ESP NAMM 2014 Thread

[Stuck_in_a_dream]

I wish ESP the best, I love their guitars. As a hobbyist, I also do not care what it says on the headstock as long as it is a quality instrument. But I am afraid many guitarists do care about that.

Thing is, I do not see many big name companies do this kind of thing, Gibson, Fender, Jackson, PRS, etc. They all have $500 level guitars that still bear the same brand name as their $5000 USA custom shop ones. In case of Squier, Epiphone, their guitars, albeit very good value for money, are not in general in a real competition with their parent brands, they simply target different audiences/budgets.

This is not the case I am seeing here with ESP though. ESP can decide whatever they want to do with their brand, but the short-term consequences could be that many prospective buyers may not see the value in a $1500 E-II guitar vs a $1500 used ESP. Or even worse, what if ESP decided to reverse their intentions in a year or two later and started to offer $1500 ESP std again? Just my

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

That's right... later this week, we'll be previewing dozens of new guitars and basses that we'll be introducing later this month at the NAMM Show. Visit often!

 

[Xaios]

Good that they're introducing new stuff, what with the merciless pruning they did last year.

 

[ImNotAhab]

Hopefully ESP bring their "A" game this year. Cant let Ibanez and Schecter have all the glory!

 

[Dudley]

Not so much news in terms of new models etc, but I was speaking to a dealer recently who mentioned that there's an expected price hike on existing E-II models (he mentioned by possibly up to 15%, which would take things a bit closer to the price of the old ESP SS and which a few people had expected e.g. low E-II prices in the first year while they entered the market then quickly jumping up) and that the Export series is coming under control of ESP USA rather than ESP Japan as in the past. Not sure what that'll actually mean in terms of models, perhaps very similar catalogues with nothing much extra revealed at MusikMesse?

In any case, I'm living in hope for a greenburst Horizon, as always!

 

[Gitte]

Now this is awesome!! So Beautiful!

 

[OmegaSlayer]

Hopefully ESP bring their "A" game this year. Cant let Ibanez and Schecter have all the glory!

Isn't ESP controlling Schecter GR now?
If Schecter will go big and ESP is opening a big USA branch, there's no way they're going to be small compared to Ibanez and SGR.

My only concern is that ESP is becoming too much self-indulgent on some stuff (like prices) and it's losing the exotic and unique factor...can't explain it exactly.
Hopefully some will understand what I mean

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

ESP isn't controlling Schecter, but they've both had the same owner since 1987 I believe.

I believe that doesn't affect anything product-wise, though. It just gives Hisatake Shibuya a shit-ton of cash.

 

[jl-austin]

Once again Austin is without an ESP dealer. We have a warehouse dealer here but I have no connections to them.

I don't understand why everyone sells Ibanez here, and no one sells ESP, you would think one of those stores would sell ESP just because no one else does. I know Ibanez is huge, but still, its sad. Same with Jackson, no one is willing to sell them. There are like 4 Ibanez stores and no ESP, no Jackson.

 

[JoshuaVonFlash]

Alex Skolnick going over his signature Eclipse:

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Am I hearing things, or did he say the inlay is optional?

EDIT: Sweet, the Alex Skolnick Duncans are real.
EDIT2: Judging by that picture at the end of the video, the silverburst looks a lot better. The fade-in isn't as sudden.

 

[JoshuaVonFlash]

Good thing they are optional those inlays are a bit too personal or signature looking, if you get what you I'm saying.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I wonder if he's talking about the true ESP version, since it's custom shop, or the LTD version.

 

[JoshuaVonFlash]

I hope he means both.

 

[Zado]

I love that headstock

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I like it too, but the inlay is meh. I can deal with tit, though. I like the rest of the specs.

 

[Zado]

I Like those inlays too

 

[wyldweasil]

I'm not feeling the Susi. I had hoped from the rumors I heard that we were getting the Stef Tele in white, but I guess the rumor was just the E-II white 7 string tele.

 

[celticelk]

The Skolnick sig looks great. Wish it was available as a 7. =\ It'll be interesting to see where they go with those pickups, given the varied tonal needs between Testament and the trio.

 

[zimbloth]

Getting the 2014 pricelists and new model info from ESP tomorrow, psyched!