NGD's...LTD 87 Rainbow Crackle's and KH 062 Purple Sparkle

[Trashgreen]

Haven't posted a new guitar for more than a year.., which is totally outrageous!

It's about time! So here is a belated NGD's and a video clip with some of gear I bought doing the past months:

At the very beginning of this year I bought two NOS LTD Rainbow Crackle's at clearance sale.:


LTD Mirage Deluxe 87 Rainbow Crackle

I already have the M1 in this series but I wanted to try the Mirage to get that neck pickup sound as well. There is something about how the Hotrail works and it sounds awesome both in full and coil split mode. Nice to bring this option to the collection. I'm digging the coil split modes on all positions.
The extra thin U neck feels awesome, really like to play this one. Sounds great and the crackle finish looks cool on this one.


LTD Eclipse 87 Rainbow Crackle

I have been curious about this model for a long time. Back in the days it looked off to me but now I like the look of the curves on this model. The crackle finish looks great on this model and I really like the crackle on this one!
Neck feels like a regular Thin U shape, it plays great non the less. The Mirage does have a better feel between these two but I like that the Eclipse neck has a bigger feel whcih suits the guitar overall. Finish is nice a smooth. Sounds great too and similar to some of my other guitars which share the same pickups and woods.

They both have a good weight but without being too heavy.


LTD KH 602 Purple Sparkle

I wanted something flashy in the collection, so last year when I was browsing for options I suddenly remmembered this model. The sparkle looks fantastic and really reacts well to different lightning. I very happy to finally add a purple color to the collection. Looks really awesome.
The EMG Bone Breaker does sound a little differnt compared to the normal EMG 81. It seems to be a little crunchier and have more lowend. Sounds great to me and I specially like the tones I'm getting from the neck pickup.
Neck feel really great on this one too. Finish is nice and quite smooth.

In general from my perspective, I would say that the quality of these LTD's feels quite good and maybe even better that some years ago. Sure, there can be spotted some small issues here and there but the higher end LTD's I have in my collection all feels solid and nicely made.


Video

Small music track where I'm using some of my lastest new gear including the new Marchall JVM pedal and BOSS SDE3000 EVH.

- 3.33 in this video I switch on the pedals one by one and you can hear how the sound is being built up.

- All amps and pedals are on same settings for all guitar parts.

- All guitars are on the same tracks in DAW, using same volume.

- There are chapters and gear description in video.

- For this video i wanted to used the JVM pedal more as a boost, with the tone it adds and with the added benefit of the noise gate.

 

[Trashgreen]

All 3 LTD 87 Rainbow Crackle's:

Because the collection has gone out of hand I had to be creative with space and ended up with this idea, Ikea shelves:

 

[nightsprinter]

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All 3 LTD 87 Rainbow Crackle's:

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Because the collection has gone out of hand I had to be creative with space and ended up with this idea, Ikea shelves:

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This is an awesome storage solution. My cats would kill themselves screwing around on it, but if I could, I'd definitely recreate this!

 

[Pingu]

My dilemma with the crackle 87s was that I had to choose between 22 frets and a slanted single, or 24 frets without. You seem to have solved this problem by buying both ahahaha!

I want that ESP zebra so badly tho...

 

[Trashgreen]

This is an awesome storage solution. My cats would kill themselves screwing around on it, but if I could, I'd definitely recreate this!

I was surprised it turned out so well but I like the solution and it saves me from endless nightmares of the floor being too cramped and guitars hard to reach!!

I would like to point out that these shelves where designed for clothes and I'm not aware of the exact safety weight limit on top of the shelve. I would estimate the guitars including stand to be around 20 kg., so it should be fine.

Also in this setup these shelves is hold tight and steady by the shelves hanging on the wall as these slide just under those, holding the shelve so it can't move. I did test it while it was just standing on itself on the floor and it was working but it also felt a little wobbly. Ikea recommend securing to wall any way. So pleae be aware of that!

 

[eoinbmorg]

Would you mind sharing the specific ikea units and stands you used? I've been running out of room and this stacking setup would work great for my space

 

[Kagami]

Barely seen any of the ESP Formula out in the wild, I want to grab one of those KH sparkles at some point.

 

[Trashgreen]

Would you mind sharing the specific ikea units and stands you used? I've been running out of room and this stacking setup would work great for my space

In Danish Ikea store it's called PLATSA

https://www.ikea.com/dk/da/p/platsa-aben-opbevaring-til-toj-pa-bojler-hvid-40452603/

Guitar stand is K&M 17525

 

[Surveyor 777]

Congrats! You have a great collection.

I want to get one of those purple sparkles soon. Been thinking about it for over a year now but something always gets in the way.

 

[Trashgreen]

Congrats! You have a great collection.

I want to get one of those purple sparkles soon. Been thinking about it for over a year now but something always gets in the way.

Thanks a lot!

Yeah, I know that feeling and been there with some of my guitars as well. Despite the look of my collection I just can't go buy what ever I want. I need to save up, prioritize and wait for the right moment!

 

[budda]

Nice! Now condition those boards

 

[Shawn]

Nice score(s)! Nice collection, too. Congrats!

 

[Amon418]

Wow, nice guitars and awesome collection.
The Monstrosity vinyl is cool too

 

[Millul]

Yeah those crackle finishes are cool and all, BUT how do you like that Sugizo???

 

[Trashgreen]

Yeah those crackle finishes are cool and all, BUT how do you like that Sugizo???

The Sugizo is another great one. The finish feels great and I like the neck on this one. It sounds good both plugged and un-plugged. Haven't experimented much with the middle pickup but I will dig more into it for sure. I like the see-thru look without binding on the body. Makes It look elegant.
The frets are vintage frets but compared to the first Sugizo I bought, this one feels as easy to play as my other guitars. On my first Sugizo the frets where very close to the fingerboard, I had to press hard for the strings to keep vibrating. It was quite challenging!

 

[Amenthea]

Lovely, was surprised to see the superstrat crackle wasn't set neck and finished like the tele though.

I'll ask the Q as I ask myself it all the time, how do you play them if you have so many? I can see roughly 20 guitars spread over 3 racks here and I have others lent out to friends, and I can honestly say I play probably maybe 5/6 of them regularly, with the rest gathering dust and played very rarely.

 

[Trashgreen]

Lovely, was surprised to see the superstrat crackle wasn't set neck and finished like the tele though.

I'll ask the Q as I ask myself it all the time, how do you play them if you have so many? I can see roughly 20 guitars spread over 3 racks here and I have others lent out to friends, and I can honestly say I play probably maybe 5/6 of them regularly, with the rest gathering dust and played very rarely.

For me it's not about playing them all frequently. I have these guitars because i want to own them and I can pick one down and play it when ever i want to play that specific guitar!
If i want to play with strat tones I will pick the Vintage Plus with the single coil pickups, or maybe the white MII which has great split coil sounds. If I want traditional Les Paul type of tone, maybe I will pick one of my Edwards and if want to play heavy low tuned I can play my 7 string baritone tele. Also some of these are in different tunings and there are different pickup options too!
It's nice to have the oppotunity just to choose what ever suits what ever I want to play.

Back in 2012 the ESP Hex 6 V was one of my dream guitars but it was unobtainable for me at that time. In 2020 the right moment came up and I bought the Hex 6 as NOS doing the early corona days. Now it's hanging in the living room and evertime I look at it, it makes me feel very satisfied knowing that I have it and I can play it when ever I want!