string. I play really deep and low (for metal) such as drop A and A# and I like a thick string such as a 60. for those low, lows. But they don't fit through the hole! (thats what she said) no really. See for those of you who don't know what the locking tuners are, I'll explain. Pretty much you loosen the knob to insert you're string when re-stringing, and tighten it when the string is in so it doesn't move or slip out when you're tuning. Well, it only opens so far so if the string is to big... it wont fit. But in every other aspect, its perfect. I can just stick with the 13.-56 anyway.

Support:
I personally have never had to deal with the support. But my friend accidentally dropped his ESP and sent it in to the ESP company and they had it fixed and sent back in no time.

Overall:
This is my dream guitar. I have spent more on guitars that have half the quality, sound and detail this baby's got. I look forward to playing this guitar from the moment I wake up, to the moment I got to bed. ESP. Jump in and be noticed.

• User: a customer from hotmail.com
• Submitted: 9/5/2008
• Style of Music: Brutal, Grind, Speed and Death Metal
• Location: Palmer, AK, United States

Feature:
I love this guitars features. There not very many but the ones it has own. Starting from the top, the Locking Tuners are truly amazing. they keep your guitar in tune and ready to play. The neck is slim and very easy to play fast, and the XJ jumbo frets don't let you slip around at all. The EMG's are a beautiful feature and the input is not sketchy in the least.

Quality:
Best quality guitar I've ever used. Besides a three grand Jackson! I've played it around and taken it to a few big shows. It hold up through moshing, flailing about, banging into mic stands and smacking the vocalist. There is not worst aspect and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that this guitar will last me for a long, long time.

Value:
The product has a really good value. Most guitars as nice as these go for twice as much! (I'm not kidding this is amazing)

Sound:
I can't believe the way the EMG's on the EC-1000 sound! They suite my favorite style of Progressive Metal. They are amazing at heavy chugging riffs and metal melodies. Plug it into any amp and you get extremely heavy, good sound. If you are using the bridge p/up, the EMG 81 then go full bore! the louder the better! But if you're using the neck p/up the EMG 60 keep it around five volume. It keeps it under control and you lose all distortion when on clean channel.

Ease of Use:
This guitar is the easiest guitar to play that I have played. It played better the a Gibson Standard! The action was beautiful right out of the box. Modifying your sound is so easy. Its as simple as just turning your knob's.

Support:
Haven't had to solve any problems yet, so I couldn't tell you.

Overall:
This guitar is great overall. I love the price, the features, the sound, the look... It perfect. I love Metal, Jesus, and guitar and this instrument makes me think of all of them.

• User: a customer from hotmail.com
• Submitted: 6/6/2008
• Style of Music: Progressive Metal, Epic Metal, Hardcore
• Location: Palmer, AK, United States

Feature:
This guitar came with SIT strings which I think suck. Right out of the box 30 minutes into playing broke the g string. I slaped a set of earnie balls on the guitar and no more problems. I think this guitar is light weight there fore it is not a burden to be have it hanging off your shoulder for hours. I do wish the guitar did have another tone knob just to spice up the sound a little more but really no big deal. Oh and the toggle switch is kinda in a bad spot sometimes while playing I will hit it switching pickups and not having any sound then watch people stare. I think the guitar has the best pickups and tuners money can buy.

Quality:
The product is made well. When I first got the guitar i was shocked to find that it was not made in America because of its beauty and structure. I beleave this guitar will ast forever and I dont plan on getting rid of it.

Value:
In my opinion I think this guitar is as good if not better than any Gibson Les Pauls. My brother had purchassed one several years back and I have always wanted one and now I finally got it.

Desirability:
The guitar is beautiful see thru green. I do wish I would have gotten the vintage black.

Sound:
This guitar has amazing sounds expecially with the emg pickups. I play lots of 90 and new age metal and even some 70 rock and it is able to produce great sound for bith eras of music. This guitar to me has the sound of a les paul but with a little more crunch whish is what i like when I play.

Ease of Use:
The guitars slim neck and jumbo frets allow for easy fast playing up and down the neck. Any body would be able to pick this guitar up plug it into any amp and sound good.

• User: a customer from mexia.k12.tx.us
• Submitted: 5/2/2008
• Style of Music: Rock/alternative
• Location: Mexia Texas USA

Feature:
The features and pretty simple but they're some of the best quality you can get. Sperzel lockin' tuners Tonepro's bridge. Dual Humbucker set up. It's a metal guitar what more could you ask for?

Quality:
This guitar came to be ALMOST perfect. Everything was great expect the G string was too short so 30 minutes into playing it, the string liked shot out of it. It didn't snap it just like shot out of the tailpiece. I tried putting it back in but it was too short.

Value:
If you want an ideal metal guiat and you don't feel like bustin' the 1,000 dollar line don't look anywhere else

Desirability:
Sex Appeal? A ton of gorgeous abalone a beautiful flamed maple BLUE top. That screams sex to me.

Sound:
Well, I play all metal sub genres and some vintage hardcore and it sound great with them all. I have the See Thru Blue with EMG's and they're amazing. I've played some Gibson Studios and they just don't compare to the chunkyness of this guitar. Don't fall for name brand BS this guitar deff compares and exceeds them.

Ease of Use:
The neck on this guitar is AMAZING it's very comfortable and fast. I don't have huge hands and this is a breeze to play with it's slim neck, none of that stupid almost flat necks on Ibanezs

Support:
I haven't needed to talk to them. A short string isn't anything to complain about I was going to switch them out anyways

Overall:
If this guitar was stolen. I'd cry and go buy a new one

• User: a customer from yahoo.com
• Submitted: 1/3/2008
• Style of Music: Rock, Metal, Vintage Hardcore
• Location: Tennessee

Feature:
After-market pickups (active EMGs on the other colors), locking bridge and tail-piece, locking tuners (makes string changing a breeze), abalone flag inlays and binding, set-neck mahogany body and neck w/ maple top. Les Paul-type tone, with less weight (the mahogany back is not as thick). Xtra Jumbo frets allow for easier fretting. Even with a low action setup, the strings do not fret out on higher fret bends. 23rd and 24th frets are harder to reach because of the set neck and single cutaway, but you can still reach them w/ practice. The second tone knob missing is not that big of a deal for me, but might be for other players.

Quality:
The factory setup was decent: low action on the lower frets but higher action by the higher frets. A very road-worthy guitar as it can withstand a beating. As previously mentioned, the locking tuners make string changing a breeze, and keeps the guitar in tune very well. The flamed maple top on this guitar was truly beautiful as I was looking at Paul Reed Smith guitars before going with the EC1000. The pictures do not do it justice.

Value:
This guitar is absolutely the best value in the under $1000 price range.

Desirability:
Some tend to think the abalone binding is a bit too much, but the finish and binding on this guitar is absolutely beautiful.

Sound:
Setup: JB/59 Seymour Duncan Pickups. The 59 humbucker produces vintage tones: beautiful highs, deep lows, and scooped mids. The JB produces more treble and midrange, but adjusting the Volume pot achieves good chunkiness for metal rhythm players. Truly a fantastic pickup combination. Only complaint: at full pickup volume (which is rarely used) you can hear a natural resonance in the guitar, which demonstrates that the mahogany used is not the best quality. Nevertheless, it's truly a fantastic sounding guitar w/ lots of sustain thanks to the pickups and locking bridge and tail-piece.

Ease of Use:
Knob closest to the player is for the volume pot for the bridge, which is helpful since I use the JB pickup most. Very straightforward to use, and if you do not receive an owners manual, ESP has their instruction manual online. Locking tuners make string changing a breeze.

Support:
I have not had to deal with them, but from what I hear it's hit or miss.

Overall:
I've owned this guitar for 2 years, and love it to death. This and my Martin D28 are never leaving my collection. This guitar is truly versatile as I can play anything from classic rock to thrash metal.

• User: a customer from gmail.com
• Submitted: 12/16/2007
• Style of Music: Rock
• Location: Mahwah, NJ, USA

Feature:
sperzel locking tuners are great, makes string changing a breeze. love the tone pros bridge. 2 vol. knobs 1 tone. gives plenty of different sounds

Quality:
beautiful guitar. i have the black and couldnt be more happy

Value:
paid 800 for it and well worth it. especially compared to gibsons.

Desirability:
gorgeous

Sound:
sounds awesome with the active emgs

Ease of Use:
string breaks, about 30 seconds to change it. battery for the pickups goes out, less than 5 minutes to change it. easy to select pickups, etc. no problems

Support:
never dealt with a problem

Overall:
dont plan on trading this for anything.

• Submitted: 9/30/2007

Feature:
All parts are clean and nice and tight.

Quality:
Again no foolin around you could eat off of it (ahh) you no what i mean..

Value:
And again do not spend the money if you don have it, these babys are worth every penny..

Desirability:
Put it this way my wife has left me-no what iam saying..

Sound:
I kept going back and fourth trying between the newer les pauls and the ec1000, and after two weeks iam the proud owner of the ec1000 vintage black and iam not looking back, all gibsons are over priced and thay should be asshamed- but than again who cares my esp rocks the house.. MARKTHESHARK!!

Ease of Use:
The second i picked it up i just knew.

Support:
I also own a pb500 and that rocks pretty f----n hard as well

• User: a customer from hotmail.com
• Submitted: 9/12/2007
• Style of Music: hard rock alternative..
• Location: camarillo ca. ventura

Feature:
The ability to control the sound of each pickup individually is the most important feature that this guitar possesses. It allows you to pinpoint the exact sound and tone that you want out of the guitar.

Quality:
This is where this guitar scores...the neck of the guitar is extremely smooth, and fast. There is absolutely no struggle when trying to slide up and down the fret board. Also, the body of the guitar is absolutely beautiful. I own the vintage black model with the gold knobs, the texture of both the knobs and the body are so detailed, you want to show the guitar off to all of your friends. There are no words that describe the way the guitar is visually put together. Finally, the guitar is very sturdy, it can take quite a beating. Although it is very sturdy, it is also very light. Which makes it easy on you shoulder when playing shows.

Value:
Like many other people have said, this guitar is pretty much a Gibson Les Paul for around $2000 cheaper, and with many more color choices. It is an extremely good value.

Desirability:
After playing this guitar, I don't think I will ever buy a guitar that is not made by ESP. I have never seen, played, or even heard about a guitar that looks, feels, and plays like this one does.

Sound:
This guitar has the perfect combination of EMG's, 81/60. It creates the best sound no matter what type of music you are looking for. If you want a clean, blue's sound, flip the switch up and use the neck pickup. If you want a modern metal sound used by bands such as Killswitch Engage, flip the switch down and use the bridge pickup. Also, the humbuckers work to perfection on this guitar as there is absolutely no feedback when you are not playing.

Ease of Use:
Not much to say here, it's pretty much as simple as this: pick it up, adjust the volume, and play.

Support:
I have not had to deal with ESP support

Overall:
If you are going back and forth on weather or not you want to purchase this guitar, I am telling you right now, if you pass this guitar up, you are making a huge mistake. You will only understand what I mean, if you purchase this guitar. No other guitar can even match up with the quality, sound, and feel of this guitar.

• User: a customer from ca.rr.com
• Submitted: 8/14/2007
• Style of Music: Punk, Metal, etc
• Location: Saugus, CA, USA

Feature:
I personally love the uncomplicated controls and how there is only one tone knob, which lets you control how much treble is in the outgoing signl. Also the two volume knobs are useful I suppose if you were tyring to get a twangier distortion, but I don't know anybody who would buy a guitar with active EMG's and not crank it up all the way.

Quality:
To sum up this guitar it is a Les Paul (but cooler looking because of the more dramatic cutaway and headstock) with better pickups, more attractive paint jobs, and an amazing price.

Value:
I would give this a 1000/10 if I could. The quality of this guitar is astounding. Look at the professional players from tons of bands that use this guitar, and they use it stock. No mods, which says something about the tone and pickups. I like this guitar better than $3,500 Gibsons and PRS guitars that I've played.

Desirability:
This guitar is absolutely beautiful. I think That I may buy another in a different color. I hope they never stop making this guitar. I don't know if there has ever been a guitar like this at such an amazing value.

Sound:
This guitar screams. The active pickups are amazing. I use it with a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier (dream amp) so it is basically a combination made in heaven. This guitar is made for heavy metal. Pure and simple. The pickups are so dead quiet when not playing, which is great also. The EMGs are godly. The Bridge, which is the main pickup I use, screams. It is THE sound of todays modern metal. (Think Darkest Hour, Mors Principium Est, Killswitch Engage etc...)

Ease of Use:
It's a guitar so it's not hard to use. I give it a ten because of the simplistic tone controls. I've played les pauls and just could not get used to the controls.

Support:
Not had to deal with ESP and most likely never will.

Overall:
There is no negatives about this guitar. The only thing is that I wish I had more of them in different colors.

• User: a customer from comcast.net
• Submitted: 7/31/2007
• Style of Music: Heavy Metal/Death Metal
• Location: Minneapolis, MN, US

Feature:
its pretty simple. I actually am going to get a killswitch installed on mine.

Quality:
Incredibly well built, this thing can take a beating.

Value:
Dude, this is like getting a les paul with better pickups and a different headstock for 1000 bucks less.

Desirability:
I actually hated the abalone at first, but it kinda grew on me after a while.

Sound:
the emg 81s SCREAM! i love the sound, its amazing for hard rock and metal and its pretty nice clean. I use it with a spider II and its great.

Ease of Use:
MegaSuperUltra fast neck. Its basic 2tone 2volume controls and a 3 way toggle. Low Action

Overall:
Im gonna keep this forever. amazing value, amazing product. BUY THIS GuITAR NOW!

• User: a customer from hotmail.com
• Submitted: 7/18/2007
• Style of Music: Metal, Hard Rock, Alternative
• Location: Irvine

Feature:
Mine shipped with a manual, some crazy ESP stickers, and allen wrenches for adjusting the hardware, but I didn't need to adjust it one bit. This guitar has fabulous intonation because of the way it's designed - to start, it has a tonepros locking bridge (so the bridge will not move at all no matter what you do to it) and that makes the tuning a lot easier when changing strings. Then you move up to the headstock and find both a compensated nut and locking machine heads (which you don't have to unscrew or anything like that, they just lock the string in place so you dont have to wind it around the post and risk slippage)

Quality:
Made very well. There was absolutley nothing out of place or wrong with mine and the guitar itself makes for a very durable road guitar (just ask all the bands that use them). However, I advise against getting the Satin Black finish (Vintage Black I think they call it) if you're the type of person that is a total neatfreak about your guitar. Mine has the Satin finish and it is very prone to scratches / blemishes if you don't treat respectfully. If you don't want to worry about scratching or things like that and you still want EMGs, just go for the regular gloss black or the black cherry finish - they're a little more easy to keep clean.

Value:
Best. Price. Ever. Pretty much everywhere you look, this thing is selling for WAAAYY under what it should be. You're basically getting a Les Paul with better pickups and neck (that's easier on the shoulder too) for less money even than a studio guitar. Ridiculous value.

Desirability:
Pretty much any variation of this guitar will make people crap themselves when they first see it.

Sound:
I could write a novel about the sound of this guitar - no matter what model you have. So to put it extremley brief: the mahagony gives it a tight, warm, resonant base for the pickups to build on. The EMGs are 81 and 60 (bridge and neck, respectively) and are, shall I say, hellacious. The 81 rips out intense distortion for all you metalheads to play juicy squeals and harmonics - perfect for leads and tight/heavy riffs. The 60 is soft and smooth, great for legato playing or soulful soloing. For those who have the JB and the 59, let me just say this: Lamb of God's Willie Adler uses the exact same setup on his ESP guitar. Got it? I own the model with the EMGs, and for those that boo the clean sound, I'd like to disagree. Just put it on the neck pickup and it'll take off a lot of the bite. Dont feel like you have to pay high prices for a great sound - look no further than this guitar for any genre. A++

Ease of Use:
Playability is outstanding. Like I said before, this thing can crank out some wild sh*t if you know how to play. The neck is also nicely shaped - not too thick that you cant play solos really fast, but also not so thin that you can't have a nice full grip on it.

Support:
Though I've never personally delt with them, ESP is a company that caters to guitarist's every need to make them happy. After all, they specialize in custom guitars - why wouldn't they act the same with customers?

Overall:
Overall, this is simply the best guitar out there for those who like a hot sound. Im not saying it doesnt also work for softer music, but it really strides in the high distortion area. The only reason I can think of why anyone shouldn't buy this guitar would be that they want to do whammy bar stuff. Anything else, and you've got it all here in an affordable, sexy, tight little package.

• User: a customer from hotmail.com
• Submitted: 3/11/2007
• Style of Music: Metal / Hardcore / Blues
• Location: Anaheim, CA