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I ordered this guitar from Zounds because I've always been an ESP fan and lived in Japan where I visited both ESP craft houses/custom shops, so the thought of having a USA made ESP got me. What I really wanted was a neck thru ESP, but I bought into this 'set thru neck' gimmick, which let me tell you, is just the neck tenon extending to the bottom of the neck pickup and no further. I thought it was a set thru like a David Thomas McNaught where the neck tenon goes to the bottom of the bridge. Noentheless, I managed to get past the buyers remorse of that small detail and have come to appreciate the guitar for what it is, a seriously well built instrument from a shop in Vanowen(North Hollywood). The top on the one I got from here looked better in person than in the photos and I can't help but just stare at it every time I pick it up. The guitar sounds amazing and will cover all genres well with the Seymours, but if you want heavier like me, you'll want one with EMG's or do a pickup swap for some Bare Knuckles and you're golden. That's for extremely heavy music though. ESP's choice of the SD APH pickups for this guitar was an excellent choice in my opinion. This guitar, as good as it is, has forced me to put my 2008 Oxblood Gibson LP Custom away because this ESP is just so much better. I'll be honest, I think it's better than the ESP original series. Mind you, I lived in Japan and have been to the Shibuya and Ochanomizu craft houses and have played ESP original and custom Eclipses and I really like this ESP USA version better than all of those. I tried calling ESP to ask about that neck tenon and got no response so that's my reason for a one star on support.

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