ESP vs LTD - a comparison of 3 guitars

[darkandrew]

I recently posted that I had picked up a LTD M403HT superstrat from eBay and I thought I'd post some brief comparisons between this, my LTD elite Eclipse and my ESP standard series Eclipse, and the work I've done to it since buying it. Now, I know the M403 and the Eclipses are very different guitars but by comparing them it is still possible to gain a bit of an insight into the difference between a full-fat ESP, a top-of-the-range LTD and a mid-range LTD.

 

First off, the general build quality of both Japanese built Eclipses is identically excellent, the hardware is identical (Gotoh bridge and locking tuners, hand-cut bone nut) however the fretboard binding on the LTD elite was a little too angular but nothing that 2 minutes with a cloth and some rubbing compound couldn't fix. The other, and probably biggest difference, is that the body shape of the LTD elite is slightly different, adhering to the 3 knob and shorter bottom horn variation of the American model rather than the traditional Les Paul format found on export models - I assume that having just one body type saves production costs for the LTD but other than this there are no other signs of cost cutting. It's probably worth noting also that the LTD elite range only lasted for about a year before it was superseded by the E-II range. It would be interesting to compare the LTD elite with a Korean built EC1000 to see how they compare.

 

Moving on to the Korean made, mid-range LTD M403 now: hardware-wise it has Seymour Duncan pickups all round - a pair of STK S4s in the neck and middle positions, and a Custom 5 in the bridge. The tuners are Grover non-locking tuners, the bridge is a decent copy of a Hipshot hard-tail and the nut is a similarly decent copy of a Graphtec graphite enriched moulded plastic nut; obviously using non-branded hardware for the bridge and a moulded nut are 2 ways to keep costs down but they seem to be decent enough quality, so all's good so far. However, build quality and finish was a bit hit and miss. The pickups didn't align properly with the strings - the middle pickup was slightly slanted and not parallel to its route, the pickups where packed with foam behind them and without springs, and the nut was playable but cut too high for my tastes and was also slightly wider than the neck so that the edge could be felt overhanging the neck slightly. Finally, the binding on the fretboard was very square and a bit uncomfortable. One last thing, the pickup combination also struck me as an odd choice, with the two S4s being hugely overpowered by the much hotter Custom 5 in the bridge. Anyway, apart from that, it was all fine! Now don't misunderstand me, the M403 was not as bad as all that sounds and is a fine everyday guitar but you could feel the difference in the finish and attention to detail when compared to the LTD elite and ESP.

 

Now here's a good question - with time, effort and some experience of this sort of thing, is it possible to make a mid-price guitar play like a top-of-the-range one? So with that in mind, I set about addressing all the little niggles with the LTD M403 - plugged and re-drilled the holes for the pickup screws, fitted springs under the S4s to work alongside the foam to keep the pickups better supported and aligned, trimmed and re-finished the nut, rolled the fretboard binding, swapped the Custom 5 for a TB59 for a better tonal and volume balance between the pickups, and gave the guitar a damn-good setup. Two weeks later and it's all done, but is it now as good as the other two more expensive guitars? I would love to say "yes" but the real answer is going to have to be "nearly". It's a huge improvement over how it was "out of the box" but the Japanese made Eclipses still have the edge, but bearing in mind that full-fat ESPs now retail for over £2000 and E-IIs for around £1800, I'd say that the Korean LTD, with a street price of around £600 offers fantastic value for money and a good base to build on if you have the time and patience to tweak it a little.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2019 by darkandrew

[darkandrew]

I've got to say, I'm really loving these Seymour Duncan STK-S4s; all the benefits of a humbucker (which technically they are) but with the tone of a single coil. I've always been wary of single coils due to their inherent noise but these are absolutely noiseles. Thoroughly recommended.

Edited March 29, 2019 by darkandrew