Electric Guitar Review

ESP today announced the addition of a whopping ten new guitars to its low-cost LTD line, though to be perfectly honest I think they may be stretching things a bit when they call these “new models”… half of the instruments appear to be existing models with just minor aesthetic changes

Metallica Jr.  Still, the most unique of the bunch is the new Kirk Hammett Junior model (KH-JR,) which will be part of ESP’s popular Kirk Hammett Signature Series, and apparently marks the company’s first move into smaller 3/4-sized guitars. Based loosely on the KH-2, the KH-JR is expected to feature a basswood body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard with skull & bones inlays, and a pair of active EMG LH-300 humbuckers. Scale length is just 20.5“.

Also new to ESP’s line-up are four updated M and MH Series guitars. These latest instruments bring maple fretboards to the series for the first time, and the M-103FM has been updated with not only a See-Thru Black finish, but a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo unit as well. The quilt-top MH-100QM now sports a See-Thru Blue finish, and the M-53 now comes in black.

Other new instruments include five new EC Series single-cutaway models: Black Satin & two-tone Sunburst versions of the EC-50, a Faded Cherry Sunburst version of the EC-100QM, and two new EC-1000 models dressed in See-Thru Green and See-Thru Blue finishes.

While I can’t speak for the entire low-cost LTD Series, I liked last year’s South Korean-built EC-400 Archtop so much that I bought one… you can check out my EC-400 review here.