LTD F-100FM Review

The F100FM is a true flame maple top guitar with dual ESP humbuckers, and a Tune-O-Matic bridge that strings thru the body for incredible tone.

Features:	8
Sound:	8
Action:	7.5
Reliability:	8.3
Impression:	8.3
Overall rating:	8
Users rating:	8.6
Comments:	11

Featured review by: unregistered, on may 14, 2007

Price paid: $ 240

Purchased from: Sam Ash (online store)

Features: The LTD F-100FM is a 2006 model. It is a See-Thru Black finish. It is a 25.5" scale with 24 frets. The body is agathis with a flamed maple top. The neck is a maple with a rosewood fretboard. A rare ESP feat. is the raw neck it sports unlike many other 100 series of guitars such as my Viper and my friend's Eclipse which have matching finish necks. The pickups are LH-100 passive pickups. The bridge is a string-thru body, with a tune-o-matic bridge piece. 1 Volume and 1 Tone knob with a 3 way pickup selector. Black hardware. Tuners are unknown to my knowledge. I would assume Standard Grovers or the like. Nothing included besides 2 allen wrenches, one for the truss rod and one for the volume knobs. However there was the boutique 2007 model catalogue included (considering I ordered the guitar this year). // 8

Sound: I play mainly metal. ESP make guitars with a great metal feel to them, so it should be obvious how this one turned out. The tone is perfect for giving me that bite without going over board and tearing it up. The cleans are decent but maybe just a little too much treble. I've adjusted the height of the bridge pickup, but that's the only adjustment I've made yet. The sound overall is really what I was going for. I've been considering throwing a new bridge pickup in, but I'm not going to jump on this decision as there is time to do so. I use a Marshall AVT50 and a Crate GTX15R and my pedalboard consists of a Boss MT-2 and a Dunlop DB-02. I wouldn't take this guitar too far out of the range of metal and hard rock, ESPs don't go too well outside of those genres and I think that's just fine. Overall though, with everything stock this guitar can tear through any crowd if you can play it right. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: The action is fairly good, low like I like it. As mentioned earlier I did adjust the bridge pickup for that extra push in my tone. But otherwise the guitar plays like my others. Perfect. To my knowledge I haven't found a single ding or spot of rust on the wood or hardware. The nut seems a bit askew slanting to the right but causes no problems for the playing. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I don't play live considering my friend and I can't find any other people solid enough in the local area to stick through the rough. I don't see any problems in the future with this guitar. ESPs are tanks all of them, a ding really makes no difference on an ESP. Just don't smash it on stage and you should still get sound out of it. The finish looks like it should be sturdy enough, but then again I like my guitars to have scars. Giving it the image of a long lived Legend. The strap buttons stock I wouldn't trust Live, since I dropped my ex's Epiphone from a bad strap torn loose. When I get more money I plan to by more Schallers. // 9

Impression: For what I play I would say the F-100FM really fits right in my glove. For my 7 years of playing, I've went through Washburn, B.C. Rich, Dean, Ibanez, LTD and Jackson. I like my Randy Rhoads but I just really love my LTD Viper 100-FM, and the F is working it's magic on me as well. These LTDs are just good guitars. The guitar is lighter than my Viper and the raw neck is even nicer. Put some lube on that thing and your fingers will be flying. The raw neck is definitely my favorite feature other than the overall body appearance and the lightweighted-ness of the guitar. I really think this guitar was a perfect match for me and I couldn't have asked for another guitar this time around. Although this will never replace my Viper, this is a great guitar alongside my Viper. Two of the best damn guitars period. If you're looking at buying one, think about it and I would recommend ordering it. Fine built, and well playable. // 9

overall: 7.8

Reviewed by: Cher0keeChi1d, on march 04, 2009

Purchased from: Rick's Music Shop

Features: The LTD F-100FM was made in China. It has 24 jumbo frets, with the model name on the 12th fret. The scale is 25.5''. It has a basswood body, with a maple neck, and a rosewood fretboard. The flamed maple top with a see-thru black finish, makes the guitar very pleasing to the eye. It has a tune-o-matic bridge with string-thru body. The pickups are ESP LH-150 humbuckers, and the hardware is black nickel. // 8

Sound: This guitar is obviously built for heavier rock, which is what I use it for. I only use a Fender G-DEC amplifier with it. It doesn't make very much noise. It's quieter than my other guitars. It has a "punch in the crunch", but clean, it only sounds decent. I've heard countless people say that it sounds much better if you install some EMGs. I may take a little cruise down that road myself. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I'm not much of a mechanic, so I rely on professionals to repair/adjust my guitars for now. The luthier at the local shop did some adjusting to it, but I'm getting some fret buzz on the G and D strings. There's also a little scrape near the pickup selector. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I don't play Live, so I can't say from personal experience, whether it can withstand Live playing or not. I've heard some people say they use it as a backup, though. It seems like it will last a while if you take care of it. You may want to have a backup just in case. // 7

Impression: I've been playing for a few years now. This is a great guitar for someone Who plays heavy rock. I also own an Epiphone SG Special, and a Jackson JS30KV. If this guitar was stolen from me, I would either buy something from the MH series instead, or try a different brand altogether. My favorite thing about this guitar is the shape. It's incredibly pleasing to the eye. I just wish it sounded better clean. // 8

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: PaperStSoapCo, on april 13, 2006

Price paid: $ 295

Purchased from: Sam Ash

Features: // 9

Sound: I play hard rock, metal, light rock, classical, it's pretty good in most areas. Mostly I'm just playing clean and distorted. Nothing special. The pickups are good, not great. All I have is crappy practice amps, but I had the chance to plug into a Peavey. It sounded great. I'd say that it suits most types of music, but is meant for hard stuff. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I think that it was set up pretty well. I did have one problem (buzzing of the first and second strings at the 1st fret), but all I had to do was mess with the trus rod and now its fine. The pickups are good, but my original plan has to Switch them out for something else later on. I don't think I'll need to anytime soon. The other review talked about alot of problems I didn't have and I'm sure not too many others have. Bad luck, don't let that deture you from looking at this guitar. Also, I'd just like to add that if you go from a low tuning to standard you are asking to break a string, it is not a flaw in the guitar itself. I think that would happen with any guitar. I'm tuned down 1 1/2 steps down (C#). I won't break a string just to play in standard. I just move up a few frets. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I think this guitar would be very relieable live. Everything seems built to last. The strap I put on it (PlanetWaves) has not come off once since I put it on the guitar when I got it back in August. I don't think there is a problem there. I don't think you would have to bring a back up, but it would be a good idea to be prepared no matter what guitar you depend on. You never know. // 9

Impression: ESP's are put together very well. I know my next guitar will come from them. But as far as this one goes, it's all looks. You can get the same guitar for cheaper. The LTD F-50 is the same guitar. The stats are all the same. The F-100FM just has the flamed maple finish. So you pay $70 more for a pretty guitar. That doesn't mean this isn't a good guitar. It is a great guitar, but you can get the same body, sound and feel for $225 instead of $295. I didn't mind cause I got a discount. I ended up paying $5 less for the F-100FM. But it's all up to you. I wouldn't have bought it if it was all looks and it is a mean looking guitar, but it is a quality instrument. If you want an ESP, this is a good place to start. I've been playing for about 2 years, and this is my second electric guitar. I couldn't be happier. // 10

overall: 6.6

Reviewed by: XxDiStUrBeDxX, on october 10, 2005

Price paid: $ 295

Purchased from: Musicians Friend

Features: This guitar has 24 jumbo frets rosewood. The see through black is pretty cool looking. The pickups are pretty good for the price you pay for this guitar. The body of it is pretty awesome. This guitar isn't the greatest for tapping. I'd get another if you like to tap a lot. The pickups are ok not great but ok. // 7

Sound: I mostly play from fast metal to some slow rock (Metallica in some cases). The amp I'm using with it is a Fender Squier Champ 15. This guitar is capable of some pretty good distortion. It can play pretty clean also. // 7

Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar set-up at the factory came with a set of ghs-boomers. 10 gauge. The factory didn't set this guitar up like it should have been. Well at first I started to play it when I got it and the low 3 strings all buzzed against the frets when I played them. So I had to take off the strings and raise the bridge a little bit. Now my problem is everytime I put a high E string on and go from Drop C to Standard the string breaks. I have broke the high E string on this guitar 3 times. Then both the volume and the tone knob fell off. That wasn't really bad all I had to do was stick a butter knife in between the slow and make it wider so it'll hold. // 5

Reliability & Durability: In my opinion I wouldn't take this guitar to a live show. Save up for a better one in the F series (F-400). The hardware seems like it last. I would use this as a backup guitar. It is not very dependable. The finish of the guitar seems good enough to last. I've dropped this guitar a couple of times and the neck is only warped a little bit. // 8

Impression: This guitar matches my music playing but not good enough. I've been playing for around a year and a half and I own a DigiTech RP50 and this and a Fender squire amp. I really really wished I would've saved the money and bought a better guitar. I do love the looks of the guitar the guitar really is awesome looking. If this guitar were stolen I would probably either get a F-400 or the Jackson DK2 and replace the pickups with the Zakk Wylde set. // 6

Comments

[Alin Snagov]

$5 discount... boy, what a barhain.

[PaperStSoapCo]

barhain indeed (retard). and it was $5 less then the f-50. it was some thing where like you get $300 of stuff or more and you get $75 off. so it was either f-50 for $225 and another $75 worth of crap or f-100fm at $295 and a pack of strings... makes sense to me

[Jivejames67119]

My friend has an old version of one of these. It's not flamed but prolly the same. But I've played it quite a bit and everytime I do I'm jealous because its way better than my guitar.

[tar-bra]

im thinking of buying this guitar would this be the best one out of the 100s or is it all down to different looks?

[PaperStSoapCo]

to tar-bra: i havent really played any other other 100's. but ive had this one for almost 2 1/2 years i think, and it's holding up quite well. matter of fact its damn good for the price. finished is a bit scratched but nothing wrong with that. so its pretty durable, plays great, feels great, and sounds great. just try it out at a guitar store and try a few others. im sure you'll find the one that works for you.

[tar-bra]

awww k i heard its all good cept for the pick ups so should i throw bill lawrence or seymour duncans n it??

[PaperStSoapCo]

that was my plan when i first got it, but i never really had to. i like the sound the pick ups put out just fine. but its all up to you. if you get one and the tone bothers you, then change them. but the odds are good that you wont have to.

[PaloAlta]

This was my first real electric, outside of a squier bullet and starcaster (puke). I've had it for about two years and I can say from experience that it's an amazing guitar for the money this thing outlasts and stays in tune longer than my friends gibson sonnex, if you find you're having trouble with the tone or sound, it could just be that your amp's eq is up to high, as in full bass, 7 mid, full treble or something like that, who knows, 65% of the population are idiots. Peace.

[Fazemelta666]

My Dad's got one of these babies, and they're frickin' awseome! Especially with a Roland Micro-Cube Amp with a DS-1 Distortion Pedal, and also, does anyone know where I can find a review on Kirk Hammett's signature KH101 Guitar? Cuz I'm a Big-ass 'Tallica fan.

[HannibalX]

its pretty good,
I trust the ltd's to last on stage, a lot of friends have used various ltd's and not one has had a complaint,
well yeah there have been one or two who have not liked the tone (wtf?!)

[univave]

I have an F-100FM and an F-50 and I love them both (figures, since they're pretty much the same guitar). And I got each of them for $100... I just keep them tuned differently.
I really don't know why people are always carping about the stock pups! They sound great clean and distorted.

I like them alot.