ESP 2024

[manu80]

yeah jackson are plexi top, I had the purple friedman monarkh
Like the Mirror Jem, too plexi sheet on a mirror layer underneath.
Still, a full black with chrome parts could be nice too.

 

[He_Ma]

He was with Carillion Guitars before. The other guitarist from Bleed from Within is still using Carillions though.

That was it! I've never played Carillions, but I would still think that they are better guitars than LTDs. And this is coming from huge Ltd fan. I have 6 ltds: 3 signatures (AW, SC and snakebyte), 1000 series Phoenix, 1000 and black metal series arrow.

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

I've never played Carillions, but I would still think that they are better guitars than LTDs. And this is coming from huge Ltd fan.

> that moment when a forum member compares a top-notch build from a private luthier with a $5K starting price tag (for a barebones build) to a cheap, mass manufactured instrument from an Asian factory that costs substantially less to produce and runs a fifth (or even less) of the former’s price after everything is factored in (distributor markup, dealer markup, etc.)

Yeah, you have definitely never even been in the vicinity of a Carillion…

 

[JimF]

He was with Carillion Guitars before. The other guitarist from Bleed from Within is still using Carillions though.

Other guitarist has never used Carillions. Had an Ibanez or two but has had a Caparison endorsement for a few years now.

 

[Pippo]

Other guitarist has never used Carillions. Had an Ibanez or two but has had a Caparison endorsement for a few years now.

Yeah he’s using Caparisons. My bad, thought they both were with Carillion.

 

[He_Ma]

> that moment when a forum member compares a top-notch build from a private luthier with a $5K starting price tag (for a barebones build) to a cheap, mass manufactured instrument from an Asian factory that costs substantially less to produce and runs a fifth (or even less) of the former’s price after everything is factored in (distributor markup, dealer markup, etc.)

Yeah, you have definitely never even been in the vicinity of a Carillion…

I know the Carillion guitars by name only because of this band and one of their rig rundowns, and didn't know the price point or are those top notch Luthier stuff or not. From personal experience I know that you can have small builder built guitars from someone who is at the start of their careers for something close to new Ltd prices and I also know what is to own absolute piece of art guitar from higher end builder (Ruokangas) that costs much more. There is so much variety when it comes to prices and quality of one man/small company guitars..

Anyway I stated that I assume that Carillion would be better guitars, but because I didn't know their quality I couldn't say by how much. For this reason and especially now when you chimed in, it is interesting to me to see that if he ends up using the Ltds exclusively or will he have them out for few songs for endorsement sake. It is also interesting to see if he will have some custom ESP/E-II at some point.

 

[JimF]

I thought it was an interesting move by Goonzi as he has consistently used these extremely valuable guitars live for some time. But he has now stepped down to LTDs, which makes sense from a world-tour point of view, needing the guitars to be readily available and not have too much sentimental value. I just think if trekking with the Carillions has worked up to now, why change?
Then again, potentially free guitars and the ESP PR team, makes sense to me!

 

[jephjacques]

> that moment when a forum member compares a top-notch build from a private luthier with a $5K starting price tag (for a barebones build) to a cheap, mass manufactured instrument from an Asian factory that costs substantially less to produce and runs a fifth (or even less) of the former’s price after everything is factored in (distributor markup, dealer markup, etc.)

Yeah, you have definitely never even been in the vicinity of a Carillion…

Eh, my Carillion is a great guitar but at that price point you're fully in diminishing returns land. If I were a touring musician I'd prefer having a cheaper guitar that wouldn't break my heart if it were destroyed or stolen. You can get pretty much any guitar to play as good as a boutique instrument if you're willing to spend the money.

 

[JimF]

To back that up he's swapped the hardware on at least one of them. Seems to be a colour change but may have gone for a better quality trem.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Eh, my Carillion is a great guitar but at that price point you're fully in diminishing returns land. If I were a touring musician I'd prefer having a cheaper guitar that wouldn't break my heart if it were destroyed or stolen. You can get pretty much any guitar to play as good as a boutique instrument if you're willing to spend the money.

That and easy to get a backup.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Also the more I'm thinking about it the more I'm bummed Joe is moving into an offset shape. His Charvel sig was pretty much my ideal Tele and I don't jive with Jazz/Jag style offsets too much

 

[lattjeful]

Also the more I'm thinking about it the more I'm bummed Joe is moving into an offset shape. His Charvel sig was pretty much my ideal Tele and I don't jive with Jazz/Jag style offsets too much

Same. I was planning on picking one up soon too. Feels like whenever I actually want something it finally goes out of production lol.

 

[Andromalia]

I don't follow. What does the company's origin mean in this?

This is a legit question.

a) Gojira is a japanese name, it's the proper spelling for Godzilla (ゴジラ, go-ji-ra) through Hepburn romanisation. (The band was originally called Godzilla but there were copyright issues with it)
b) People our generation in France have developed a liking for Japan by being submitted to anime from 1978 on state TV.
c) They admit to liking Japan outright in various interviews.
d) ESP has a mystique in France for being the 10-15KFF guitars in the shops displays in 1990. And, yeah, Metallica.
I buy everything Sony and ESP whenever I can myself.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Same. I was planning on picking one up soon too. Feels like whenever I actually want something it finally goes out of production lol.

I think the chances are non-existent, but I hope Charvel makes the cheap white one a regular model once he's done with the brand. They were smart to make it quite un-signature in case the time ever came. I doubt they'll do it, though.

And I don't think Joe will have a Tele sig with ESP. Seems like he likes to switch shapes with different brands. Jackson was the SLS Soloist, Charvel was the Tele, and now ESP is the XJ.

 

[PuckishGuitar]

This is a legit question.

a) Gojira is a japanese name, it's the proper spelling for Godzilla (ゴジラ, go-ji-ra) through Hepburn romanisation. (The band was originally called Godzilla but there were copyright issues with it)
b) People our generation in France have developed a liking for Japan by being submitted to anime from 1978 on state TV.
c) They admit to liking Japan outright in various interviews.
d) ESP has a mystique in France for being the 10-15KFF guitars in the shops displays in 1990. And, yeah, Metallica.
I buy everything Sony and ESP whenever I can myself.

Those guitar shops near Pigalle had more ESP/EII on the walls than any store I’ve been to in the US, especially since they are fairly small. I can believe France has a hard on for ESP.

 

[zw470]

with Evertune.

 

[Nightside]

> that moment when a forum member compares a top-notch build from a private luthier with a $5K starting price tag (for a barebones build) to a cheap, mass manufactured instrument from an Asian factory that costs substantially less to produce and runs a fifth (or even less) of the former’s price after everything is factored in (distributor markup, dealer markup, etc.)

Yeah, you have definitely never even been in the vicinity of a Carillion…

> That moment when someone outs themselves as a cork sniffing douche canoe.

Yeah, you definitely aren't deluded about price to quality ratio...

 

[narad]

What's the correct price to quality ratio? I'm confused because the last few posts are snooty like you guys are arguing, but it seems like everyone is saying similarly that Carillions are expectedly (and likely inarguably) better than LTDs?

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

Yeah, you definitely aren't deluded about price to quality ratio...

I didn’t say anything at all that would lead you to that conjecture. So, you’re making quite a large assumption on your part. And frankly, your comment has absolutely nothing to do with the point that I was sarcastically making in my previous comment.

With that said, Chris Delia (the luthier behind Carillion) does do some undeniably awesome work though. And it seems unanimously acclaimed across the internet that his work is indeed top-notch in terms of quality, even if you don’t agree with his prices.

I have experience with a lot of high-dollar, custom gear. There is a certain threshold of quality with the higher-tier stuff that once you pass that threshold, it’s very, very hard to go back regardless of how high the corresponding price-tag may be.

What's the correct price to quality ratio? I'm confused because the last few posts are snooty like you guys are arguing, but it seems like everyone is saying similarly that Carillions are expectedly (and likely inarguably) better than LTDs?

Nah. Our guy up there is just contructing a straw-man argument so that he can have someone/something (some type of boogeyman) to point a finger at and bitch at on an online forum.

It’s just a pervasive mentality nowadays. I’m especially seeing it exhibited more and more by people in gear groups/forums who internally harbor bitterness because they cannot afford to buy expensive equipment that they see online. So, they just go around the internet accusing anyone who has nicer gear than them as being a “cork-sniffer” (whatever the heck that even means) as a way of coping.

Attempting to villianize or diminish others due to the sake of jealousy always seems to solve the problem, eh?

 

[Nightside]

What's the correct price to quality ratio? I'm confused because the last few posts are snooty like you guys are arguing, but it seems like everyone is saying similarly that Carillions are expectedly (and likely inarguably) better than LTDs?

Nah, dude was just a dick to the other dude so I dicked him back.