ESP PH-600

Brushed aluminum look finish on top and headstock. Black back and neck. Carved top, neck-thru, 'superstrat' shape, maple neck with alder wings, three on a side headstock with volute. Wilkinson trem with Sperzel locking tuners. 24 frets, 25.5" scale, ebony fretboard with binding and no inlays. Three way toggle swithc and master volume/tone moved lower on the body away from the strings. Real Diamarzio pickups: Fast track singlecoil(neck) and Air Zone humbucker (bridge). Made in Korea.

I play a lot of heaver stuff and it has a very full sound. The bridge pick up shines with lots of gain and remains very articulate, chord voicings shine through but the pick attack is almost overpowering. Doesn't muddy up like most high output 'metal' guitars. The neck pickup has a great sound with clean, much lower output than the bridge but allows you to play softer passages by switching pickups, I usually run the neck volume down a bit so it works out. Some people might prefer a different pick up at the neck. Perfect for me.

I got this used so I can't vouch for the factory setup. I changed to 10-52 D'Addarios and lowered the action a bit after setting the trem up for the heavier strings. The fretwork is flawless. Wilkinson bridge is great, sperzel tuners are awesome and those peices are top notch, so the hardware finish is great. Neck and headstock binding is flawless. The finish has one very small flaw that you can feel on the neck and the line where the black back meets the silver top color is irregular in a few spots. Of course on a sub $1000 guitar these are WAY minor, I'm certain that the real ESP Page Hamilton model wouldn't have similar flaws coming from the Japan factory. Nothing takes away from playability though.

Very solid, neck is more substatial feeling than other ESP guitars that I've played. I'd never gig without a backup because of string breakage but I can't imagine another failure that could happen. Upgraded to Schaller style straplocks but the factory strap buttons seemed large enough and solidly attached.

No contact with ESP/LTD.

I've been playing since 1992 and I usually shy away from signature gutiars. I've owned Ibanez, Fender, Gibson, PRS and other guitars and this one is right up there with the best. The Carved top takes some bulk away from the body and it is VERY comfortable to play. The headstock is a bit thicker than most strat style guitars that I've played and I think that adds to the full sound. I decided to buy this because I've realy enjoyed Page's sound over the years. If somebody stole this guitar I'd be on the phone to order an actual ESP model in a heartbeat.