ESP EC 400VF

???Resonant mahogany body
???3-piece mahogany neck
???Rosewood fretboard
???24-3/4" scale
???22XJ frets
???Flags inlay and the model name at the 12th fret
???Set of Seymour Duncan JB59s
???2 volumes, a tone knob, and 3-way toggle
???Fully bound in creme
???Chrome and Earvana compensated nut
???Grover tuners
???Tune-o-matic bridge with stop tailpiece
??? Made in Korea.
??? $650



I gave this an 8/10 because unlike the EC 1000, this doesn't come with Sperzel locking tuners and Tonepros. This axe is worth every cent. Grover tuners and T-O-M bridges are quality. ESP will never shaft you when it comes to quality parts unlike some other brand name guitars in the same price range. The only other brand that compares is Schecter, however most (in this price range) do not come with quality pickups but rather SD knock offs. This is actually my back up guitar, as my main axe is an ESP LTD Deluxe EC 1000.

I am an active, semi-professional musician. I do have a day job, but gig weekly. I've been playing for well over 15 years straight. I'm in a modern rock band. I've played everything from alternative, indie, hard rock, some metal, pop rock, grunge, 90s music, classic, jazz fusion and some blues, this axe handles all of them, hands down.

I currently play through a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb 100 watt head through a 212 cab stocked with Celestions Vintage 30s. I also played this axe through a Carvin Legacy, Marshall JVM, Marshall JTM45, Randall RM100 and a few others.

I would like to clarify that it's not the guitar that produces the majority of the sound, IT'S THE AMP! You can't say the guitar doesn't have good distortion if you're playing it through POS amps.

The guitar has a sweet tone to it though, through any amp. The SD are very versitile and can match any style. In the end, it's all about personal taste. I'm not a huge fan of SD, but I do like the JB/59s. If I changed styles or didn't like them anymore, I would swap them out for Dimarzio's.

I gave it a 9/10 because the quality of materials play a huge part in the tone of the guitar. However with the features it currently has (depending on the quality of the amp) it sounds amazing.

The guitar is set-up quite nicely straight from the factory, if you're like me, you want it set to your personal likings by taking it to your guitar tech, however the factory settings are good.

The finish is what sold me. I got the Tobacco Sunburst. It looks better than some Gibson Les Paul Standards out there. Doesn't have many thrills, but that's what I have an EC1000 for.

ESPs are the best out of the box, straight from the factory, in your hands guitars. No blemishes, no flaws, no nothing. Great axe. This is 10/10.

It all depends on the guitarist. If you are responsible and take crae of your equipment, it'll last a lifetime. If you're foolish and treat your equipment like it means nothing to you, it won't. Simple as that. However, this guitar will take a beating and stays in tune well. I've had an EC1000 for over 7 years, through many rehearsals, gigs, studio sessions, etc it's still in great condition.

ESP is very customer friendly. Never had any problems with them. For any guitar work, I will take it to my guitar tech at a guitar shop. If it's something major, I'll take full advantage of the warranty. Never happened, never needed it. So I give this a N/A.

In closing, for the price, it's the best guitar out there. The finish is jaw dropping beautiful, the natural tone is amazing, the feel is perfect, everything is great. Get one. It's not just for metal. This guitar will surpass any Gibson Studios. Don't get me wrong, it's not in the same league as high end guitars such as PRS, Gibson Customs/Standards, etc. It will compete with any guitar in the $500-$1300 range. It's a respectable guitar and worth every cent. Hope this review was helpful and insightful.

I have the newer 401. Basically the same thing as the 400.



* Single-cutaway body
* Set-in mahogany neck
* 24-3/4" scale
* Mahogany back
* Flamed maple top
* Mahogany neck
* Rosewood fingerboard
* 14" fingerboard radius
* 1.65" (42mm) Earvana compensated nut
* Thin U neck contour
* 22 XJ frets
* Chrome hardware
* ESP tuners
* Tune-o-matic-style bridge and stop tailpiece
* Seymour Duncan JB (bridge position)/'59 (neck position) Pickups
* Two volume control/one master tone control, 3-way toggle switch
* Polyurethane finish
* Case not Included

I play mostly rock and indie rock styles with blues flavors. I play through a Fender Deluxe combo. This is where this guitar shines! It is so smooth and full. The pickups are great. Fat Les Paul style sound, but this guitar sounds a lot better than some Les Pauls I've played. Hands down the best guitar I've ever purchased in this price range. I'd say this baby can do anything from Jazz to Metal and everything in between. The sustain is nuts! I have to get used to it. I usually have to stop it from singing forever. At this point there is nothing negative I can say about it. Only had it 2 weeks.

Action was ok. A little high so I had to adjust it. The pickups were adjusted perfect out of the store. Intonation was pretty good too, had to make some minor adjustments to the D string saddle. It's a little heavy, but that's to be expected with a Les Paul style guitar. The finish is beautiful. Not a flaw. This has turned into my wifes favorite looking guitar which used to be my Gretsch.

I've only had it 2 weeks but it looks and feels very reliable to me. I changed the strap locks to locking ones just in case. (I do this to all my guitars) I would never gig without a backup. Broken strings suck. But that aside I would rely on this guitar to get me through a set safely.

Don't know.

I've been playing for about 16 years. I'm a musician by profession. I also have a Fender Deluxe Strat, Fender 72 Deluxe Tele, Gretsch Electromatic hollowbody, and a Guild D-30 acoustic. If this guitar were stolen I'd cry and eventually buy another. This is hands down the most affordable, best sounding, Les Paul style guitar. I had to get over the image of ESP as a shreddars guitar, and I'm glad I did. I don't have a problem with the fact that it only has one tone knob. Less to fuss with. I recommend playing one and making your own judgment.

Name: ESP Ltd EC-400VF
Body style: Eclipse
Body: Mahogany w/ Flamed Maple Top
Neck: Three-Piece Mahogany.
Fretboard: Rosewood.
Neck construction: 24.75" Set-Neck.
Neck shape: Thin U.
Nut: Earvana Compensated, 42mm.
Frets: 22 Extra Jumbo Frets.
Inlays: Flags w/ EC-400VF logo on 12th fret.
Binding: Creme (Body/Neck/Headstock).
Hardware: Chrome.
Bridge: Tune-o-matic w/ Stop Tailpiece.
Electronics: Volume, Volume, Tone, Three-way toggle on the upper body.
Pick-ups: Seymour Duncan JB / '59 (bridge and neck respectively).
Finish: Faded Cherry Sunburst.
Made in: Korea.
Year: 2006 or 2007.
Strings: 010-046*

* I swapped these out for a set of D'Addario strings of the same gauge: 010, 013, 017, 026, 036, 046.

The features here are in general very good. The full-thickness Les Paul-shaped single cutaway body with the finish gives this guitar a very classy look while the headstock gives it a "tougher" edge. The wood made is nice, and the passive Seymour Duncans are great, they really fit well with the body and the rosewood fretboard.

In fact, almost all the features here are great, but I'm giving it a 9 because a classic knob setup (two volume knobs and two tone knobs) would've looked better and given the guitar even more versatility. I could do without the chrome knobs, and the paint job in the neck makes the guitar a little sticky. Quite heavy as the guitar is a full thickness solid Les Paul, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I play metal most of the time, because I'm in a metal band, but I fiddle around with hard rock, classic rock, clean guitar play and some bluesy or jazzy jamming isn't unheard of. It's a very versatile guitar. The Les Paul sound is definitely there, and the Seymour Duncan combination brings this out even more. I'm truly glad it didn't come with EMG's as I find those a bit sterile and too "metal" for a "classic" guitar like this one.

Just to clarify, even though I play metal, my tone and sound isn't a metal sound. I don't max out the gain settings, far from it. I do not scoop mids and max out lows and highs. In my music, everything from 70's and 80's metal to modern metal goes, but I go for a warm and smooth and thick sound. Highly reminiscent of 80's metal a la Iron Maiden, early Metallica, Megadeth, etc. My practise amp at home is an Ibanez TBX-15R, but I have a Marshall Valvestate 8100 on a JCM 800 1960A cab w/ Celestion G12T-75 speakers. I've also tried this amp on a JCM 800 4210 (a 50W combo), a Marshall DSL 100, JVM 210H and a Vintage Modern 2266. No effects whatsoever.

Toy around with the control knobs, if you want; you can get some sweet tones from this guitar just by playing around there alone. Max it all out and you can still achieve a great sound. Compared to my Jackson, this definitely is brighter with more mids and highs and maybe more "attack".

I think this lacks some punch on the low-mids end, though I'm not sure that's necessarily the guitar's fault. It's not noisy or inarticulate; In fact I'm rapidly increasing my liking for this guitar because it plays so well, does all kinds of music great and just feels and sounds so good.

This was a demo ex that I *may* have dented. So the shop owner more or less tricked me into buying it using various threats. The entire story led me to not really liking the guitar at all because of the circumstances that led to the purchase. The shop owner was at first willing to help me set it up, but when the time came, I had to set the action, intonation, string change, etc. all by myself. During the action-setting and intonation I popped loads of strings which I had to pay for.

The guitar came with so-so strings that, as I explained above, managed to replace. The action was really good for being a demo ex, although it was a little too high for me. I've since lowered it a bit and while I have to fix the intonation, it's now better. The neck strap button came a bit loose, and the input jack loosened up, too. Nothing that another indie shop shopkeeper couldn't fix for free in 5 minutes. Still, an only decent action set-up with input jack hardware and strap buttons that loosens up despite me having barely touched the guitar is enough to knock off a few points.

Everything else seems fine. The finish and paint job is still holding up, the pick-ups are working properly and (from what I can tell) are adjusted and raised/lowered properly, the hardware is generally holding up; aside form the abovementioned incidents, I haven't experienced any problems.

I haven't tried it enough, nor had the chance to put it to real tests despite having owned this guitar since late December 2008, but it seems like a very reliable, solid guitar. I'm very wary of the strap buttons, and I'm replacing them soon enough with real Dunlop locking strap buttons.

I don't think there is much else to say here. The strap buttons are iffy, and I have my suspicions about the toggler for the pick-ups, and the input jack isn't the very best and a bit short (you notice this when you open it up and check the jack where the cable actually goes in), but other than that, I feel it's a truly dependable guitar.

Of course, I'd never gig without a back-up. I haven't gigged yet, but the time is coming for me to do so soon. The main reason why I'd not gig with this without a back-up is because the purchase was made in a fishy way - I did not receive a proper receit, nor did I receive any warranty for the guitar, and it was a demo ex that could've been in a better condition - but when not taking this very special case into consideration, I'd rely on this guitar a lot.

I haven't dealt with ESP Guitars, and as long as this is the only ESP guitar I have, I doubt I will. My 3x1 inch scrap paper receit is nowhere to be found, and I didn't receive a proper receit or warranty for this guitar.

I've been playing for almost a year and a half now, and aside from this guitar, I own a Jackson RR3 Rhoads, and I have owned an Epiphone Les Paul Special-II and an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. My practise amp is a 15W Ibanez and my main amp is a Marshall Valvestate on a Marshall 4x12 cab.

If I had known what I knew now, this guitar would probably not belong to me as I wasn't obligated to buy this at all, something I was led to believe. I'm still not 100% but I'm almost convinced I was tricked into buying it. I think that, due to the circumstances, this thing has left a sour taste in my mouth, so I would probably not buy a similar guitar had it been stolen. Since I really like Les Pauls, I would probably just save up for a Les Paul of better quality.

Despite the sour taste, there is one thing that I appreciate about this particular Eclipse that it seems no other Eclipse has. It is a FULL-THICKNESS Eclipse with Seymour Duncans. ESP Eclipse II's seem to be thinner Les Paul shapes, and I think lots of the charm (and possibly tone) is lost with the slimmed body. ESP guitars also seem to be synonomous with active EMG's; pick-ups I am glad are not in my guitars.

I think that, all things considered, this is probably the best Les Paul you can get from ESP other than one you can get from their Custom Shop. It's a full-thickness Les Paul, and it's made of great material and wood and the quality is probably on par or nearly on the same level as an ESP Eclipse.

Great guitar, great Les Paul with great features and an classy sexy look. All that it's missing is the classic Les Paul four-knob configuration. This is an EXCELLENT Les Paul for its price. You certainly won't find a better Les Paul within ESP unless you're a die-hard metalhead, in which case the thinner body and EMG's will work just fine. I'm giving it a 9 anyway because it was built in Korea and I'm assuming that on ESP's orders, they won't build the guitar on par with US ESP's in terms of quality.

ESP LTD ec-400vf pd. $599.00 i must say this thing is equiped with everything i wanted in an LP for less than half the money. solid mahogany body with beautiful flamed maple top (matched very well i might add) slim very fluid neck, grover style tuners,duncan JB/59 pickup set up. With a 3way as it tradition on an LP. 2vol/1tone pots. and other than choosing the 2vol/2tone configuration instead of just one tone i would have given it a 10 leaving nothing out i would expect in LP out.

well i must say it suits everything i have put it up against so far. i try to keep up with the latest music. and still stay in touch with the music of the past. so i play everything from 60's Johnny Cash and Chet Adkins era stuff to Metalica. and have not been let down. the JB is very crunchy and warm but still very defined and the 59 is beautifuly crisp and clean for my older country and singer/songwriter sort of stuff. i play it through a fender princeton 65 mostly i got attached to the sound of that amp a few years ago and just don't care to change. the only thing i have found is when i got it the lows were not quite crisp enough when played through the JB so changed strings and raised the low sid of it up and it is right on the money for me.

this is where this guitar shines!! it is with out a doubt the most outstanding looking guitar i have ever played. the flame is just outstanding.and the Tobaco Sunbust is just eye poping. " very well applied color"., no runs or drips not even a dull spot. and the binding is just as good. not like that crisp just that looks like it's been put on by a machine. i don't know but i would bet it's been applied by hand. and a very warm aged look to it. jsut what you would hope for from somthing your putting your hard earned money on.
i know alot of people talk about a 5 or 600 dollar guitar like it isn't "high end" but to those of us who have to save for what we want 500 dollars is nothing to laugh at and we expect quality for our money. well you get it here. i played a couple of 07 gibson standards while on my hunt for my next guitar and this is even better looking and no less cheaply made. at least to look at.

have only had it a short time but it looks and feel ecremely solid. and it was set up by a little guitar shop i bought it at so i only know it looks good.

never had to deal with them.

i have been playing for about 20 years but didn't really take it seriously until about 6 years ago. i own several several acoustics and elec. but my primary is my little fender princton and now this lovely ltd.if it were stolen well i guess i couldn't blame the guy. but yea i would definatly buy a new one...i couldn't be happier with it.in short i it is a steal at any price. but being able to get it for under 600 dollars puts it in a class by it's self.

The EC 400VF is a new model for 2007, Tobacco sunburst gloss finish, single cutaway body style, Tune-o-matic bridge amd stop tail piece, Grover tuners, set mahogany neck, 24.75 inch scale, rosewood fretboard, 22 jumbo frets, flag shaped inlays, Made in Korea, earvana compensated nut, full neck and body binding, volume/volume/tone knobs, 3-way toggle switch, two Seymour Duncan passive humbucking pick-ups, '59 at the neck and JB at the bridge, mahogany body, flamed maple top, no case you need to purchase one separately.

Great sound with the Seymour Duncan pickups. I spent a longtime trying many guitars to find an affordable single cut, Les Paul style guitar that was this versatile. I wanted a solid body that could play blues, rock, and jazz. The sound of this ESP won me over. Great warm clean sound with the '59 neck pick-up and the JB bridge pickup has the best sound that I have heard on a bridge pickup. The JB has lots of character. It is articulate even at high gain settings with no hum at all. Both pickups do well on the mahogany body. I have played this guitar though solid state Roland and Peavey amps. This was the best sounding guitar in its class and price range.

Pretty decent factory setup. Action was a little too low and neck pickup was a litle too close on the bass side. It comes from the factory with 10's. The EC 400VF is a nicely crafted guitar. The neck and body binding is flawless and the frets are smooth and even. The inlays are nicely cut with no filler. The tobacco sunburst finish is a beautiful deep finish with no visible flaws. It is a stunning guitar to look at.

It looks to be a very solid guitar. Hardware, tuners, switches are fine quality. Strap bottons are solid, but many will want to upgrade to strap locks as this is a heavy guitar. So far no problems. I bought an ESP hardshell case separately.

I called ESP once prior to buying this guitar to ask questions and they were friendly and accessible. I have no experience with repairs. The guitar was new and comes with a The ESP Limited Lifetime Warranty which covers defective parts within the first year from purchase date. You have to send in a warranty card as there is no online registration

I have been playing for four years. I have a Jimmie Vaughn MIM Fender Strat that has that classic maple neck single coil sound. The strat is also a great guitar for the money. But I wanted a humbucking guitar that was a little warmer to act as a complement to the strats brighter sound. I also have D-15 Martin acoustic. I looked at Epiphone Les Pauls but their pickups could not hold a candle to this ESP's Seymour Duncans. I also considered a Gibson Les Paul Studio, it is also a great guitar. A new Les Paul Studio costs several hundred dollars more than the ESP. In the end I felt that the ESP suited me better. The ESP pickups were warmer and the JB in the Bridge is amazing. The only down side is the weight of the ESP. This is a heavy guitar, but the tone will not let you down.