ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

[neilli]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

Firebird V - I think I'm going to put an OFR in mine.....Do I need to order a longer sustain block to counter the non recess?
Cheers
Ian

[Firebird V]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

neilli. i will check tonight. Kickaxe. i will give you a measurement tonight too on a '87 though I believe it is 1.625" - 1 5/8" at the nut. I had an M1 Custom that was exactly like that one. It was awesome. I miss it a lot! It had awesome upper fret access and it sounded grat too. The construction of the neck is the same as my Phoenix models. 5 Pieces of wood sandwiched (like a Shannon Soloist). It sustained forever ( So do the Phoenix models I have) and the build quality was insane on it. The only downer for me was the Tremolo. Those are really nice trems - Don't get me wrong! , They have a built in trem setter screw to block the floyd off and add sustain because it makes the trem touch the body.... The Block on the back where the springs attach is machined ... The string blocks are easier to use than a Floyd.... I switched all my ESP's over because I could not get parts for them and The Floyd felt more comfortable on my hand. You can also Get the Base of the flyd to sit on the body and get lower action with them too which was another reason for the switch.

[ June 25, 2004, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: Firebird V ]

[Firebird V]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

Ok. The Floyd issues first. I forgot something very important. You will need to either slightly mod the body on the bar side as the Collar under the the base will not fit. OR - Mod the floyd collar as I have. The studs that come with the guitar for the ESP tremolo need to be replaced. You can buy new ones at stewmac. Keep in mind that you do not need to replace the parts that are set into the body. Only the screws that the floyd pivots on. The heads of the screws ar smaller and this is a must to fit the tremolo on. You can also buy new Floyd rose bars and collars at stewmac.com too. Get them and then just slightly flatten off (Grind with dremel tool) the one side of the bottom of the collar so that it will fit into the body fine. A 5 minute fix and it works great. It is also completely reversable if you decide to pull the Floyd off. I modded the floyds on 3 of the 4 ESP's I have. The 1 of the four has the body slighty routed. I bought it modded and retrofitted with the Floyd. It is invisible with the Floyd on. 1/16th of an inch is all it takes to either the Floyd collar or the body of the guitar. So there you have it. The 2 ways you can do it if you choose.

The Block for the Floyd. You can use either the long block or the medium one. Either work fine with the guitars and I am using both types of blocks.

Same as the bolt ons. 1.625) (1 5/8")

If you have any ???? send a PM.

Chris

[Budman68]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

Thanks so much for the nice tidbit of info there Chris. I'm sure this will be helpful if I decide to change the trem to a floyd. [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[Firebird V]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

No problem Dave. Glad to help. The mods are veryery easy to do. Let me know if you need pics. Keep in mind that all this info is for the Phoenix(Firebird) body style and other body styles might have a more open route so it may just drop right in.... I think they would use the same templates though. Get yours all apart and then see.

[neilli]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

Firebird - thanks for that very comprehensive description. I think I'll get Lee to ship a new OFR with my new GMW and then the fun will begin (a couple of weeks or so)
Cheers
Ian

[Anders]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

Here's the only decent pic I have of my Mirage:



Anders

[The Eristic]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

She's a looker, man. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[Anders]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

Hehe, yeah she sure is, but believe me, she plays better than she looks (damn what a cliché!! but as in most cases, it's TRUE!).

She's actually seen a bit of wear, but it's hard to tell in that pic... worn frets, nicks in the finish and all the usual stuff. Not very strange considering her age!

Anders

[Firebird V]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

Looks good from here! I wish one of mine had the inlays like that. Not the block at #12 though... Just the offset blocks. I like the older Jackson spin-offf HS too. Much better than the newer designs. They copied the best I guess!

[img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Budman68]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

That's a beauty anders!! [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] . I finally got my Horizon and it's in great condition (thanks Ray!!). I will be cleaning it up and all that jazz so I can get pics up for you guys but I have a question, what kind of trem bar does the ESP trem accept? Anybody have a pic?

Thanks!

[Firebird V]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

I will send you a pic if you need Dave. You may need to fabricate it. I can send you one for you to eye up and spec if you need. Sorry. No extras.

Chris

[Budman68]

Re: ESP "The Mirage" A great Guitar

Originally posted by Firebird V:
I will send you a pic if you need Dave. You may need to fabricate it. I can send you one for you to eye up and spec if you need. Sorry. No extras.

Chris

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That would be great bro, I appreciate that. I'd love to see a pic too if you have one handy. I'll PM you.. [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[kickaxeguitars]

Re: ESP &quot;The Mirage&quot; A great Guitar

After playing this axe for about a month now, I descided I LOVE the tremolo!
It is much easier to change strings on then a Floyd and it works great! No mods here..
I LOVE this guitar.. I'm not a huge fan of neckthroughs but this is my new found love boys..
I hate to say it but it puts my Soloists to shame.
Maybe it's just that I prefer the narrow neck (1 5/8" nut width) I love this axe..

[kickaxeguitars]

Re: ESP &quot;The Mirage&quot; A great Guitar

I was searching the net and found this: My absolute DREAM GUITAR!


Somehow, I need to find a way to become proud owner of 1 of those babies!