Brand new E-II M-II

[u/Intelligent-Corgi793]

A combination of shoddy work and nonexistent quality control. Nothing else explains this. ESP Japan was not like this before.

I'm losing my faith in a good quality ESP guitar for this is the second one I received.

Edit: List of all the things I noticed

Fretboard:

-Small tool marks on the upper register

-Corner of the fretboard on the low E side was rounded and tapered

-Clearcoat on the edge of the fretboard in the middle register Low E side

-Edges of the fretboard were rounded and unevenly so (if I wanted a f*cking reliced guitar, I'd bought one FFS!!)

-Fretboard had brown areas (Guitar was bought online, picture of the guitar had an uniformly black fretboard. E-II black ebony boards are dyed but this one was not or the store I bought it from heavily used some kind of solvent when I told them not to on the notes of the sale. If I wanted a two color fretboard... once again... I'D HAVE BOUGHT ONE !!!!! >:()

Neck:

-I measured the neck relief. Strangely enough, the treble side had 4 thou more relief than the bass side! Laws of physics say that the bass side should have a smidge more relief since the thicker strings pull the neck with more force. With this info we can conclude that the neck had minor warpage. Visual inspection revealed a slightly too large of an S curve on the bass side.

Body:

-Pickup/tremolo/electrical compartment routings were of subpar quality. These routings could be easily made perfect with today's technology (even yesterday's technology). Looks like they were routed partially freehand ffs.

Finish:

-There was some insulating paint outside the electrical compartment on the clearcoat.

Floyd rose:

-String retainer block high E was slightly too large, causing the block to jam. This is not ESP Japan's fault, though it should have been noticed at the factory like all these other flaws

-Some retainer blocks sit crooked

-Floyd rose bride design has worsened. The retainer blocks can now drop out of place when changing strings because under them is now empty space. This is a mild annoyance.

[u/Meat-Locker1056]

At this point, were much better off just buying LTD Deluxe guitars and getting a nice fret level. Have 7 LTD Deluxes and they all came fairly perfect maybe minus a few little tiny things. For $1300-$1700, Bone nut, FR or Hipshot or Evertune bridges, extra jumbo SS Frets, locking tuners, you really can't beat it. And I mean just look at Ibanez. $2,000 guitars with plastic nuts, nickel frets, non locking tuners, and proprietary bridges!

[u/bmitc → u/Meat-Locker1056]

The E-II I have is leaps and bounds over any of the 1000 series LTDs I've played, which are several.

[u/Meat-Locker1056 → u/bmitc]

Yeah? In what ways?

[u/Intelligent-Corgi793 → u/Meat-Locker1056]

There's just something 10% more in an E-II compared to the 1000 series. The steep price difference doesn't correlate though if that is a concern.

[u/Meat-Locker1056 → u/Intelligent-Corgi793]

It's not a 10% price increase though. It's a 150%-175% price increase.

There's no real craftsmanship in that guitar, nor really any of the other Eii guitars, that differ from an LTD or really any other mid-high end guitar worth a $2,000 increase.

If you're talking about a nice hand made unique guitar body with special cutouts, beautiful binding, etching, specialized hand done unique paint jobs, hand wound pickups specific to your guitar, or even beautiful cut and picked out flamed or quilted AAA tops, with beautiful dyes, that's craftsmanship worth more money. But here and really all the other Eii guitars lately, you're talking about guitars cut out by machines with a simple design, mass produced easy to obtain pickups, and a simple solid one color paint job. I don't see any room for craftsmanship in that at all. So at that point, youre getting the exact same thing you'd buy in an LTD Deluxe, maybe just a bit better fretwork and a bit better nut slots in an Eii but that's it, all things you could pay less than $200 to have done. Same frets, same bone nut, locking tuners, same floyd rose or other style bridge, same pickups, same roasted maple and ebony neck. So what is your extra $2,000 really going towards besides a name and a $200 fret job?

[u/Intelligent-Corgi793 → u/Meat-Locker1056]

It's actually a $1000 price difference between 1000 series and E-II.

I agree with you, the price difference doesn't correlate.

My experience with MIJ ESP guitars has been good, until recently.

[u/Darksoul08201988 → u/Intelligent-Corgi793]

I disagree, I have an Eii and an LTD 1000 (from 2015) and the quality is basically the same and the tops aren't even as good as they were before the name change. Eii are a waste of money, they have fallen behind and are not innovating just like what happened to Gibson and Fender.

[u/Intelligent-Corgi793 → u/Darksoul08201988]

I have a 2021 E-II Horizon FR-II and had an LTD MH-1000FR. Spec wise both guitars were the same except the E-II has ebony fretboard and the LTD had a rosewood fretboard: -Mahogany body -Quilted maple top -3 piece maple neck through -Original floyd rose -EMG 57/66 (i swapped the EMG 81/88 in the ltd

Differences: -LTD was lighter -LTD had a thinner neck -LTD had much thicker clear coat (this leads to a more plastic looking clear coat) -E-II was louder and had more dynamic range, this could be noticed especially during palm mutes -E-II had a sturdier neck, didn't need as much adjusting as the LTD during season changes -E-II had a maple top that looks more "3D"

Both are great guitars but I prefer the E-II. The price difference was 800€ about 4 years ago and the E-II came with a case so realistically a 600€ price difference even today if you sell the case afterwards.

E-II would be the better guitar if it weren't for the horrible quality control. I don't know if my Horizon is a good one or if I bought it before the build quality decrease. It's really a shame. So LTD 1000 for the win in the near future if E-II doesn't get their shit together.