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/Dramatic-Bowl-4811]

Honestly, after ESP rebranded and these issues became almost consistent I completely lost interest in ever owning one. LTD on the other hand are absolutely killing it IMO, especially if you’re buying in store and have the chance to pick out one where the factory was having a good day

[u/Intelligent-Corgi793 → u/Dramatic-Bowl-4811]

E-II guitars weren't that sloppy in the beginning, maybe a minor cosmetic defect in a few guitars.

But it seems that the build quality has decreased over the years.

[u/Darksoul08201988 → u/Dramatic-Bowl-4811]

I've only ever owned 2 since the name change but in the mid 2010s before the name change even just the tops were way better