ESP GMX-48

My main guiter for live and recording, my partner in crime is an ESP Grass Roots Explorer, the GMX-48. We've been together for 6 yearz now and I can't imagine doing shows without it!
It's Korean made i think though i wouldn't bet her on it, no idea on the year it was made. 22 frets, 2 volumes and a 3 way selector. The body is alder, with a bolt on maple neck and an ebonised rosewood fingerboard. The neck is wide but feels thin and fast. With smooth frets and mother of pearl inlays.
The strings were around 0.09's, but they came off. A new set of Ernie Balls were waiting for it anyway.
It features a tune-o-matic bridge (steady as a rock!!), the tuners are no namers and non locking, but are smooth and reliable. It came with pretty standard passive, blade style humbuckers encased in black covers. The neck pick up was hot and smooth like a Les Paul. The bridge pick up was horrible though!! Even with light gain, and standing 20 feet from my amp at rehearsal volume it howled into feedback! Noisy and uncontrollable, it had to go. Replaced with a alnico pro 2, by Semour Duncan. What a difference!
Features are basic, but like i give a rats ass! Not worried about whammy bars, or coil taps, or cherry burst paintwork. It's a gorgeous, glossy black. Which looks great under stage light! The volume controls give a wide sweep, independant for each pick up, and will roll back to give a raunchy Stray Cats kinda sound but to go completely clean is not really possible. Hey thats why amps have 2 channels now! ha ha.
Low on features, hence the middle score, but i don't care. What it has it does great!

The shape and sound fit my personality well, and it's got more than enough class and grit to play the glam/punk rock n roll i play. Although I will openly admit that James Hetfield was and is a huge influence.
I run my baby into a Marshall JCM 900 4100. The effects consist of a Jim Dunlop Wah, a Zoom processor for clean sounds, and a Marshall overdrive pedal to occasionally drive the 100 watt head into sustain if we can't turn our amps loud enough at certain venues.
A little noise does happen on high gain, but expected. The neck pick up gives a warm, smooth Les Paul kind of sound, while the bridge gives a lot of bite! Rolling the volume back and forth produces a few sounds, despite lacking a tone control. However, a clean sound with both pick ups is beautiful. Like a Strat but with more bottom end.
I love the sound on this guitar, but my only gripe is that it constantly needs new strings?!? A set thats halfway through it's normal life, for some reason sounds dead on this guitar. Transplant them to another guitar and they sound ok. Wierd!

When the guitar arrived, the action was a little high. But when a guitar made in hot, humid Asia arrives in a cold dock in England...you got to expect a little neck movement ha ha! Nothing five minutes with the supplied Hex wrench couldn't fix though.
The pickups were well set though, and the paintwork was glossy, raven black. Raven black gives this beautiful blue overtone on hard white stage light.
The only gripe with the hardware was obviously the noisy bridge pick up but also the plastic input jack surround. This shattered when the guitar came off it's strap once, with the cable still in it! ...fortunately onto carpet, but is now replaced with a metal one.

This guitar has withstood thousands of hours of playing and practicing, recording, rehearsals and shows, and still feels great! The hardware has lasted well, with the exception of the input jack surround...but the bridge will need to be replaced soon, and the frets will have to be replaced too. But after six years of heavy use, this is no complaint.
The strap buttons are very solid, although i have offset the position of the neck strap button to cure that headstock heavy problem a little. Strap locks are a must though on any guitar, strap holes do wear quickly anyway.
I know i can depend on this guitar, it's never let me down. Never even broken a string on it either, which shows how smooth the bridge saddles are. Even when pulling insane bends ha ha!
I always have a back up, not because i doubt it's reliability but for a change of sound if a song requires it. There is always a first time for everything though!

I've never had to contact their customer support. The warranty has never been used, although i think it's expired now.

I've been playing for 8/9 years now, and own a number of other guitars: a strat, a Westone SX, a Dean V, a Yamaha acoustic, Marshall JCM 900, plus assorted other instruments for home recording.
If i ever lost this guitar I'd do anything to get it back!! ha ha. I love the sound and the look. Some people suit certain guitars, there are Les Paul players, Strat players...but I'm an Explorer dude! This guitar is me! I play it positioned somewhere around my knees, and when you're 6' 2" that requires a long strap! ha ha. Who needs body contours?
The only thing i hate is the fact that ESP aren't making this exact guitar anymore!!! Nothing against the newer models but i just prefer the older style version. So, as soon as the record advance comes i'm hunting down every black ESP Explorer thats for sale!! ha ha

1997 24 fret james hetfield explorer. this model was used by hetfield himself it's really amazingly good

excellent for metal great for quiick solos so easy

good

it has and will for years to come

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