What's going with ESP?

[FitRocker33]

I would have to agree with that. Trips to the guitar shop have become quite uninteresting across the board. My last acquisition was my EBMM jp7 bfr which was a special order mainly because it was a high octane specimen. It has a nice deep quilted top and a very heavily flamed neck. More flamed than I'd recently seen on a 4500 dollar Prs McCarty 594 artist package.

 

[purpledc]

ESP's customer base seems to have shrank. I see a lot of people have moved on to full on customs. With Instagram makers and bands also getting a start on social media, music has taken on a whole new life even within the instruments markets. Some brands picked up on it like schecter and Ibanez. ESP seems to want to still do things the old way and just reduce the amount of instruments and options within a range. IMHO ESP would do well to revamp their entire line with some new modern shapes that don't try to reinvent the wheel but rather tasteful takes that speak to todays current market. Problem is at this point they will just look like they are jumping on a bandwagon. They have to do something. I don't think the USA guitars are nearly the success they thought they would be. But then again the prices are insane. The custom shop makes more sense. But in that price range most will still go to the flavor of the month maker.

 

[JD27]

I think the USA models are priced that bad. They are in the Jackson USA price range. Plus you can get a semi-custom build. I need to find a way to make a TE appear.

 

[feraledge]

I think the USA models are priced that bad. They are in the Jackson USA price range. Plus you can get a semi-custom build. I need to find a way to make a TE appear.

I'm sure you mean you don't think they're priced badly and I agree. They're cheaper than Originals and semi-customizable plus more options to come.

 

[JD27]

I'm sure you mean you don't think they're priced badly and I agree. They're cheaper than Originals and semi-customizable plus more options to come.

That is what I meant to say.

 

[nexvid]

FWIW, there's an actual ESP shop near my home (no its not japan), as in I have played the ESP shinigami from the catalogs(can be yours for 27,000usd). All the Original Series, E-II, Edwards, Grass Roots, are there, no LTD thou. Anyway the owner is my friend, a very cool japanese dude, and I'm in the process of maybe getting a new Horizon II or an MX-2. I have played most of the models in the store and I could say that the E-II are exactly the same as the old Standard Series, but I am not a fan of the logo anyway. What I can tell you is that the custom shop stuff and the Japanese original series are miles away in quality. They sell well, the shop has been there for a couple of years and It doesn't seem to be closing anytime soon.

As a brand i think ESP is first their custom shop and then the ESP music academy, I see kids building pedals and taking music lessons there all the time. There is a summer course were you can fly to one of the Japanese customs shops and make your own guitar, or take lessons at the shop where you can bring your instrument and they teach you how to fix it, etc. They have a japanese luthier to help you fix your instrument and if you bring a ESP guitar you get a yearly set up for free, free strings too.

Funny thing is around the corner there is another shop, and they have probably every single schecter under the sun, owner is a good friend too. I once asked him why they don't have any ESPs (the carry mayones, caparison, Ibanez, etc) since they have the same parent company as schecter; he said that basically schecter had turned into what the old LTD line was for America (LTDs are kind of rare around where I live) and he sells too many schecters to be bothering with more expensive guitars that are hard to sell and keep around.

 

[narad]

http://www.esp.ac.jp/language/en/

Wow, first time I had heard of ESP being a college!

 

[JD27]

http://www.esp.ac.jp/language/en/

Wow, first time I had heard of ESP being a college!

Yeah the owner of ESP, Hisatake Shibuya, runs music schools through ESP.

 

[feraledge]

There's a three year luthier course too. That sounds awesome.

 

[Andromalia]

Well they do need to teach the school dropouts they put into bands how to play.

 

[prlgmnr]

http://www.esp.ac.jp/language/en/

Wow, first time I had heard of ESP being a college!

TECHNICAL HOUSE!!!!!!

 

[Andromalia]

I'm sure you mean you don't think they're priced badly and I agree. They're cheaper than Originals and semi-customizable plus more options to come.

The thing with the USA models is, they're a small output operation. Plus, they won't sell in Europe because taxes make them as expensive as Japan CS stuff (check this page, official ESP dealer in France: http://www.guitarsrebellion.com/crbst_40.html ) The USA Horizon has been sitting there for more than a year.

 

[Zado]

The thing with the USA models is, they're a small output operation. Plus, they won't sell in Europe because taxes make them as expensive as Japan CS stuff (check this page, official ESP dealer in France: http://www.guitarsrebellion.com/crbst_40.html ) The USA Horizon has been sitting there for more than a year.

Some crazy prices there, expecially that 3k Friedman (whicj isn t anything special spec wise) and the 7.6k Macassar Suhr

 

[jephjacques]

It's not on their configurator yet but I've seen a couple neck-through USA MIIs and even a USA neck-through Horizon popping up in stores like Axe Palace and Wild West Guitars. Innnnnnteresting...

 

[JD27]

It's not on their configurator yet but I've seen a couple neck-through USA MIIs and even a USA neck-through Horizon popping up in stores like Axe Palace and Wild West Guitars. Innnnnnteresting...

The neck-thru M-II (M-II NTB) is most definitely in the configurator. There have also been some M-I's popping up, which probably isn't hard to get them to do, they just don't include a neck pickup. The Horizon still appears from time to time, I think some of the dealers can probably get them to do one for them.

 

[Andromalia]

Some crazy prices there, expecially that 3k Friedman (whicj isn t anything special spec wise) and the 7.6k Macassar Suhr

Yeah they're not cheap, but they're a "high end" shop with a showroom and you can book meetings with them to try expensive stuff. Plus, the price of rent is stupid where they are, most music shops in Paris and around are struggling because of that. A mortar shop can't compete with Thomann on prices, so they try to offer services to differentiate themselves.

 

[absolutorigin]

Never liked ESP guitars since the beginning. Excellent quality and craftsmanship no doubt, but something about their guitars always put me off. But that's just my end.

 

[feraledge]

Never liked ESP guitars since the beginning. Excellent quality and craftsmanship no doubt, but something about their guitars always put me off. But that's just my end.

I mean, they're no Wylde Audio...

 

[FitRocker33]

I'm still struggling to figure out why the logo on the headstock is so game changing to many players.

I'll admit I too was pissed when they replaced ESP with EII. Kinda felt like I was spending ESP std money but getting LTD street cred so to speak.

However, after playing my Horizon III I quickly realized i was not getting any less of a guitar in any way shape or form. I learned to overlook the logo much the same way one learns to love a fat girl for her personality lmao

 

[iamaom]

I'll admit I too was pissed when they replaced ESP with EII. Kinda felt like I was spending ESP std money but getting LTD street cred so to speak.

Brand recognition and loyalty are a huge thing with musicians for some reason, not just with ESP. There are folks over at talkbass that will hand build an instrument from scratch and then stick a Fender logo on it. Though it goes the other way too, Guthrie stopped playing Suhr for a few concerts and they threw a hissy fit and took his sig model down.