I love ESP

[tammyw]

Not to be confused with the ESP Arrow, here we have the ESP Aero! The finish on this one is called Black AX, the AX standing for the hand-painted silver accent lines along all the bevel edges. They're painted slightly irregular to give it a sort of worn or weathered look.

It has a 24 fret bolt-on neck, and the bridge is top mounted since the center span of the body is already recessed. It came with Seymour Duncan Parallel Axis pickups which are probably my least favorite humbuckers of all time, very hot and harsh. And of course, no tone control, so you get maximum tone all the time.

[DrQuasar]

I like ESPs too. Right now I've got my eye on this Javier Reyes sig, which is offset:



Just wish it had the Fishman Fluence pickups though.

[Flurko]

I've been gasing for a metal guitar pretty hard these days, and now that I've seen the Kirk Hammett signature in freaking PURPLE SPARKLE I'm all over it :



I still find their version of a superstrat pretty boring, but it's so pretty!

(I have this problem with guitar shapes that I usually find one of the variants to be the "right" one and the others are not as cool, like the classic tele or LP shapes seem malformed when they do not follow the classic design, to me the "classic" pointy superstrat is for some reason the Ibanez RG and the others just lack personality to me)

[tammyw]

That's two that I don't have, but I'm sure they're all great guitars. ESP certainly makes a lot of different signature models.

Here's a signature model for Syu, The Crying Star FR. It looks like it has the tummy scarf cut on the front, as a forearm contour instead. The color on this one is black with a red ghost pearl on top. When the light hits it right it creates a great etherial red glow, but I couldn't figure out how to capture it in a photo. It's truly stunning in person, and ESP does the best pearls I've ever seen.

It has a maple heel-less set neck on an alder body, and a 26 fret maple fingerboard with glow in the dark dot inlays. The pickguard is red anodized aluminum with a polished silver beveled edge. The single Seymour Duncan '59/Custom pickup is wired to a single volume pot, a momentary contact kill button, and a coil-split mini-toggle switch.

[tammyw]

Here's another one of Syu's signature models, the Crying Star Phoenix. This has the kind of metal flake finish where I think it's a silver flake with a red candy coat. I know some people don't like that style because it loses a lot of the initial sparkle, but instead it has a very deep rich color where the sparkle of colored flakes can get a little washed out. It does actually sparkle really great when hit with a bright direct light, but I totally failed to capture it while trying to avoid weird reflections off the mirror acrylic pickguard.

This one is a bolt-on maple neck with partial 26th and 27th frets on the rosewood fingerboard. It has EMG active pickups (SAV neck and 81 bridge) with master volume and master tone controls, plus an EMG SPC mid-boost circuit which can be engaged with the mini-toggle switch.

[Embenny]

You seem like a good person to ask - what about Edwards guitars? Is it true that they're just MIJ ESPs with a different name and aesthetic? Do they stand up to the quality of MIJ ESPs?

[tammyw]

I don't have much experience with Edwards, nothing bad to say about them, but they definitely make some compromises to slot them in at the lower price point.

[tammyw]

To finish out November, here's a fun take on a more conventional flying V shape: Yuki Masahiko's signature Lizard Special V-IV. The white pearl finish gives it a beautiful sheen, while the mahogany body and bolt-on neck make this a very hefty guitar, well over eight pounds. And that lizard tail inlay in the rosewood fingerboard is really something. It comes with a standard JB/Jazz pickup combo wired to a five-way blade switch for some coil-split in-between sounds, along with master volume and tone controls, plus a kill switch.

[tammyw]

Here's another from ESP USA, an Eclipse in satin magenta pearl. Mahogany body with carved maple top cap, plus a tummy scarf cut on the back. Heel-less "Set-Thru" three-piece reinforced mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard. Tone Pros locking bridge and tailpiece, and Sperzel tuners. Seymour Duncan Wes Hauch's signature Jupiter Rails pickups, and I changed the push-pull switch from a coil-split to an out-of-phase. In the end it feels completely different than a Les Paul.

[tammyw]

All you really need is one pickup and one volume, and this week we're going with the Max Cavalera signature RPR (reaper). Among the pointier guitars I own, I think it was supposed to be a cross between a Warlock and an Explorer, or something. Despite claiming to have a Thin U neck profile, this one has a fairly full feeling, rounded neck. And it's a three-piece maple neck, with neck-thru construction and mahogany body wings. How about those signature inlays in the rosewood fingerboard? It even has a bound headstock. This is the satin Black Desert Camo finish, although if I could go back in time I would have ordered a blue camo instead. A TonePros locking bridge & tailpiece and Gotoh locking tuners round out the hardware along with the Seymour Duncan Distortion humbucker.

[Shadoweclipse13]

That is SO cool!!! The kid in me wants to see more dinosaur-based guitars!!!!

[Embenny]

Yeah, the tail inlays are a nice touch. That's my favourite so far.

[tammyw]

I know I made a separate thread for this last year, but I'm reposting it here for completeness: the Hatsune Miku signature Stream Miku Custom. Only the first 39 released to the public came with the custom painted case, but I think they're still taking orders for the guitar. This year they announced a 15th anniversary model with a new paint job which will be limited to only 39 guitars. I didn't get a reservation, but if one pops up at a reasonable price I might have to grab it. Anyway I like the Stream better than a lot of other alternative shapes out there, and I wish they'd offer more of them but I think it's been rather unpopular in the past.

[Embenny]

I actually really like that. If I just saw the guitar, I'd have no idea it had anything to do with Miku. I just like the carve and the colour contrast.

[tammyw]

Instead of the Christmas star, here's an Akira Takasaki signature, The Black Star. This one has a standard alder body and bolt-on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. The body accents are glued-on mirror acrylic. The funny headstock and 6L tuners are a homage to some old guitar, I don't know, I was never really a Loudness fan. Somehow it makes this guitar the biggest pain to restring. Top mounted Floyd Rose, Seymour Duncan '59 & '59/Custom pickups, a single volume control plus a kill switch, all pretty common fare. I only got it because it's a Random Star, and stars are always just that cool.