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[cardinal]

What people would consider fair price for ESP amorous original from 2014? Apparently this is same than the mystique but named different due to market area. The sales add mentions that this was made in Kiso factory so does it mean it is custom Shop made run but with specs of their choice?

I am not that familiar with the ESP factories, custom shop related models and these older models overall. That being said, on the paper this has great specs for me. Ofc there are also e-II models of mystique that I could look for, but is there quality difference that justifies the price gap?

E-II or Standard Mystique will have a laminated top. ESP will be a full maple top with figuring all the way through (if it's a trans finish). ESP also will likely be Honduran mahogany rather than whatever "mahogany" E-II or Standards use.

 

[AkiraSpectrum]

What people would consider fair price for ESP amorous original from 2014? Apparently this is same than the mystique but named different due to market area. The sales add mentions that this was made in Kiso factory so does it mean it is custom Shop made run but with specs of their choice?

I am not that familiar with the ESP factories, custom shop related models and these older models overall. That being said, on the paper this has great specs for me. Ofc there are also e-II models of mystique that I could look for, but is there quality difference that justifies the price gap?

Would love to see pics!

 

[He_Ma]

Hard to say. Amorous are not that in demand. I'd think something around $2k +/- $250 is about right. Depends a bit on specs. But all the original series amorouses were built in Kiso, so there's nothing otherwise special about this one from that information alone.

E-II or Standard Mystique will have a laminated top. ESP will be a full maple top with figuring all the way through (if it's a trans finish). ESP also will likely be Honduran mahogany rather than whatever "mahogany" E-II or Standards use.

Would love to see pics!

Thank you all for your knowledge and answers. I basically joined this forum because this threads ESP knowledge and have learned a lot from many of you during last 6 months (first lurking without username and now after registering) so thank you all for sharing your knowledge. For years I played everything but metal and now when I started playing some heavier stuff I found out that I reallly like ESP necks. At the moment I have 3 LTDs (Arrow and Phoenix from 1000 series and snakebyte) and am tempted to get E-II or ESP when the price is right. Before I ventured back to metal direction I played many different offset guitars (Fano, BilT, Novo, Fender) and I usually really like the offset bodied guitars for their ergonomy.

This particular guitar is priced above what Narad said. I live in finland so every imported guitar has included the taxes and custom fees (24% + 3,2%) which ofc increases the price but even that considered this seems bit high. Maybe I have to keep my eyes open for the used market on these ESP and E-II models to find a nice deal. I don't care much on solidbody guitars if the top is laminated or full maple top and all the E-II guitars that I have tried have been great too.

The guitar itself looks great and has really nice looking top and the original tailpiece is included. It also doesn't have hard case, is this common?

 

[narad]

Thank you all for your knowledge and answers. I basically joined this forum because this threads ESP knowledge and have learned a lot from many of you during last 6 months (first lurking without username and now after registering) so thank you all for sharing your knowledge. For years I played everything but metal and now when I started playing some heavier stuff I found out that I reallly like ESP necks. At the moment I have 3 LTDs (Arrow and Phoenix from 1000 series and snakebyte) and am tempted to get E-II or ESP when the price is right. Before I ventured back to metal direction I played many different offset guitars (Fano, BilT, Novo, Fender) and I usually really like the offset bodied guitars for their ergonomy.

This particular guitar is priced above what Narad said. I live in finland so every imported guitar has included the taxes and custom fees (24% + 3,2%) which ofc increases the price but even that considered this seems bit high. Maybe I have to keep my eyes open for the used market on these ESP and E-II models to find a nice deal. I don't care much on solidbody guitars if the top is laminated or full maple top and all the E-II guitars that I have tried have been great too.

The guitar itself looks great and has really nice looking top and the original tailpiece is included. It also doesn't have hard case, is this common?

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Yea, FWIW, I'm mostly talking in US prices. I know they cost a good deal more typically in the EU with the higher import rates, and that's a pretty killer top. I still wouldn't go so high on it. Like take this one that's sitting in Japan:

The yen price converted to EUR is 2.8k EUR, at some fairly high dealer used price. I wouldn't want to be paying more than this really.

 

[He_Ma]

Yea, FWIW, I'm mostly talking in US prices. I know they cost a good deal more typically in the EU with the higher import rates, and that's a pretty killer top. I still wouldn't go so high on it. Like take this one that's sitting in Japan:

The yen price converted to EUR is 2.8k EUR, at some fairly high dealer used price. I wouldn't want to be paying more than this really.

I checked their page (hybrid guitars) and with shipping to Northern europe the price estimate with shipping would be 505000 JPY ~=3078€ and then I would need to pay taxes and custom fees 24% + 3,7% (custom fee was half percent higher than I remembered originally) so the price would be 3930€. The asking price for one in Finland is 3,1k€.

 

[cardinal]

It's normal for a ESP sold originally in Japan to have only a gig bag and no hard case.

 

[narad]

I checked their page (hybrid guitars) and with shipping to Northern europe the price estimate with shipping would be 505000 JPY ~=3078€ and then I would need to pay taxes and custom fees 24% + 3,7% (custom fee was half percent higher than I remembered originally) so the price would be 3930€. The asking price for one in Finland is 3,1k€.

I'm not actually suggesting you buy this one, which I think is over-priced. Just giving an example of what I would consider an upper bound price-wise. The amount that guitar is listed high is pretty comparable to the amount of import duty you would have to pay on import.

 

[He_Ma]

I'm not actually suggesting you buy this one, which I think is over-priced. Just giving an example of what I would consider an upper bound price-wise. The amount that guitar is listed high is pretty comparable to the amount of import duty you would have to pay on import.

Thank you for your knowledge. I just posted my calculations as I made them to showcase how much the importing actually increases the fees and how "good deal" on international market can end up costing more than "reasonable/bad deal" on the local market once you add up everything.

Maybe I just have to keep my eyes open for these in EU area to find deals on these.

 

[narad]

Thank you for your knowledge. I just posted my calculations as I made them to showcase how much the importing actually increases the fees and how "good deal" on international market can end up costing more than "reasonable/bad deal" on the local market once you add up everything.

Maybe I just have to keep my eyes open for these in EU area to find deals on these.

Sure, but FWIW you also forgot to subtract 10% before doing all those calculations.

 

[JimF]

Stupid question but here goes:
I'm always keeping a look out for a maple boarded M-II, despite having never played one. I'll probably have to buy online, so is there a current LTD model with a similar neck shape so I can see if its my thing, before dropping $2000? Was thinking anything in their range with an extra thin U, but wondering if there's some personal interpretation between the Korean/Indo factories, and the Japanese one concerning neck profiles...

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Stupid question but here goes:
I'm always keeping a look out for a maple boarded M-II, despite having never played one. I'll probably have to buy online, so is there a current LTD model with a similar neck shape so I can see if its my thing, before dropping $2000? Was thinking anything in their range with an extra thin U, but wondering if there's some personal interpretation between the Korean/Indo factories, and the Japanese one concerning neck profiles...

If you're super picky about neck shapes don't buy ESP/LTD without playing an example of the exact model and series from a similar time frame. There's a good amount of variation across those lines, even on models that have the same "catalog" neck specs.

 

[JimF]

Thanks, that makes sense. Nature of the beast I suppose! I'll have to keep my search within driving distance.

 

[He_Ma]

Sure, but FWIW you also forgot to subtract 10% before doing all those calculations.

10% for Japanese taxes or what?

I calculated the price for this with their "estimate for overseas customer" on their page. The guitar price 430000 JPY as tax free and Shipping 70000 JPY with the custom process on their end and 5000 JPY for the international bank transfer. I assume that they just take of the clearance/papers, but I am the one still paying my taxes and custom fee on top of the total price. It might be that estimate includes taxes and customs, but I wouldn't count on that.

 

[He_Ma]

If you're super picky about neck shapes don't buy ESP/LTD without playing an example of the exact model and series from a similar time frame. There's a good amount of variation across those lines, even on models that have the same "catalog" neck specs.

While this is true and there has been some examples of quite big neck width differences with different eras models with "same profile", I would still think that if you really like extra thin neck on one, you would surely adapt to all other extra thin U necks after a short while.

 

[narad]

10% for Japanese taxes or what?

I calculated the price for this with their "estimate for overseas customer" on their page. The guitar price 430000 JPY as tax free and Shipping 70000 JPY with the custom process on their end and 5000 JPY for the international bank transfer. I assume that they just take of the clearance/papers, but I am the one still paying my taxes and custom fee on top of the total price. It might be that estimate includes taxes and customs, but I wouldn't count on that.

Ah okay, then it's included. It's just the shipping that is artificially exaggerated.

 

[MetalDestroyer]

Don’t forget the 20% import tax gamble. That’s what has been stopping me from pulling the trigger on anything in Japan for the last year or so

 

[MetalDestroyer]

While this is true and there has been some examples of quite big neck width differences with different eras models with "same profile", I would still think that if you really like extra thin neck on one, you would surely adapt to all other extra thin U necks after a short while.

Nah

 

[Lozek]

MII Deluxe that I got from Josh Middleton of Sylosis. It was in a pretty sorry state but I've cleaned it up, replaced the worn out Sinclair with a Ti blocked, dive only Floyd (fitted a stabilizer), EMG quick-connect kit, Fluence Modern & Single, new switch, dyed the board & fitted a GruvGear Fretwedge. Unfortunately I screwed up the mounting holes for the Sperzels, gonna have to fill and re-drill at some point, I also wanna do something with the back of neck because it's got some bad scarring, I'm guessing from being played with rings on or something.

 

[Lozek]

H-1007B that I recently picked up to start a new project with Tommy Vext. The material is mainly super low (Drop C with a Low G), possible on a 6 but more comfortable on a Baritone 7. This started out as a standard Koa model, but I Vinyl wrapped it so it no longer looks like a wardrobe from the 70's. I also took a hacksaw to the end of the headstock because it had a little more point than I wanted on it. I've re-done it with an EMG Quick-Connect kit and Sperzels, will probably replace the Hipshot with a Babicz at some point and I'm thinking either Javier Reyes Fishmans or possibly fully passive.

Also, in around about 2013, there was an EII released that was very similar to this, H7B in Matte black with TOM. If anyone ever sees one, let me know, I'm looking to buy.

 

[He_Ma]

MII Deluxe that I got from Josh Middleton of Sylosis. It was in a pretty sorry state but I've cleaned it up, replaced the worn out Sinclair with a Ti blocked, dive only Floyd (fitted a stabilizer), EMG quick-connect kit, Fluence Modern & Single, new switch, dyed the board & fitted a GruvGear Fretwedge. Unfortunately I screwed up the mounting holes for the Sperzels, gonna have to fill and re-drill at some point, I also wanna do something with the back of neck because it's got some bad scarring, I'm guessing from being played with rings on or something.

That's cool! Josh is one my fav metal players. Is there big difference in the output level between the bridge and neck. I am not familiar with the Fishman single coils, but I really love the Fluence moderns.