M-II Review

The M-II has an alder body and is available with rosewood or maple fretboard. feature high-quality components: Seymour Duncan or EMG pickups, Original Floyd Rose (on the M-II) or Gotoh bridges, premium quality woods, and the craftsmanship and durability you'd expect from a top-line ESP guitar.

Features:	9.5
Sound:	8.5
Action:	10
Reliability:	10
Impression:	10
Overall rating:	9.6
Users rating:	8.9
Comments:	15

overall: 9.6

Featured review by: rubbles, on january 24, 2006

Price paid: $ 1900

Purchased from: B Music

Features: This is the Standard ESP M-2 series. There's the one in balck and the one in camo colour. Basically this is the gutiar that Jeff Hanneman and Kirk Hammett has except for a few differences. OK the one that I got it's black. All alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. 24 jumbo frets, there's a choice of neck-thru body or bolt-on. Black hardware. The body shape is a Strat type with a original floyd rose. Choice of either Seymour Duncan JB/59 pickups or Dual 81s, both is good for metal to rock kinds of genres, however the dual 81s aren't too hot for cleans. Simple controls, a 3-way pickup selector Switch and a volume knob. Gotoh tuners with a locking nut. Incl was a free hard case. // 9

Sound: This guitar was made to be thrashed and it kills! Perfect for playing metal styles of all kinds due to the dual 81s. Perfect for those trying to get a Metallica sound without the Kirk Hammett price of his signature guitar! Like I said, cleans weren't too good with 81s, but with the JB/59, I expect better cleans. Being an alder body, having Duncan pickups would give you a better sound and it works with the wood to give a unique sound. Have 81s does work with the wood but however you hear a slight distortion on cleans. // 9

Action, Fit & Finish: Action was perfect, din't need to touch it until I changed to a higher gauge. Factory gauge that it came with was 9 to 42. Whereas I'm using 10 to 52. So there was some work to be done. ESP have done it again with their neatly soldered electronics. Everything was in perfect condition. Strap pins were secure, although I changed it to DiMarzio locking strap. So far so good, I've had this for 6 months and hasn't had any problems to parts what so ever. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Yeah obviously! It's ESP! I would use a bakcup guitar always just in case anything goes wrong but it will withstand live playing! // 10

Impression: This is a perfect match for what I play! If it was stolen I probably would get enough money to buy another one, this one kills! Playing with a Boss GT-8. You can get all kinds of good sounds, plug it into a Marshall or Mesa/Boogie and you've got it made! // 10

overall: 9.6

Reviewed by: phr4wl3h, on march 26, 2007

Price paid: $ 915

Purchased from: Friend

Features: // 10

Sound: Well I play metal, mostly death metal, but usually play bands Decapitated, Death, Deicide, Children Of Bodom and vital Remains and stuff. I'm using it with a PODxt Live at the moment which it sounds fantastic through, but gives it a pretty digital feel. I also got some EMG's put in in order to give that extra punch. // 8

Action, Fit & Finish: I got the guitar shipped from America which took 4 weeks and by the time it arrived it was still perfectly in tune, set up for Standard C tuning (so for the comments below yes it can take this tune) and have been using this tunning since. There were no flaws within this area, ESP surely know how to impress someone with first impressions. Even my low end ESP was very well prepared. // 10

Reliability & Durability: I ain't played with it Live yet but it would definitely hold up when playing live as I can be pretty reckless at times around the house, bumping it into things etc. and it ain't got a mark on it. The hardware is all sturdy and properly fitted and should last a long time. The paint on the Floyd should also protect it from rusting. The strap buttons were regular strap buttons unfortunately but were screwed in nice and securely and when I play with a strap nothing slips off or anything were as some of my old guitars did. Definitely a dependable guitar, currently my only guitar since I sold my others. // 10

Impression: Definitely suits me, been playing only around 2 years. One thing I noticed when I got the guitar was how bad every other guitar I have ever played was, never again buying a low end guitar just a total waste of money. I was so impressed when I first picked up and played it, some smooth and precise, everything I wanted to play played so well. Just everything about it I like so much! Don't know what I'd do it it got stolen though because I got such a great deal, prob have to save for a very long time for a new one! // 10

Comments

[scarfacesuit]

nice

[punksucks666]

can this guitar handle a drop c tuning

[Orneblad]

yes, but u might have to get help with it in a store

[ACDC_ROCKS]

very cooli want one bitches

[DeathByStereo23]

of course it can handle a drop C tuning,but if you have the floyd rose you must calibrate it after re-tuning

[DeathByStereo23]

Boss GT 8??
Is it really good or it has a synthetic tone?

[pikey_no1]

This guitar rules, straight out. If you're not used to the FR, don't get this. I'm not, but I'd still get it. This guitar is too good to miss out on

[flakelorenz]

Yeah low end guitars for the lose, I learnt my lesson when buying a cheap Epiphone 100 because it was a real bargin

[the_addict]

DeathByStereo23 wrote:

of course it can handle a drop C tuning,but if you have the floyd rose you must calibrate it after re-tuning

you have to get that evh accessory for drop tuning. you cannot drop tune a floyd without it. I've many times without it and failed.

[jayeshrc]

the_addict wrote:

DeathByStereo23 wrote:

of course it can handle a drop C tuning,but if you have the floyd rose you must calibrate it after re-tuning
you have to get that evh accessory for drop tuning. you cannot drop tune a floyd without it. I've many times without it and failed.

you suck or dont know how to tune if thats the case.

[jayeshrc]

^^^ hey that post was fo the_addict.. the fukin quote got messed up.

[pbman]

seymore dunc's are the better choice for this guitar unless u play 100%metal
i find i can get drop D tuning with just the fine tuners, wouldnt want to fart about with drop C though
too much hassle with adjusting the springs for just a few sonegs

plays like a beaut, maple fretboard ftw, soo smooth and fast

[jtbull]

these are great. I played and almost bought one, but for the money the korean ltds sound just as good in my opinion and if you get get the m11 ltd clone from the 1990s you basically have the same guitar.

[GunLeatherGuy]

You can drop tune any damn thing you want....floyd, wilkinson...vintage trem. You just have to retune the rest of the stings...and it can be a pain in the ass.

But you can drop anything you want.

Ive got this...but its the Mii deluxe from 96....excellent guitar.

Rock and roll.....

[Maru717]

this is my dream guitar.