ESP EC-1000FM

Doesn't it just look spectacular? I love the silver trim around the body, neck and headstock, it makes it look beautiful. I'd have it in the see-thru blue personally, but the purple is pretty stunning as well, I'd love to have it in any colour. This is a guitar I seriously considered buying when I bought my Ibanez S470, unfortunately, its cost in comparison let it down (My Ibanez was £380, this retails at about £800), for a poor man like myself of course, with guitars you get what you pay for, if I had the extra cash, I probably would've gone with this. It's like a modern twist on a classic design. The body shape is very familiar, looks like the styling of a Les Paul, can't go wrong with that. I love those fret markers, the glitter silver, just like the trim, it all fits together like a puzzle. The signature ESP Guitar name on the 12th fret as well, I love that. "What guitar is that guy playing? It doesn't say on the headstock..." "Check the twelfth."

The other bits look great too, the knobs in the silver, which match the bridge and the tuning pegs. That finish is great too, the quilted maple, like I said, in the blue, that finish is awesome. Lets get some facts down about this guitar, so you can get some insight.

The EC-1000FM has 24 Jumbo frets, the neck is made out of mahogany and so is the body, because this one a neck-thru, giving it that extra sustain and feeling of strength. The fingerboard is rosewood, as is so common, I personally prefer a maple neck, but because it is a lighter colour, it often looks odd with certain guitars, so I find, especially a black metal guitar. A black Stratocaster with a maple neck looks great (Probably because Clapton has been rocking that for the past 40 years) but I think that something like a black Jackson Dinky, with a maple neck just looks ridiculous, you got that black because you wanted to look metal, and then you've got this bright neck sticking out of it. My preference of maple necks doesn't really have great reasoning behind it, I just prefer the feel of them, they feel like they play slightly quicker. Where the neck hasn't had a bit of rosewood fitted on the frets, it feels more pure, like you're really shredding the neck. You can see the body has been slightly curved so you can easily reach the 24th fret, ESP call this a thin U-Neck contour. It looks good though, I've seen some guitars compromise the look for the access, and I guess that's fair, since it should about the playing and music, not the look, but when you can get both to work for you, it's fantastic.

The EC-1000FM comes as standard with a EMG 81 in the bridge position and a EMG 60 in the neck position. If you're reading this, I assume you play guitar, and therefore understand the quality of EMG pickups, right up there at the top with DiMarzio's and Seymour Duncan's. These two pickups will give you a fantastic sound, and is probably part of the reason this guitar cost a lot more than my Ibanez, this is using EMG's, my S470 came fitted with Ibanez's own brand of pickups, the Infinity series of pickups, which aren't all that good in comparison to the big guns. They of course can be changed, I just haven't got round to it, and still haven't really got the money to buy some DiMarzio's. DiMarzio pickups are my personal preference, there's gotta be a reason all those top virtuoso's use them, Vai, Gilbert, Petrucci, Satch and Malmsteen are all using DiMarzio pickups. I think it's due to the range of pickups available from DiMazrzio, there's pickups for all styles of music, with great sound. You really know what you're getting with DiMarzio's. The EC-1000 also comes with locking tuners, which is great for tuning stability, and is therefore great in live situations. How your guitar will perform live is vital, even if you're not a musician in a band, consider it, because you never know. I bought my Ibanez when I wasn't in a band, I now find myself playing a lot of indie music with a band, and me playing my Ibanez looks kinda odd in a scene dominated by Telecasters and other Fenders. When you buy a guitar, consider all factors, because I now have this guitar that isn't suited for my style of music, don't make my mistake. Luckily the versatility on the S470 means that it sounds right for the music, it just really doesn't look right. Consider playing Sweet Child O' Mine on a B.C. Rich Warlock, it just isn't right is it? When you've got a shred looking guitar, and you're playing lots of barre chords, it just doesn't feel or look right.

So after all that, this guitar retails at about £800, which is a fair bit, but you get a very good guitar for it. It's an ESP, they have a very high reputation for developing brilliant guitars, hence the number of superb musicians who have signature ESP guitars, one of which is Kirk Hammet, one of the most successful guitarists in metal music, if not thee most successful? He wouldn't play second rate guitars, or want to be associated with them, and that's why he plays ESP's.

So, as you can see, I think this guitar is great, the article has ended up pretty lengthy, I think I got everything in there, and I hope it's of assistance to you. So I'll finish this post in the normal fashion by asking for any of your opinion on this guitar, and your personal reviews on the this guitar, or any from the whole EC-1000 range.

Les Paul Studio Worn Cherry

So I'm gonna make my first real post about my currently sought after guitar, the Gibson Les Paul Studio Worn Cherry. I love this guitar, I've had many discussions about it with a close friend of mine, who can't understand my addiction, he thinks I'm an idiot for not going with a gold top or something just as flashy. I think that's what I love about this guitar in worn cherry, it's not flashy. Being a studio, it's not flashy in the slightest. The studio, for those of you who don't know is Gibsons stripped down version of the original Les Paul Standard. Now, I'm not earning nearly enough to consider getting a Standard, but the studio however is on the line, which always leaves me thinking about it, but never buying it. It's within reason at around £670, but also maybe slightly too far, when I consider what else I can do with £670, and the grief I'll get for buying one when I already own an Ibanez S Series, the S470.

"You only need one guitar" - the saying that's probably true, yet for 99% of guitarists just can't be accepted, as soon as we get a new guitar that we've wanted for ages, a month later, we're thinking about the next one we can get our hands on, right guys? Well then you know my pain, I've been playing my S for about 6 months now, not that long really, but you can see where my desire is coming from, maybe the S fails to humble my appetite, I often wonder if it was the right guitar to pick. At the time, it was the only guitar in my mind, I loved how thin it was, and how innovative it was with the ZR bridge, and all the other bits of technology. When you've been playing a stratocaster for a year, you really want to upgrade to something that rather than being basic, is right up the other end of the scale. Rather than a tremolo that only goes one way, you start having these desires for a floating trem, you've seen Satch play Crushing day, and you know even though you're not good enough to play that song, you at least want to be able to try it day in day out, as if you've suddenly unlocked your inner potential, and you'll wake up the next morning with Malmsteen's Fingers (That kinda sounds like a disease or illness). But I finally got the S, and I had the floating trem, the locking nuts, the Humbucker, Single, Humbucker pickup combo, with the 5-way selector, all these great things, all the variety, and it was then I realised, I don't need this stuff, I need a guitar that just sounds great, that has the tone and the sustain, so what better than a Les Paul? Well, there is nothing with better sustain, that's for sure. That beautiful mahogany body, that doesn't create the sound and tone, it sings it. It's like attaching Pavarotti to a guitar neck.

Back to the flashiness, the worn cherry is the only colour I want the guitar in, it just looks great, it looks like the craftsman who designed it bled for the creation of this fine looking guitar. The great thing about my desire for the worn cherry is that this is also the cheapest of the Les Paul Studio range, it retails over here in the UK at about £670. You're no doubt getting a lot of guitar for your money with this one, and so I really want to get my hands on one, my own one. Fancy sponsoring me or donating to make this dream a reality? Aha, I'm joking of course, half of getting a guitar is working for it, makes it more special when you finally get it, even if I am 50 years old by the time I get it, presuming the swine flu doesn't get me before then of course.

This desire has brought me agony over the past week, I can inform you. I've mentioned the retail on these things being £670 over here, well then imagine my pain when one goes for under £400 on eBay, and I just don't have the money at this very time to make it mine. I really need to make some more cash, so next time that sort of opportunity pops up, I can capitalise.

I guess I'll finish this article by asking for any opinions, what do you think of this guitar, or the whole Studio series of Gibsons? If you play one, I'd love to hear your opinion on it, please leave a comment or contact me. :)