ESP M-II Deluxe

94-96 M-II Deluxe, Gunmetal Blue, Floyd rose original, Alder body, Maple neck and fingerboard, one volume, one 3-way toggle. Single coil in neck and humbucker in bridge. 25.5" scale, 24 frets. Really nice abolone or mother of pearl inlays on fretboard. Looks unreal with blue finish and maple fretboard! Locking nut, etc. Perfect!

I can't beleive how wonderful this guitar sounds! Never owned a "metal" style guitar before and I think I'm head-over-heels! I won't even try out the other brands (Jackson, etc.). Bridge p/u is unbeleivably hot! Fingerwork really shines through distortion. Neck p/u is creamy and still has definition. Combine the two p/u's and I swear it's a strat! But of course it's not! Would still rather have a strat for some types of music.

Pretty rad setup! I think my action can go lower, but it's fine where it is. Paint is beautiful! Looks black from a distance, but up close (or outside) it is a light blue sparkle (Gunmetal). WARNING! Gunmetal blue is not a "ghetto hooked-up hoopty" car sparkle finish. It is a work of art. Like I said earlier, it does wonders with maple fingerboard.

It's a work of art. No careless handling here. It makes me cry when I see a guitar that has been abused and dropped religiously and purposely. All hardware is spotless. This M-II is 10 years and as new condition. MINT, MINT! No signs of finish wearing anywhere!

Called ESP to verify the date my M-II was manufactured and didn't get far. They didn't keep records that far back. Oh well, I'll call in a little while and maybe get someone different. Something I always do. They picked up within two rings and answered my battery of questions with confidence. Extremely pleased.

Played 12 years now. Own a nuts didj. Guitars. Drums. Studio. Yada yada. I can't imagine it being gone. It resides in an ESP hard case next to my bed. Seriously. Every morning I wake up I walk over it to the b-room and feel satisfied about it. I wish Kylie Minogue would be mine forever. And a little while after. Some more... mmmmm

PLAY IN PEACE

Guitar is ESP M-II Deluxe (Standard series) probably made in 02-03. 24 Jumbo frets, one volume, 3-way toggle, H-H conf, ESP stock pickups: LH-200. Body is alder, neck is maple and fingerboard is rosewood. Bolt-on construction, scale 25.5", tuners are Gotoh. And Orginal Floyd Rose. Included a hard ESP case and tools.

Im playing metal, shredding, rock, whatever you name it! This baby fits style to style! With stock PU's it doesnt get noisy... With bridge PU sound is clear and sharp, when both bridge and neck is on the sound is round and clear. When your putting the neck on its creamy, round and little bit mushy.. But i like it!
But i think that im going to change to EMG's 81 and 85, when i get mony for that ;).

Well i didnt get it from a factory. Byed it from a music store in Finland. Action was really low, just the way i like it! PUs were adjusted good. Set-up was SUPERB! This baby can get really low! No flaws noticed. And keeps in tune 100%!!!

Of cource this will manage live playing! It will last! Strap buttons are really solid! but gonna still put there locking strap. I can depend on it 100%. I dont think it needs backup, but if you have one spare put it along, but ya wont need it :). This guitar is realible situation and situation, are you playing live or studio!

If i get any troubles with guitar i go back to the store and they will do customer support..

I have played 4? years now. I have owned difrend guitars in that time: Tokai Les Paul, Washburn, Ibanez JCRG5(yes that, but it wasnt for me, neck was too thin and i didnt like the "cold" touch). And now i have founded it! M-II just kick asses of them all! If it were stolen or lost, i would buy it back!

I love the D neck, the warm feeling.. and its beautifull.

If you need little bit thicker neck guitar and dont want to buy Fender ect. Buy ESP and you are on ur way! Fantastic VALUE!

Japanese, probably made in 1995, 24 frets. With original Floyd Rose. One volyme knob, 3-way switch, no tone. Simply everything you'll need for a metal guitar.

I play metal, and this guitar is a perfect metal guitar. Sound is rich and not muddy at all. For both of our albums all guitars were recorded with this guitar... I've changed the diMarzio PU's that were installed to this guitar when I bought it, to EMG 81 and EMG SA. They work great with this guitar. Nowadays I use ENGL Fireball amplifier and which ever effects I desire. Previously I had a Rocktron Chameleon 2000 pre-amp/fx and a Tubeworks 2x250W poweramp. With ENGL:s incredible versatility and this guitars great microphones I can get great clean sounds, warm bluesy kind of overdrive, tons of distortion for rhythm and soaring leads.

I bought this used, so I haven't go a slightest idea how the factory set-up was, but this guitar has had harsh users before me. It was in terrible condition, maybe thats why it was so cheap. With little adjusting and repair it's now my main guitar.

I've never had any problems with this guitar. Amplifiers have broken, strings cut, but ESP never does.

I have never used ESPs own customer support so I don't know.

I've played for about 13 years, I've had about 15 different guitars and this is the one I never have sold. I have owned it from 1997. If this guitar were stolen I'll send hitmen to get those thieves :). And then I'd order a custom M-II from ESP...

my main guitar is a 1995-96 m-II deluxe. its a japanese model with a duncan distortion pick-up at the bridge and a duncan hot rail at the neck. features are not overly abundant. if you like to play many different styles with one guitar then you should probably check out the ESP eclipse or a PRS Guitar. if you play rock or metal than this guitar is a dream come true. it only has a volume knob and a three-way toggle switch. no tone knob. (but what true rocker really needs one?)

this is the perfect instrument for high-gain applications. Trust me, I would know being a rock/metal guitarist for almost 14 years. I am currently using a marshall valvestate II head, a marshall 4 x 12 cabinet with celestion vintage 30's on top and celestion g12h-100's on the bottom. as far as effects go, i use a zoom 505II effects box and a DOD equalizer. The only overdrive i use is built into the amp. It is a little on the noisy side but thats the way the ball bounces when you have a lot of gain. I also have to pull back on the treble to keep it from getting to bright. I am pretty sure it is because of the pick-ups i use. But beside that this guitar running through this rig is just intense. It has more growl than a pride of lions and more rumble than a fleet of mack trucks. Every body in my band loves it to
death. artificial harmonics- no problem, bone-jarring power chords-no problem, and the ability to punch through on solos- no problem.

Since i bought this guitar used on e-bay, i had to adjust the set-up a little. but besides that it is a great guitar. I trusted the quality of the guitar because i own another ESP that i bought new ten years ago. I have been to hell and back with the first one and it still plays great. but make no mistakes, the m-II i bought was in almost showroom condition. the frets look as if it had been hardly ever played. it is a joy to play.

ESP's are the Honda's of the guitar world. You get many years of playing satisfaction with a minimum of problems. If you want
problems, buy an ibanez (see "junk" in the dictionary) or a B.C. Rich.
would I use it on-stage without a back-up? no, but anyone that would gig without a back up guitar is not in a good band. After all, strings
break and i would rather grab another guitar then take a 5-10 minute break to change a string and re-tune. However my back-up is also an ESP.

never had a problem with it- couldnt tell you anything usefull here.

I would probably put a Mafia contract out on the person who stole this guitar. i love it. I have played alot of guitars before, but nothing comes close to the way this one plays or sounds. It is a rock guitarist's dream come true.

First of all, I had been saving money to buy this guitar for years... It's not that I'm Kirk Hammet's biggest fan (not even close), but I have to admit that this guitar was beautiful from the first moment I saw it. Mind you, I wouldn't buy it if it wasn't any good. The only disadvantage that I saw in that guitar was the fact that it had a rail pick-up in the neck, instead of a humbucker; you see, I already had a Ibanez RG470 with PU configuration H/S/H, so I developed a lot of my style around the neck humbucker. But after awhile, ESP started making these guitars with an humbucker at the neck, so there was no sweat. The pickups are from Seymour Duncan ('59 and JB). I found that the EMG pickups weren't tha versatile. The bridge is an ORIGINAL Floyd Rose (I've decided to change my licensed Floyd Rose bridge on the Ibanez to an origianl one, so you can see that there's nothing better). The PU switch was a three-way one, and that's my only complaint: I'm used to change selections a lot and it's not on the easiest position to reach. It has no tone dial, but since never used it, I couldn't care less. Othere than the switch, the features are perfect.

I play a lot of different styles and surprisingly, this guitar that everyone thinks immediately as a Heavy Metal guitar, can cover them all. Of course, I use it with a Boss GT-5 multi-effects processor.
I found that the Seymour Duncan pickups are noisier that the DiMarzio's that I have on the Ibanez, but they aren't that loud. The general tone of the PUs is great, although I would like some more definition in the neck PU. I have no shitty sound, in any of the selections, no matter how hard I try (of course, that was never a main goal of mine).
A person may think that the guitar won't have a versatile sound just because it doesn't have a tone dial, but I found that to be false.
I just think that the 3-way selector switch is not enough. I'm used to change the sound by changing from series, parallel and single-coil connections and I think the volume dial could be one of those dials that pop up to give you another 3 different selections.

I found the action of the guitar great right from the factory, and I have never touched it.
The neck pickup had to be better connected, but it's a perfect excusable mistake, when you're manufacturing guitars in series.
There no flaws whatsoever on the guitar.

I'm no Jimi Hendrix, so I won't burn this one on stage, and I'm not the Incredible Hulk, so I don't think this guitar is going to break during a song, live.
I play somedays 4 hours straight in a row, so I sweat a little, and while the guitar is a little dirty (I have to clean it, by the way), the paint is still there.
Anyone that has more than one guitar should bring at least two to a live show, but I guess I could use it without a backup.

I've been play for 7 years now, and I gotta tell you, this guitar is not a single-minded as it seems! You can play any style with this guitar. I have read some of the reviews of people saying the guitar doesnt give them the sound and tone that they want, but that's solely from lack of trying or lack of imagination. The playability is great, the looks are great, the sound is great, the electronics are great, the guitar sounds great even when it is unplugged. You definitely won't sound as Metallica, if that's what you're afraid of.

First off I want to begin by saying ESP is way too proud of their product, this guitar wasnt worth half of the 1400 book value. But as long as "Kirk" continues to endorse them, kids will keep buying them. Mine was a 95 M2 deluxe with an original Floyd, Duncan JB in the bridge and a Duncan cool rail in the neck. It had quality componets on it but I never could seem to coax the right sound out of it.

Very uninspiring guitar to play. I used it with a 70 Super Reverb, ADA-MP1, Alesis Quadraverb and some misc pedals, this guitar had no excuse. To make a long story short, my Fender AMSTD Strat and 80's Jap Charvel chewed it up, so I dumped it on Ebay to collect some of my loss.

Heres where I'll give ESP some credit, the finish on this guitar was an excellent green/black/tan Python skin design, and it was stunning, and unfortunatly thats what sold me on the guitar.

It never broke, but then again I only had it a couple of years

My ESP M-II was made in Japan in 1996. 24 jumbo frets, alder body, maple neck/w rosewood fretboard.
The electronic is passive : one humbucker for the bridge and one hot-rails for the neck. The selector is a 3-way and the only control is a volume one. I've changed the pickups in 1998: an EMG 81 for the bridge and and EMG SA for the neck. I've also installed a tone control.
The bridge is a Floyd Rose original and the tuners are non-locking.

Frist, i have to say that the sound of my model is very bright so I can't use an amp like a Marshall: I use Mesa Boogie DC5. The sound of the original pickups was pretty good for clean tones. This guitar isn't good for blues tones. In distortion tones, the sound of the bridge pickup is really good (not muddy at all): this guitar is designed for metal! I've installed different pickups (EMG) : I wanted to reinforce the capacity of this guitar in distortion. I think that it was a good operation. I also have to say that the rhythm metal sound isn't as good as the solo one (this is the problem of all guitar which have got floyd rose...).

The action was really bad when I bought this guitar but the pickups were pretty good adjusted.

i've had my m-II for about five years and have never had big problems with it. I've just had a problem with the gig-bag in 1998: my guitar was shocked but it wasn't a disaster because it's a very strong guitar. Except whith the floyd rose (this type of tremolo make me crazy...), I didn't have any surprise with this guitar, so I always use it on a gig without a backup.

Never have to repair it.

I think that's a good guitar. It's a good one for "soloist" guitarists who like metal and who have an amplifier which isn't a Marshall (or other like that). If you want to have a huge rhythm sound, buy an anothoner model whith a fixed bridge. In the 2001 models, I saw that the stock pickups were EMG: I think that's a really good idea.

Not much to mess with on stage. Just a Volume and a 3 way switch... Thats all you need pretty much... I mainly use my Bridge for soloing and my Neck for rythem... Kick ass low end... and Awesome high end for soloing...

Ive tried every possiable tuning on it... Its possibally the best guitar to tune down... The stock pickups handle the low end like a charm... my guitar is tuned Fullstep down Drop C... (Essecentially drop D droped down a full step) Ive had it at standered and half step down to.. and it sounded awesome...

The whole thing was perfect... my finish has a few dents and paint chips.. thats just cause i beat the shit outta my guitars.. i play alot on stage... little green spotting on the neck.. beyond that... its perfect... in every way... If your a beginer... dont get this guitar though.. The floyd rose is to much for ya to handle... but the action on it is sweet... The guitar is built for lead

I always have a backup guitar handy... but its collecting dust.. heh.. Broken a string once on stage.. and i had to go to my backup.. but thats about it.. but the strings were 3 weeks old... (CHANGE YOUR STRINGS OFTEN!!! NO MATTER WHAT THE AX!!!)if i have a problem with my sound... its usually my cables or efx... never had a problem wiht the guitar it self

Never delt with em.. life time warrenty.. so its a good guitar

I bought the guitar brand new.. I just wish the guitar would have a cup holder so i could get a drink of water on stage.. hehe... but no guitar comes with that.. gotta install that your self... but its a definate buy if your looking for a reliable guitar... This is the ax... its pretty much a metal guitar... the clean tone isnt so hot if your into alot of clean playing.. I mellow it out with a light chorus.. but the distorted tone is unmatched (specially through my 5150)..

This is a follow up review and also a response to Dave's review. First of all i've had my m-II for about five years and have never had a problem with it. I do play every day so it's not because it's been babied. Also when I got my guitar the setup was perfect, it never went out of tune (still doesn't) and the tuners feel perfect. You might want to talk to where you got your guitar dave and see if they ripped you off or not because the guitar you are describing is not the same one I purchased. I also know a lot of other people with esp's and they all have nothing but praise for their instruments also

Probably made in Japan in 1999. It has got 24 frets, one volume and a three way selector. A humpucker plus a single pickup, were talking basic here. But this is good cause the money are spent on making a killer guitar and not so much on extras. The stock pickups were ESP's own, the single is a hotrail, I changed the humbucker for an EMG 81, thinking about changing the Hotrail for an EMG S, not sure about this yet do.
The body is alder, shaped as a strat, medium weight. I got it in transparent red, beautiful guitar I must say.
The bride is floyd rose.

What a sound, I only have a practice amp(getting a new as soon as possible), but I tryed this baby through a marshall amp at the store, and I couldnt ask for more. Its perfect for rock and heavy, and I believe it can handle some more quiet songs to, especially if you change the hotrail for an EMS S.
You cant do much with the sound caus it has no tone knob and only two pickups, but who needs more when the settings it does have are great.
I love it all the way.

What can I say, got it, played it loved it, no settings needs adjustment. I would recomend changing the pickup in the bridge though, that didnt sound too good.
No flaws in the guitar, it is a sheer beauty.

Trust it like nothing you have trusted before. Remember backup though in case of a string should happend to break.

No idea.

This guitar is all I have been waiting for, I would how ever liked a double humbucker system, but this is great as well.
If anyone should steel it, I would absolutely get another one, then I would kill the fucker with the neck of the guitar...