ESP AX-350

This is just an update. I've had this guitar for about 5 years now. It is really nice. The neck is great, low action, no buzz. It stays in tune really well, it's comfortable and it looks awesome. The EMG HZ pickups were just ok, so I replaced them with DiMarzios and now it sounds much better.

I stripped off the black finish and discovered that it was hiding a really nice piece of wood. The body is made of 2 pieces of mahogany, no wood filler or knots. I didn't expect such beautiful wood to be under a black factory finish.

Too bad they stopped making these...

My guitar is an ESP-ltd AX350 made in korea. It came standard with EMG hz humbucker pickups, 1 volume and 1 tone. It is black in colour with a thick mahogany body and mahogany set thru neck. The fingerboard is dark rosewood with a tribal inlay running the length of it. The tuners are esp non locking items and the bridge and tailpiece are black tunamatic and fixed items. The neck is bound with white binding and the shape is very similar to a Bc Rich warlock but with a more contoured body.

This guitar is really suited to hardrock and metal but it can do a good clean sound being mahogany. I wasn't a fan of the pickups so i fitted the EMG 81 and 85 to up the output and replace the muddyness in the neck position particularly. I then fancied addimg the EMG afterburner for upto 20db of extra boost during solos. All this coupled with the mahogany body means that the guitar has some awesome grunt. I'd give it a 10 with the modifications but as standard i would have to give it a 7

The guitar was poorly set up with a high action. With a little bit of tinkering i lowered it down to 1.4mm on the bass side with no buzzes or rattles. This neck is now lightening fast and is easily the best setup guitar i have had.

made to last, the finish on this guitar is really strong and is unlikely to come off easily. I could easily gig without a backup. but you really should have a backup anyway.

When i emailed ESP to get wiring diagrams to fit the Afterburner (the reason i asked is because they had an f series with a similar pickup and afterburner config), they didn't reply. In the end i had to contact EMG who were most helpful. When trying to buy a case to fit the guitar they were great so 50/50 good and bad. It probably has something to do with the fact that i was spending money.

i LOved this guitar, but after having done all the work on it, i had to sell it to fund a house move. Shame really as this guitar could produce a shockwave large enough to remove house roofs.

-1 Vol, 1 Tone, 3 way toggle

-2 passive EMG HZ humbuckers (HZ-4 model)

-Mahogany Body and Maple set neck (not neckthru like another review said. It looks neckthru, but is really set, which is why ESP calls this "Set Thru")

-Black gloss finish

-Body shape is sort of a modernized Warlock shape

-ESP non-locking tuners

-Bound rosewood fingerboard with 24 frets

The mahogany body, set neck and rosewood fretboard should give a great rich tone...This guitar has a lot of potential, but sadly the EMG HZ pickups don't sound very good. I bought this guitar knowing I would swap out the pickups. I think this guitar will sound much better as soon as I get some Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio pickups in it. The HZ pickups sound hollow and weak. I don't know if it's the pickups or the tone control, but you can get some GREAT mellow sounds by turning the tone all the way down...because unlike most guitars, this one keeps the low strings defined and not muddy even with the tone all the way down.

Everything was perfect. Normally I set up my guitars when I buy them, but this guitar was just how I wanted it. The volume and tone controls are not scratchy at all, they feel like quality parts. My only concern is the 3 way toggle, which feels a tiny bit fragile. No problems so far though.

This guitar stays in tune very well and the guitar feels solid. Considering that is is mahogany, I expected it to be just a little bit heavier than it is. The guitar was actually a little bit smaller in person that it looked online. It seems reliable, but I'd never go without a backup. This guitar needs to be used with a rough leather strap though...because it is a little neck heavy and the leather will cause enough friction to keep it stable.

GREAT. When my guitar came, i noticed it was packed without the warranty card. I e-mailed ESP and they got back to me really fast. Within a few days they took down my address and sent me the warranty in the mail.

This guitar isn't as nice at my USA Jackson, but for an imported guitar it is REALLY nice. It is my first ESP, and I would buy from them again. I got this guitar in a closeout sale for $330, what a buy! I would have paid $700 for a guitar of this quality.

I wish this had better stock pickups and a 5 way switch instead of the 3 way toggle. The inlay on this guitar looks really cool, but since it doesn't mark specific frets (3,5,7,9,12 and so on) is can be a little confusing until you get used to looking at the side markers instead.

2003 Korean Made. 24-Frets on a 25.5" scale. Neck-Through body construction, and a beautiful tribal-looking inlay covering the fretboard. 1-Vol, 1-Tone, and a 3-way pickup selector. 2 EGM-HZ H-4 humbuckers (which are passive)... you can check espguitars.com for the rest of the specs.

This axe fits into my musical style perfectly, which is basically me trying to be awesome at everything. I have used it with Marshall JCM 800's, Mesa/Boogie Rectifiers, and my personal favorite, the Ibanez Tone Blaster 100 with a cheap distortion pedal. I only use distortion effects and eq manipulation. As far as i can remember, the H-4 set sounded really good, but it switched them out for an EMG-81/60 set. The guitar does not naturally have a real beefy sound, but more of a focused midrangey sound that makes it much more managable. Heavy palm-muting does not make your amp "woof out" but provides a great audible CRUNCH that cuts through freakin near anything. Clean sounds are very sweet, and not overwhelming. Very well balanced and dynamic. When equipped with the H-4 set this would deserve a slightly less rating..

When it got to Canada, i'm sure the temperature changes it endured moved the wood a little bit, but a quick setup gave this guitar really low action, and very precise intonation. G is a little out though... this is quickly becoming the bane of my existence. The finish looked great and I didn't get any surprises when i gutted it... top-quality construction.

I somehow scratched the finish on the edge, but other than that, this axe has held up to my heavy-handed style, as well as the occasional drunk thrashing. Did i mention this guitar is balanced almost perfectly? Only broke a string on it once in a year and a half.

Since i bought this axe, it has been my main guitar and i have had absolutely no problems with it at all. The EMG upgrade is highly recommended by me. I love the big frets, and the headstock is totally original. The shape does scare some people, until they hear it's beautiful tone... everyone falls in love with this guitar. Really an awesome all around instrument; definitely worth the money.

Mines a 2004 korean made LTD. Sort of middle of the road in terms of features, 24 fret neck (with a really nice thorn branch stylee inlay all the way up the fret board), mahogony body, maple neck, ebony fretboard,3 way toggle switch, 2 EMG HZ H4 passive humbuckers (not 81 and 85 like someone said, theyre active pickups and they dont tend to be standard on guitars in this range!). Jet black finish, smudges very easily, but seeing as most of my guitars are black it doesn't really bother me! Body style is like a warlock at the top but with a curvyier arse end, and a whole lot nicer! Tune-o-matic bridge, with through body stringing, kept in tune by a fairly decent set of ESP branded gotoh lookalikes. Neck is quite fat for a guitar obviously meant for heavy rock and metal, but i dont like really skinny necks, this is just right for me! I didn't get any freebies with it.

I play a lot of heavy metal, mainyl rhythm in my band, and I usually play a les paul or sg, cos i prefer fixed bridges and i like a bit of bottom end on a guitar. Ive been looking at ESP explorers quite a lot and having tried them,they dont have anywhere near the low end I need and would expect from a mahogany set neck guitar. This however, is quite weighty, and with plenty of drive absolutely sings! Really powerful, and still clear as a bell when needed to be! Im not a huge fan of EMG's in general, but thats only because ive heard so many on lightweight guitars and they always have way to much treble for my liking, but they dont really good on this! Clean is also beautiful, dial in some chorus, a tad reverb and fade to black and one sound awesome! My only dislike is the fact that the neck pickup is really bassy, and even if you take the drive back a bit it just doesnt clear up until you use it on clean.

From the shop it was set-up beautifully, couldnt ask for a better set-up! All the hardware and pickups were all done to top quality, no worries there!

I havent had mine long enough really to say how relaible its going to be, but its a solid guitar, well made, and not got a huge amount to go wrong on it so im not expecting it to go tits up! I never take just one guitar to a gig, i always break strings cos i get a bit carried away sometimes!

Errrrrrrrmmmmm.......

Ive been playing about 3 years, and i also own a Squier Standard Telecaster, Ibanez RG565 (with a Di Marzio Evolution in the bridge), Epi Les Paul Black Beauty (with a Di Marzio PAF Classic in the bridge) and a Gibson SG Gothic. Id definately buy this again, its a great axe and it looks awesome! I love the looks, sound, neck (very similar to my les paul and sg), n i cant think of anything i hate about it! Compared to an EX351D this wins hands down. Sounds better, weighs more, better balanced, better looking! I sorta wish it had the JB/59 pickup combo like the dave mustaine signature, but thats always something i could do myself at a later date!

This guitar was made in 2004 as far as i can tell, it is a foreign made guitar

it has 24 extra jumbo frets which feel really nice and make it very easy and smooth to play.

There is a volume and a tone knob as well as a 3 way selector

it has two emg humbuckers 81 and 85 i believe

has a set neck

passive electronics

body is made of mahogony and fretboard is maple

finish is satin black

body style is similiar to a warlock but much cooler looking

bridge is a string thru body which gives it lots of sustain

the input on the guitar is semi locking and makes it hard to pull the cord out accidently

I gave it a 8 because it has good features but you could get even better, though that would be ridicilous to do

This guitar suits metal quite well, which is what i play, though the neck on it is a bit thicker than a jackson, you can still shredd on it, it took me about 20 minutes to get used to since i am used to jacksons, the two emg humbuckers sound great and produce no buzz, the tone of the guitar is great and sounded great even without the amp.it has a very full sound to it and from hearing so much bad things i was sceptical of the value at first, but dont believe none of those kids who say usa guitars are the only good ones, the only reason usa ones are so expensive is because you have to pay the labor to make the guitars so much, this is the exact same guitar you would get whether it was made in the usa or korea.
i really like this guitar and believe it sounds jst as good if not better than my jackson, which is a kv2 usa made

the guitar was set up beautifully when i recieved it and the action was nice and low just how i like it, which makes it quick and smooth. everything sounded good it was tuned properly and no sound quality prolems were found.

the finish is nice and thick, i know this because i bought the guitar as a scratch and dent item and saved some major cash with it, it had a chip on one of the corners. i would use this guitar without a backup on stage and can depend on it.everything was solid

N\A

if you want to get a quality guitar but dont want to join the trend of buying a $3000 usa made guitar buy this one at a quarter of the price and enjoy all the benefits and smoothness you would find in a higher price model, that stuff is all about prestige there is a point where quality can only get so good.