any thoughts on esp ltd ec 401

[lepard]

LTD used to make some really good guitars out of Korea, World Guitars "W" serial numbers. Now they are pretty much all made in China and if the lack of quality control I'm seeing at Guitar Center is any indication, LTD as a brand is toast as I have never seen a brand destroy its quality so quickly.

[CowboyFromHell]

They are coming from the same company. Only 2 companies between the 4 names. If squiers and epis sucks who made it so?

There may be only two companies behind my examples, but it don't take a rocket scientist to know those are distinctly different brands. By your manner of speaking there would be no difference between Fender and Squier, or Epiphone and Gibson. As far as the quality of any brand, that's a whole other discussion. I doubt many people would put Epiphone quality up there with Gibson for example.

[pianoguyy]

And in that regards, Esp and Schecter, are both owned by the Hisatake Shibuya... The guy that owns the musicians institute.



So Esp is nothing more than a student guitar?

[Brandenburg]

OT but related:

talking about LTD's.. I have a LTD m107.. actually plays nice and the action is good.. BUT the pickups have no soul or balls.. typical of low end guitars.. eventually Ill change out .. I drew up a sweet wiring diagram as well...phase reversal,coil splitting,parallel/series,kill switch,volume bypass,..etc...

main thing i hate is that the body is too "blocky"

never had a 7 string and i saw this one in a pawnshop and it was "calling" to me...

[straycat]

I have worked on a few 400's and wasn't impressed but the 1000's were a lot better guitars.Still not all that impressive to me.
I'm not all into image or metal-ness as far as a guitar looks they all plug into an amp.Its the player playing it is what makes the difference.

[PowerTube]

I'll add to the slightly off-topic epidemic here. I have an LTD MH-1000 and it's really nice. It's white with abalone binding on the body, neck, and headstock, and has real EMG's (presumably an 81 and 85). I recently decided that it was just too "white," so once I had an evening when I was bored enough, I painted it into sort of a "John Deere' theme:



The only thing I don't like about it is the narrow fretboard. I'm used to my Jacksons and this feels more like a Fender.

All in all, a very quality guitar.

And yes, my camera sucks.

[Rich#6]

So if a person starts with a ltd, squier, epiphone, non usa Jackson/charvel and then buys a usa model or Japanese for the esps it's not brand loyalty?? Fuck you to you rocket scientists.
BACK TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTION
I have owned 2 90's m2s, a m302, mh300,mh400, mh1000,ec1000, mh201, and a mh301 that were all Korean. I have had some other ltds. All the Korean models had amazingly low action. the m2s had SD pickups and Schaller trems. the others had the same crappy trems that the MIJ jacksons had and some had the crappy emg hz pickups. The ESP company hasn't grown from the Japanese models. it's ltds.

[CowboyFromHell]

Love how you tried to twist that there. Doesn't change the facts though. An LTD is still an LTD and NOT an ESP. Brand loyalty is a different topic.

[Rich#6]

No it's not.

[CowboyFromHell]

Post edited for the same of ending an argument...

[PowerTube]

I have no intention of being dragged into the argument, but ESP is like most other companies; they have to have a "cheapie" line to be carried by Guitar Center and the other bonehead stores. Why? Because so many clueless parents out there think that they're buying Junior a "real" Gibson when they get him that Epiphone Les Paul Jr. for Christmas, or they're getting him a "real" Fender when they buy that Squier Bullet Strat. The only thing Jackson does differently is that they put their own brand name on the headstock of the cheap stuff. Personally, I wish they didn't. I wish they would have started their own "entry level" brand, sort of like they did with Charvette years ago. That way, if the headstock says Jackson, you know you're getting the real McCoy and not a cheap imported knock-off.

Having said that, my LTD is very nice for what it is. It has EMG's, an original Floyd (although it might not be German made. I haven't looked), and a ton of nice features. From what I understand, the neck is "set through," not quite neck-through-body, but superior to a set-neck.

To the OP..... I'm not familiar with the model you're asking about, but LTD seems to be decent quality all the way around.

[CowboyFromHell]

I get bolt-on, set neck and neck-thru, but what exactly is "set-thru"?

[Rich#6]

It's a set neck but with the joint rounded making it look like a neck thru.

[PowerTube]

It's a set neck but with the joint rounded making it look like a neck thru.

Basically, that's it. But I've also heard that it supposedly goes deeper into the body cavity for more stability.

[Chad]

The ESP company hasn't grown from the Japanese models. it's ltds.

LTD has indeed brought success to ESP in the U.S. market. But that's mainly just a U.S. thing. Their heart and dedication has been devoted to the Japanese market for a long time. That's the primary cause for the re-branding thing going on right now.