Got a $1,000 budget? Looking for a phenomenal guitar? You've found it. Got mine about a month ago, & haven't touched any others in my collection since (sorry to my beloved Schecter strat). For the money, you'll be hard pressed to find a much better guitar. Especially one that for the most part comes loaded. I ordered the hardtail model, rather than another trem. This thing is a gem. Beautiful dark fretboard. Locking tuners. P/p tone. Sexy pearl paint. It has it all.Aside from the action being a tad high for my liking, & needing to tighten one of the pots as the nut was loose, it was ready to play straight from the box. The fit, & finish are great. Fret ends feel perfect. I did throw a new set of strings on it out of habit. But the pups sound great on this guitar, & they provide sustain for days with the neck through build. Let a friend from McNally school of music give it a rip, & he couldn't believe the sustain it has. Makes his JEM seem paltry when comparing the two.While the JB is a really good pickup, I may toss in my SD Custom instead as I prefer it over the JB. But don't misunderstand me, it's a personal preference, & the stock JB/'59 setup this comes with sound really good. With the added coil tap, you can cover just about any style of music you like to play with it. It's a very versatile, very sweet setup.My ONLY gripe about the guitar, is that what you may have read on ESP's site, or elsewhere, are true, it is a tad neck heavy. So expect a bit of neck dive. It's not… read more terrible, not to the point it'll drive ya nuts, but be aware there is a bit of dive with it. But, from top to bottom, bridge to head stock, it is WELL worth the $1k price tag, & more. I do still plan to add a set of Graphtech saddles to the TOM, but it's not absolutely needed, again just a preference. Straight from the box, right to the stage, this thing is a rock solid guitar I would have zero issues recommending to anyone. If you are in the market for a ready to go, fully loaded axe for $1k, get it. You won't regret it.

Musical Background:
Self taught 20+ yrs off & on

Musical Style:
Plini, Petrucci, Tremonti, Bettancort, Judas Priest, Creed, pretty much any rock/hard rock from the 70's through the 2000's. Dab read less