Javier Reyes officially with ESP guitars, signature 8-string on the way

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Javier Reyes (Animals as Leaders) Joins ESP Artist Family - The ESP Guitar Company

Javier Reyes, the highly respected, versatile guitarist from progressive metal band Animals as Leaders, is now part of the ESP Guitars artist endorsement roster.

“I’m stoked,” says Reyes. “ESP guitars are just solid. I took one of the E-II models home to play for a few days, and I knew right away it was going to be great on the road, handling all the different environments where we play. It’s got a great playing feel, and a great sound.”

Most known for his work on 8-string instruments, Reyes is currently working with ESP on the development of a new 8-string signature guitar which is set to debut in 2015.

Chris Cannella, ESP’s director of artist relations, says, “It’s an honor to have a guitar player as innovative as Javier in the ESP family. What he’s doing on 8-string guitar is amazing and unprecedented, and we are very proud that he’s chosen to showcase what’s possible on our guitars.”

Javier Reyes has been with Animals as Leaders since 2009, complementing the work of fellow guitarist Tosin Abasi. It was then that he began pushing the boundaries of guitar by moving to a 7-string, and then 8-string model. “I got used to the extended range that the additional strings provide,” he says. “I consider myself a classically-influenced player, and I try to use the 8-string guitar like a piano player, with access to the entire musical spectrum.”

In addition to AAL, Reyes also has his own project Mestis, where he handles more lead guitar, and is also a member of T.R.A.M, with Abasi and former The Mars Volta member Adrián Terrazas-González and Suicidal Tendencies drummer Eric Moore.

 

[bouVIP]

I am excited!!! Also glad to see him with ESP

 

[Andromalia]

He looks so happy

 

[Blood Tempest]

I thought he was fully on-board with Carvin? No? Either way, I'm really stoked about him playing ESP. I'm assuming they will finally offer a production 8 string with a nice top and transparent finish with this.

 

[HurrDurr]

Sweet, this means ESP will have no choice but to stick passives in their ERG's. Excellent. And all it took to have a little variety was a famous guy who will absolutely not play actives anymore, go figure... Is it me or are ESP still as out-of-touch and clueless as ever?

 

[Mprinsje]

Sweet, this means ESP will have no choice but to stick passives in their ERG's. Excellent. And all it took to have a little variety was a famous guy who will absolutely not play actives anymore, go figure... Is it me or are ESP still as out-of-touch and clueless as ever?

Don't forget that this forum represents a minority of all guitar players. For a lot of metal guitarists black+emg=br00tz so they'd gladly buy those.

 

[pylyo]

He looks so happy

Omg Im in bed with my girl which was sleeping and I laughed so hard she jumped up.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Is it me or are ESP still as out-of-touch and clueless as ever?

I think it's less about being clueless and more about not caring, since they seem to appeal more to 6-string and 7-string players.

 

[Omura]

I think it's less about being clueless and more about not caring, since they seem to appeal more to 6-string and 7-string players.

The reason they don't appeal to 8 string players is because they only make black, EMG equipped guitars, the lower end ones are all 25.5 inch scale, which is stupid for F#, unless you want a Stef Carpenter sig, which has a 27" scale, but is still black with EMGs, and has the stupid pickup layout that Stef likes because he thinks it looks cool.

They won't have a market for 8 string players if they don't produce models that appeal to them.

They produced a stupid model, then neglect 8 strings because it doesn't sell. That sounds pretty clueless to me.
I do like ESP/LTD, they make solid instruments, but they lack a level of diversity and certain specs in their range that means I never buy them.

 

[asher]

Because obviously after this long with this many signature models, Stef keeps that because it looks cool, and it totally has nothing to do with sounds

 

[Altar]

Meh. He and Tosin should just both go Strandberg*.

 

[Electric Wizard]

Because obviously after this long with this many signature models, Stef keeps that because it looks cool, and it totally has nothing to do with sounds

Rig Rundown - Deftones' Stephen Carpenter & Sergio Vega - YouTube

edit: Guess you can't embed links with specific start times. 5:35ish though

 

[asher]

Rig Rundown - Deftones' Stephen Carpenter & Sergio Vega - YouTube

If that really is the reason (on phone, not watching) I will eat my words. And then at Stef

That said, it's still a sig, so why is it ESP's fault that he makes spec choices based on what looks cool?

 

[Electric Wizard]

^He says verbatim that it's superficial, inspired by one of Vivian Campbell's guitars.

It's ingrained in my memory because of how shocked I was to hear it. I thought for sure there was a reason to have such a universally hated configuration.


Anyways, hope Javier does something cool. I liked the previous LACS stuff he and Tosin had with retro features, but think Tosin went a bit overboard on the TAM100. Interested to see what Jav does.

 

[Edika]

Will his signature model feature the EMG routes with passive pickups? Couldn't resist the temptation seeing that pic of his. Maybe that's why he seems so angry .

I wasn't much into that new ESP/LTD headstock but it looks really nice on that 8 string E-II. I'm curious to see what they will come up with for his signature model.

 

[gunch]

Literally why when there's Carvin

Follow the money I guess

 

[Dominoes282]

This means no Carvin 8 string beast :'((((((((

 

[sevenstringj]

Sweet, this means ESP will have no choice but to stick passives in their ERG's. Excellent. And all it took to have a little variety was a famous guy who will absolutely not play actives anymore, go figure... Is it me or are ESP still as out-of-touch and clueless as ever?

 

[Andromalia]

Literally why when there's Carvin

Follow the money I guess

Depends on what you want. Finding an off the shelf Carvin out of the USA isn't easy, and I'm not sure they're at the point where they can afford to lug 5 guitars each for replacement during a non US tour. Half the people I know with exclusive endorsements from non global brands have ended up playing other brands on tour with tape over the name, which is a bit defeating the puropose of an endorsement for both parties.
And a the level AAL are at, I'd guess they get free guitars but I'd be surprised if they get money outside of royalties on the sig models. They're still not Slayer/Metallica/Lynch.

 

[Steinmetzify]

Shit. I really dig that. Shit.