ESP M-II Deluxe

1995, Japanese. I bought it new in 2000 (N.O.S.) from Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center. 24 jumbo frets, alder body, maple neck/w rosewood fretboard. S/H pickup config (bridge is Seymour Duncan JB, neck is ESP Rails Humbucker in Single-coil housing). Passive electronics (1 vol, 3-way). Super-strat shape, reverse headstock. Wide/thin neck. Abalone dot inlays, "ESP" on 12th fret. Floyd Rose ORIGINAL tremelo (not a licensed copy). Black hardware. I got it with a TKL Deluxe Case, Whammy Bar, Some Allen wrenches, and a free set-up. It's not particularly versatile- it only has 1 vol and no tone. But it does what it does very well.

I love the tone, perfect rock tone. I'm going thru a 5150 and a nice rack full of crap. ;) Very bright sound, perfect for hard rock/metal like I play (my benchmarks for tone are Criss Oliva from Savatage and Wilton/DeGarmo from Queensryche). Clean sounds are good in either the middle selector or the neck, bridge isn't cool. But it's perfect for metal/hard rock like I said.

The workmanship is great, I got the setup for free, very low and buzz free. Yummy.

I rely on my ESP Viper all the time, no prob with this I can see. I will be using the Viper as a backup because it's well.. a good backup guitar. It isn't my main guitar because it doesn't have a floyd, but oh well.

I don't know. i don't generally deal with companies, just my store. Go tim and phil @ WMC! This rating is just for the store.

I saw it at the store, it's a blowout sale on all the old ESP M-II and M-II deluxes since the new (crappy) ones are out now. Amazing axe if you can find one.

Made in Japan(all ESP Guitars is japanese).Made in 97.Single Esp on neck and HUmbicker esp on bridge.Floyd rose brige, black finish.24 extra jumbo frets, dots*** are mother-pearl and have the ESP logo on the 12 fret.Placed emg-81 in the brigge and EMG-S on the neck.3 way position, 1 volume.I placed a button near of volume to shut-of one bobine from EMG-S(sounds like stratocaster single coil).Maple neck and alder body.***:custom shop:skulls and croosbones inlays.

Sounds is realy like.I changed the pickups because i like emg, but original sounds is fucking cool(the neck pickp is IMO).Sounds like metallica.

Black finish, normal guitar.

Noirmal

this guitars is fucking cool

I got mine with a SD Screamin' Demon in the bridge and the standard ESP hotrails in the neck position. Floyd Rose double-locking trem (as on all my guitars). One volume. 3-way switch. It's about as plain jane as you can get with more than one pick-up. The neck is ultra-thin and ultra-fast. I can see why the guys from Metallica and Queensryche use these guitars.

I love this guitar. With the SD in the bridge, this thing packs TONS of punch. Great for that 80's metal sound. If you use the middle switch, it gives you that warm growl of today's bands with still tons of punch. It's not so great for classic rock but who would want to play classic rock through this monster?!! Even without a tone knob, it still sounds pretty sweet clean with a little chorus and delay.

Allegedly, this guitar was set-up by the same guy who sets up Kirk Hammet's guitars and, to be honest, it shows. The action is right down to the frets without any buzz. The pick-ups are in the right positions and the Floyd Rose just can't fall out of tune. I've left a set of GHS Boomers on it for over 6 months and it still stays in tune, right out of the case.

The only problem I've had with this guitar is the volume knob came loose once...but that's happened to me with every guitar I've owned. I keep a back-up handy but that's only for breaking a string (hey, it's a Floyd Rose, they sound great but chaning a string is a b*tch).

I've got a very long story about how I got this guitar which I'll be happy to share upon request but all I have to say is, these guys were great in helping me get my guitar. I haven't had to deal with them since but just knowing the support I got in getting it made it all worth while.

You can't touch this guitar for speed and punch. Granted, it doesn't have the versatility of a Fender Strat or get that classic Les Paul sound, but that ain't what I'm after. I'm after a hard, growl, punchy sound and this beauty delivers.

Almost as basic as guitars come. Only guitars simpler are Marty Friedman's Jackson and Dino Cavares' Ibanez. Two pickups-humbucker at the bridge, single at the neck. Volume knob and 3-way switch. The stock pickups are weak, so I got and recomend EMG's. Floyd Rose bridge. Locking nuts of course. Maple neck through alder body. Rosewood fretboard. Reverse and tilted headstock with volute (hump behind the nut). Thats all. Lower score just cause its basic-but basic is good.

One word-bichin'. Fits my style perfect. I wired the EMG 81 and S to run off of 18 volts instead of 9. Its hard to fit 2 9 volts in to that cavity. Very hot, bright sound. The 81 is terrible for clean, but just flip the switch and perfect clean tones. Lots of good overtones from this fine piece of wood. Crunch tones just cut through the mix. Yet very articulated. Wood doesn't vibrate a helluva lot after you mute the strings, but the virtue of neck-thru construction gives you sustain like none other. I added another trem spring cause I like the stiff bar feel, and I play 10-52's tuned 1/2 step down.

Set-up is easy. No real neck/truss adjusting is needed. ESP's necks are so perfectly flat that there is little or no buzzing with low ass action even with huge strings. Extra jumbo frets almost give a scalloped neck feel. Adjustments are easy with this machine. I keep my pickups fairly low, like a mm under string for the 81, and a little lower-like neck height. The only problem with it was the single coil tended to creep upward if I played extremely hard. Eventually if not adjusted would fret out. Easy fix though-just set where you like and put a dot of super glue at each screw.

Its built to last, thats why pro's use em. I use Dunlop straplocks so the instrument is firmly attached to me. The finish itself is so thick that if you scratch it, you can buff it out so its un-noticable. Why need a backup with such a fine ax. I only use a second guitar for alternate tunings-soon to be a proud owner of an LTD M-207.

ESP was easy to work with, but now that they underwent managment changes, they are a bitch to deal with now. Its taken almost 2 months to get my 207, and its on backorder right now. Be instock in 2-3 weeks.

I've been playing for about 6 years. Doesn't sound long, but I'm only 17 now so it is. Hadn't touched a guitar until I started taking lessons. I teach now at the same store, started that last spring. Not many other guitar get close to this. I've played most of everything. PRS-don't have features or tone like an ESP. Ibanez-makes mostly beginning guitars. Only the Satch models came close, but those are only 22 frets. That and a Universe. Jackson-if I didn't play an ESP, I'd have a Jackson. They are the closest in my mind. BC Rich-Haven't played any high end BC's, but they seem average. Gibson/Fender-don't even touch, cause they aren't worth my time. Schecter-too odd of a feel. Samick-beginner guitars. Peavey Wolfgang-too small of a guitar, too mellow of a guitar. Parker-cool cleans, but crunch an feel of guitar are too wierd. Thats about it.

1997 m2 deluxe made in japan (as are all other esp guitars) custom shop exempt. 24 fret bolt-on. one volume, three way selector. changed pickups to (duncan) screamin' demon (bridge), and hot rails (neck). alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. super, extra, mega, jumbo frets. a little too big in my opinion. floyd rose joke of a tremolo, and 25 1/2" scale neck.

originally, when i got this guitar, it had a floating bridge, and stock pickups. the thing would not ever stay in tune, and the pickups were dull, and just plain awful sounding. i fixed that with some duncans. i blocked the tremolo (the right way, not with a quarter) and that gave it about 10 billion times the sustain. now, it's got a good rock tone. if you're into an 80's cover band, this thing does great. it's really trebly though; i run through a marshall jcm-800, and turn my treble down to about 3. that gives it a thick, chunky sound.

the tuning pegs are the 10 for a dollar "blue light special" pieces of crap. i don't see how they got away with that one...despite the lousy componants, the finish was fine, and the setup was good. they put the volume pot in the worst place imaginable!!! it gets in the way of the tremolo, muting especially, and that eddie van halen tremolo fan picking thing. i had to move it!!

the thing is good sounding (now), but don't take it on the road without a spare!!!! a few of the saddles are sticking on my bridge. it takes big tools and lots of time to change my strings. the volume and pickup selector i ended up tearing out and getting new ones that didn't break every 4 seconds. when i first got this thing, the neck moved from side to side!!!!!! at least they gave me a new neck..

i got a one year warranty with it. they must have known it would die after that time. i had it repaired at the custom shop in hollywood (several times) they are bastards to deal with!!! they do good work, but it's impossible to get them to do anything extra.

with all the work i've done to it ($350) worth, it's a great guitar, but you don't get them that way!!!!!!! stock, they're just garbage-- the equivelant to a $500 jackson. the rating for the guitar with all the stuff i've done to it is 7.5..

I have had my ESP for aprroximately 7 years now and it has not let me down once. I like the other reviews belive that the EMG is the way to go. I had an EMG 81 installed in the dual coil position, and left the seymor duncan in the forward single coil. I have the 24 fret Mad Bomber edition. I wish I had a picture to show you, whoever this Eddie Meeks guy is that is on the paint job should win a medal. All I have is the One volume knob and one 3 way pickup switch but that is all I need. I have a maple neck and think it meshes awesome with the paint job. I have never seen a guitar stay in tune better. (other than dad's 57' Strat) I even use Peavy Balanced 8's on it and it stays in tune. I have owned an '85 Strat, A '90 hammer (fogot model), and a Dean Mach 5 and this one tops the list.

I play mostly heavy stile lead, but in recent months have been exploring more things like the red hot chili peppers and alot more old rock like Boston and Kansas. I even jam some stuff like 7 mary 3 and Barenakedladies and it keeps up without a hitch. I typicaly run it through a small crate practice amp, A boss metal zone distortion pedal, and an ART FX-1 (recently broke after 6 years of abuse). I also know this setup is kind of weak but I have my reasons. (hint $$$). So far the only trouble I have had with sound is it cuts out on ocasion but that is blamed on the folks who installed my pickup. It is not an original problem.

The action on this guitar has not changes since I bought it. I took a quick measurement with a ruler (no micrometer handy) and the high E at the 24th fret is 1/16th of an inch. The low E is 1/8th of an inch. It is defanatly a lead players best bet. The only problem I found with it so far was the nut on the input jack came loose once.

The only hardware problem is that the knobs on the floyd rose are losing color. I am seening shiny gold color where it use to be black. And as stated before the only reliability question (cuts out once in a while) is an aftermarket pickup instilation.

Have not yet dealt with the company but they have a pretty cool webpage.

I have been playing for about 10 years, The only gear I have right now is the before mentioned Metal Zone and ART FX-1. Unless you count the Korg GT-3 Guitar tuner (flawless).

Basic...simple...love it. It's a neck-thru, so the sustain is great. Locking nut with Floyd Rose bridge. I love the fact that I can bend the piss out of the strings and it'll stay in tune. But then again, the Floyd is a pain to tune and set up. The neck is made for fast playing-24 frets and easy access to all of them! I put in EMG pickups cause the stock's were weak. They are one EMG-81 and one EMG-S. I definately recommend upgrading, or ordering the guitar with them. As far as controls go, agin simple. One volume pot, and a 3-way toggle. oh, and the fretboard/headstock are bound with a white strip.

Sounds wonderful. Like I said, the stock pickups were weak. So get EMG's! Its definitely a metal/rock guitar. Kirk Hammett of Metallica play one like mine. Nuff said. Tone wise, it suits a lead player better, really bright tone. but because of the lack of tone controls, you get what the guitar is, not sugar coating the real thing. I played directly from the guitar to a power amp, and it sounds beautiful, so not a lot of EQ is needed. There's no buzz or static, but thats a result of the EMG's.

Action wasn't factory done, I had the place I bought it at hook me up. I keep it low, really low. The finish is metallic red, so it can't really be bad looking as far as finish. It came perfect in almost everyway.

This guitar is a tank. Its got some weight, unlike say a Ibanez S-series or a Parker Fly. I like that quality. Lets ya fell the guitar while performing. The only problems I had were the saddle poles kept on getting stuck from tighting them too much while changing strings.

Never dealt with them, but I've heard that ESP gives lifetime warrenty. Shows how reliable the AXE is.

Overall, this guitar's a keeper. The price is really high, but thats because of the features like the neck-thru, binding, custom shop, and pickups all add up. the basic ESP is like $1500, but all the good ones are more. I think its because ESP uses better wood for construction.

1994 Model made in Japan, but is extremely well put together, 24 Jumbo frets that are as sweet as. Solid black finish w/ one stock ESP humbucker in the bridge and one rails neck p/up. The stock bridge p/up was fine but I put in a Duncan JB and it sounds a lot better. The neck p/up is average though, I feel a real humbucker would sound a lot better. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, which is nice and thin (not as good as an Ibanez wizard IMHO) and it has been finished in a nice oil finish. The body is your stock standard downsized super strat and is ultra light. There is an original floyd and gotoh tuners. Its your same old stock standard thing that could probably be improved by another volume knob for the neck p/up (there's only one) and a neck humbucker.

This guitar kicks ass for metal or hard rockin type stuff. If your looking for something versatile look elsewhere. While not huge on sustain it does and adequate job and the tones are somewhat dark.

This guitar was set up great. The action while not super low was good enough. the only bitch I have about the way the guitar was set up was that the bridge humbucker was too low. Other than that the paint work is excellent.

In the 3 years I have owned it I have only had one broken string and I am a pretty heavy picker. The finish is still as good as the day I bought it (thanks to regular polishing with car polish)

It's been made in Japan, in 1998. 24 HUGE frets. Solid top. No tone pot, only a volume and a 3-way toggle switch. H-H PU config. They are the stock ESP LH-200 pickups (see my review of that in the pickup section) Passive electronics. Neck: quartersawn maple. body: alder. Finish: Metallic purple. Body style: Super-strat. The bridge is an original floyd-rose. The tuners are non locking gotoh tuners. The neck is BIG!! it isn't only fat, it's also large. The neck gets better after the 12th fret, where it feels more like an Ibanez Wizard neck. Despite the fact that it's not an Ultra-thin neck, it plays wonderful. I got the solid case and some trem tools.

I play 80's shred metal and some progressive rock/metal. I'm using no effects at all. It is the most quiet guitar I've ever played with. The sound is damn balanced, it produces the full spectrum very well. Sounds a little bright...but I like it! Overall, the sound is tight, focused but also really open at the same time. I never thought the guitar itself could make such a difference.

The factory setup was ok. The pickups were a little low and the action was too high for me. The guitar is simply perfect! The fretwork is awesome. I had all my bugs fixed by a setup at the local shop.
I could shave with the finish...is so darn nice!!
The action could be a little better without buzzing for the price I paid....so I give it a 9.

This guitar could withstand anything! But I'm by no means going to put it through the test! The hardware is fine..the floyd is really hard to detune. The strap buttons are ok. I would never gig without a backup! And yes I can depend on it...ESP guitars are tough.

There's a lifetime warranty, but you have to leave the guitar stock. This sucks horse. They are really friendly but their policy sucks.

I've been playing for 5 years now. I would probably buy it again if it was stolen...I will NEVER LOOSE this thing! I love everything, it's a great guitar. No downfall at all.
ESP reputation is there to proove they're the best rock-guitar makers in the world.
Next guitar: Tom Anderson Drop Top....it's the only thing better than this ESP IMHO...but I wouldn't even touch the anderson, that's why I chose the ESP.