LTD Elite Series???

[baron55]

Brad, does that mean that if you walk into an ESP dealer this year, you won't see any ESPs? Meaning, will the Signature guitars still be in stock or done on a per-order basis instead?

I'm not Brad, but not all of the ESP standard line is being killed. Most of it is, and what's left is mostly black except for the Eclipse II, lol.

From another forum, here are the models that are NOT discontinued:

Eclipse II FR: BK
Eclipse II STD: ACSB, BLKAQ, SSB, SSP, SW, VB
Horizon FR-II: RDB, STR
Horizon NT-II: DBSB
Horizon 27FR: BK
Horizon HRF: BK
Horizon NT-7: BK
Horizon FR-7: BK
M-II NTB: BK
M-II Maple: BK

Yep I have also had two other dealers confirm this, as well. One had been a ESP dealer for over 20 years.

 

[JerEvil]

I just lost all interest in ESPs. If these are basically Edwards guitars as has been stated, they are not fully made in Japan and are not made at the same factory that the ESP standard line guitars were made. Unless they changed that especially for this line which I seriously doubt.

I have an Edwards Snapper and it is great but would not have paid $1300-$1500 for it whatsoever. Glad I didn't.

I think this is a terrible idea. LTD has been in the marketplace for well over a decade and has been established as a mid and lower level brand. Taking the ESP name off of the majority of the line will devalue it significantly to most consumers. Throwing LTD on it lowers it right off the bat just by rules of the market.

It will also have a buch of butt nuggets trying to inflate prices of similar model ESPs on the used market.

 

[King Guitar]

IMO LTD doesn't have the best rep for building guitars, despite building them in Japan now, or this limited edition, it would be one thing if they did this from the start, but now it's taken a beating, but lets build them in Japan now with quality? Hmmmm
That said, I'm still going to buy one.
Brad when you have the snapper lemme know.
Or start a list for people who want them?
Also their going to offer some of these with an ebony board?
Ibanez doesn't even offer an ebony board so IMO it's win win.

I can start taking orders for these now and they will begin shipping early Feb.

MSRP is $2350 and MAP is $1399

They just have maple and rosewood boards, No ebony.

Description:

The LTD ELITE ST-1 (Duncan) and LTD ELITE ST-1 (EMG) both employ bolt-on construction at 25.5” scale, and have alder bodies with natural binding. These guitars feature high-end appointments including quilted maple tops, Gotoh tuners, and Floyd Rose bridges. The ST-1 (Duncan) comes with Seymour Duncan JB (bridge) and Classic Stack Plus (middle and neck) pickups, a maple fingerboard, chrome hardware, and choices of Aqua Marine and See Thru Black Cherry finishes. The ST-1 (EMG) offers EMG 81 (bridge) and SA (middle and neck) active pickups, with rosewood fingerboard, black hardware and a See Thru Black finish.

 

[King Guitar]

I just lost all interest in ESPs. If these are basically Edwards guitars as has been stated, they are not fully made in Japan and are not made at the same factory that the ESP standard line guitars were made. Unless they changed that especially for this line which I seriously doubt.

I have an Edwards Snapper and it is great but would not have paid $1300-$1500 for it whatsoever. Glad I didn't.

I think this is a terrible idea. LTD has been in the marketplace for well over a decade and has been established as a mid and lower level brand. Taking the ESP name off of the majority of the line will devalue it significantly to most consumers. Throwing LTD on it lowers it right off the bat just by rules of the market.

From what I understand they want guitars with the ESP name on the peg head to be the best of the best and not in the middle. They also want to make the most expensive guitars in the world from the ESP Custom Shop. I am not saying I agree with it but thats my understanding. They are cutting down the ESP line significantly.

 

[raz311]

From my local Aussie ESP dealer. Not sure if this only applies to Export series etc:


- 16 core "ESP Standard" models will remain remaining in the market as "ESP Standard series" (but with a new ESP logo different from current original ESP logo) for one year, within 2013.

- All "Standard Signature models" will be discontinued. Signature models will be available only from "Custom Shop" as "Custom Shop Signature Models".

- Only "Custom shop models", "Original Series" and "Custom Orders" will have the original ESP logo from 2013.

And the plans for 2014 -

- ESP will introduce a new brand name "E-II Standard" to replace current ESP Standard Series. "E-II Standard" will use the same specifications as current ESP Standards; just the logos would be switched over from ESP.

Also confirmed that all productions facilities have been consolidated into one place now.

 

[baron55]

I just lost all interest in ESPs. If these are basically Edwards guitars as has been stated, they are not fully made in Japan and are not made at the same factory that the ESP standard line guitars were made. Unless they changed that especially for this line which I seriously doubt.

I have an Edwards Snapper and it is great but would not have paid $1300-$1500 for it whatsoever. Glad I didn't.

I think this is a terrible idea. LTD has been in the marketplace for well over a decade and has been established as a mid and lower level brand. Taking the ESP name off of the majority of the line will devalue it significantly to most consumers. Throwing LTD on it lowers it right off the bat just by rules of the market.

It will also have a buch of butt nuggets trying to inflate prices of similar model ESPs on the used market.

During Christmas many dealers were blowing out ESP standard series M I and Eclipses for 1200 to 1300 bucks. I picked up a sweet Reindeer Blue Eclipse II for 1250.00

 

[King Guitar]

Brad, does that mean that if you walk into an ESP dealer this year, you won't see any ESPs? Meaning, will the Signature guitars still be in stock or done on a per-order basis instead?

No there is still plenty of ESP guitars from 2012 and before in stock and they will still be making some of the ESP models just much less than they had been. They will be phasing these out in 2013 and focusing on the ESP branded guitars as the best of the best of what they make. They might so something with an alternate ESP logo to differentiate but my understanding is thats what the LTD elites were to be.

 

[beachbum]

Brad, does that mean that if you walk into an ESP dealer this year, you won't see any ESPs? Meaning, will the Signature guitars still be in stock or done on a per-order basis instead?

I'm not Brad, but not all of the ESP standard line is being killed. Most of it is, and what's left is mostly black except for the Eclipse II, lol.

From another forum, here are the models that are NOT discontinued:

Eclipse II FR: BK
Eclipse II STD: ACSB, BLKAQ, SSB, SSP, SW, VB
Horizon FR-II: RDB, STR
Horizon NT-II: DBSB
Horizon 27FR: BK
Horizon HRF: BK
Horizon NT-7: BK
Horizon FR-7: BK
M-II NTB: BK
M-II Maple: BK

Ok cool, that makes more sense and not too bad. People were making it out like the whole line was wiped out.

 

[beachbum]

Ok one more question...If ESP as a company is saving the ESP branding for THE best guitars, does that mean the 2012 and new 2013 Signature ESP models will see a big price hike?

 

[King Guitar]

Here is the real deal...

For 2013 ESP will offer the following...

ESP Signatures:

Kirk Hammett
James Hetfield
Jeff Hanneman
Tom Araya
George Lynch
Alexi Laiho
Stephen Carpenter
Gus G
Will Adler
Michael Paget
Ron Wood
Max Cavalera
Rob Caggiano
Frank Bello
Richard Z
Tommy Stinson

ESP Standard Series

Eclipse II
Horizon
HRF
M-II

LTD Elite

Elite Eclipse-I
Elite Horizon-III
Elite M-II
Elite ST-1
Elite J-4
Elite J-5

Regular LTD and Signature LTD

lots...

 

[King Guitar]

Ok one more question...If ESP as a company is saving the ESP branding for THE best guitars, does that mean the 2012 and new 2013 Signature ESP models will see a big price hike?

It appears that there is a small price hike for the sigs but similar to what they do every year.

 

[DoomBuggi]

I just want to get one of these

 

[beachbum]

Just saw a bunch of them, looks cool and prices seem pretty decent

 

[nwright]

I think it's ridiculous for ESP to think the guitar buying world will want to pay $1300 - $1500 for anything labeled LTD.

Meh, ESP in Japan is purely a custom guitar maker, and I fully support the idea that they cement that idea to the rest of the world. I'm a massive esp fan, but the standard series as it is these days in the US (since the new standards were introduced in the early 00's) IMO is a far cry from what esp truly is.

I wish the Japanese Original series models were what we got in the US as "standards", but considering they are custom shop made, they would still be big money here. We can get them here, but you never see them stocked.

I also read on another forum that the many custom houses for ESP in the Japan are being consolidated, so no more technical house, craft house, kiso shop, etc.

I'm all for it. The standard series US models were pretty much Edwards/ltd quality anyway, so moving them down in price point to save a few hundred bucks makes sense, IMO...in my mind they are just now given a product line and name to match their hierarchy.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this I guess. Why would I pay $500 more for and LTD that plays like an LTD (by your reckoning)?

I would be willing to bet that if you played a current esp standard series to the new ltd elite series you wouldn't be able to tell a difference...they are probably made in the same place, or share more than a few points of creation.

In my mind the end result of the name change is you get USA std series products at a cheaper price point at the expense of the ESP name...only now esp is finally calling a spade a spade by changing the name to ltd elite.

For a company who wants to save their marquis name for the best of their best, it makes sense.

Go to http://www.espguitars.co.jp and check out their original series guitars and their Japanese market sigs...all handmade custom shop creations. THAT is ESP...and it isn't going away. It's being strengthened by removing the black mark that is the us std series...IMHO.

The USA std series are nice guitars, but IMO have always been grossly overpriced Edwards.

 

[JerEvil]

I think it's ridiculous for ESP to think the guitar buying world will want to pay $1300 - $1500 for anything labeled LTD.

Meh, ESP in Japan is purely a custom guitar maker, and I fully support the idea that they cement that idea to the rest of the world. I'm a massive esp fan, but the standard series as it is these days in the US (since the new standards were introduced in the early 00's) IMO is a far cry from what esp truly is.

I wish the Japanese Original series models were what we got in the US as "standards", but considering they are custom shop made, they would still be big money here. We can get them here, but you never see them stocked.

I also read on another forum that the many custom houses for ESP in the Japan are being consolidated, so no more technical house, craft house, kiso shop, etc.

I'm all for it. The standard series US models were pretty much Edwards/ltd quality anyway, so moving them down in price point to save a few hundred bucks makes sense, IMO...in my mind they are just now given a product line and name to match their hierarchy.

We're going to have to agree to disagree on this I guess. Why would I pay $500 more for and LTD that plays like an LTD (by your reckoning)?

I would be willing to bet that if you played a current esp standard series to the new ltd elite series you wouldn't be able to tell a difference...they are probably made in the same place, or share more than a few points of creation.

In my mind the end result of the name change is you get USA std series products at a cheaper price point at the expense of the ESP name...only now esp is finally calling a spade a spade by changing the name to ltd elite.

For a company who wants to save their marquis name for the best of their best, it makes sense.

Go to http://www.espguitars.co.jp and check out their original series guitars and their Japanese market sigs...all handmade custom shop creations. THAT is ESP...and it isn't going away. It's being strengthened by removing the black mark that is the us std series...IMHO.

The USA std series are nice guitars, but IMO have always been grossly overpriced Edwards.

Trust me Nate, I have been on the Japanese site many times. I would love a few models from Japan. Especially the proper Alexi models with the right sized wings.

 

[Metaddict]

Brad, do you know how much the prices will go higher?

 

[King Guitar]

I am trying to get permission from ESP to post prices and descriptions.