Some of you saw this coming, but as usual the weather is shit everytime I get a new guitar. Not that it matters I since I suck at photography anway.
Let me introduce you to the Jesse Liu (Cthonic) Katana. One of the coolest ESP Arrows ever made:
Ok, now that you've got your pictures here's the boring part (my impressions).
First of all I want to thank @Vyn for his info about the Arrow 7s (not much available anywhere). You can blame him for me getting this one. You can also check his thread here: https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/esp-7-string-arrows.362952/
- Fit & finish:
Excellent. Not a single issue with binding as some E-IIs I've seen. The fretwork is really, really good. It has a card that I was able to translate from japanese with Google Lens saying it was purchased from Big Boss Japan (which I believe is an ESP dealer) in 2018 and inspected again sometime later, so I suspect they took care of it. It is in practically mint condition too. The only flaw I've seen on it is that the routing of the pickup cavity could be a bit better. I've seen this issue in the past on E-IIs and ESP response was something along the lines of "we do it by hand and suck it up if you don't like it"
It's only noticeable very up close, and honestly I don't mind it.
- Playability:
This is my first ESP, and I wasn't sure if I was going to like the 12" fretboards with XJumbo frets coming from Jacksons (which uses 12-16" and Jumbo frets), but it's fine. As @Vyn told me, the necks on the Jesse Liu sigs are meatier than the regular Arrows, and it is definetely a thick mofo. It's comfortable, and with the big ass frets it plays really welll so I can bear with it. Looks like I tolerate thicker necks with lower radiuses better than ruler flat necks like Ibanez ones.
- Sound:
The guitar is acoustically quieter than any of my other guitars. It really surprised me at first. It's got a Blackout bridge and I'm not an active fan. The pickup is hot as shit and I will need to rebalance my presets since the clean channel is loud as fuck now. I kinda like what the Blackouts do in terms of feel when you back up the gain (they don't feel as "hard" as EMGs). However, I've got plans for this one. I know you guys are going to hate me because this board loves single pickup guitars, but I'm totally defiling it with an EMG SA7X I've already purchased. That means I'll snap a 707TWX on the bridge for split tones fun.
- Quirks / cons:
Big fat neck. As I said, comfortable. but definetely not for everyone.
As any guitar of this kind, it neckdives. The big fat neck probably is a big factor on that. At worst it goes fully horizontal, which is not that bad (as long as the neck doesn't fall downwards I'm ok). Again as per @Vyn 's suggestion I'll be putting Dunlop Flushmount straplocks which will help a bit. I'm also getting Hipshot industrial tuners to lighten up the headstock (and because they look killer on inline headstocks). And since the guitar is light enough as it is (3.6kg), I can afford to change the sustain block for a tungsten one to increase the body weight if needed.
The volume knob is also in a horrid position. I will replace it with a low profile pickup selector and move it lower towards the wing.
The case is huge and expensive. And the worst part is that it didn't came with it, so I'll have to get one eventually anyway.
So overall I'm pretty happy with the purchase. The price I paid for it was fair but definetely more than what they used to sell pre-price hikes. The flipside is that it's in excellent condition and barely played. That will change as soon as I start giging it and smashing the wings into things. It's a radical departure from what I'm used to play (which is exciting), and my bandmates loved the fuck out of it when they saw it today. It's got the looks for sure! It's also super comfortable to play standing up so it will probably become my main gigging axe for my metal band in the future.
Let me introduce you to the Jesse Liu (Cthonic) Katana. One of the coolest ESP Arrows ever made:
Ok, now that you've got your pictures here's the boring part (my impressions).
First of all I want to thank @Vyn for his info about the Arrow 7s (not much available anywhere). You can blame him for me getting this one. You can also check his thread here: https://www.sevenstring.org/threads/esp-7-string-arrows.362952/
- Fit & finish:
Excellent. Not a single issue with binding as some E-IIs I've seen. The fretwork is really, really good. It has a card that I was able to translate from japanese with Google Lens saying it was purchased from Big Boss Japan (which I believe is an ESP dealer) in 2018 and inspected again sometime later, so I suspect they took care of it. It is in practically mint condition too. The only flaw I've seen on it is that the routing of the pickup cavity could be a bit better. I've seen this issue in the past on E-IIs and ESP response was something along the lines of "we do it by hand and suck it up if you don't like it"
It's only noticeable very up close, and honestly I don't mind it.- Playability:
This is my first ESP, and I wasn't sure if I was going to like the 12" fretboards with XJumbo frets coming from Jacksons (which uses 12-16" and Jumbo frets), but it's fine. As @Vyn told me, the necks on the Jesse Liu sigs are meatier than the regular Arrows, and it is definetely a thick mofo. It's comfortable, and with the big ass frets it plays really welll so I can bear with it. Looks like I tolerate thicker necks with lower radiuses better than ruler flat necks like Ibanez ones.
- Sound:
The guitar is acoustically quieter than any of my other guitars. It really surprised me at first. It's got a Blackout bridge and I'm not an active fan. The pickup is hot as shit and I will need to rebalance my presets since the clean channel is loud as fuck now. I kinda like what the Blackouts do in terms of feel when you back up the gain (they don't feel as "hard" as EMGs). However, I've got plans for this one. I know you guys are going to hate me because this board loves single pickup guitars, but I'm totally defiling it with an EMG SA7X I've already purchased. That means I'll snap a 707TWX on the bridge for split tones fun.
- Quirks / cons:
Big fat neck. As I said, comfortable. but definetely not for everyone.
As any guitar of this kind, it neckdives. The big fat neck probably is a big factor on that. At worst it goes fully horizontal, which is not that bad (as long as the neck doesn't fall downwards I'm ok). Again as per @Vyn 's suggestion I'll be putting Dunlop Flushmount straplocks which will help a bit. I'm also getting Hipshot industrial tuners to lighten up the headstock (and because they look killer on inline headstocks). And since the guitar is light enough as it is (3.6kg), I can afford to change the sustain block for a tungsten one to increase the body weight if needed.
The volume knob is also in a horrid position. I will replace it with a low profile pickup selector and move it lower towards the wing.
The case is huge and expensive. And the worst part is that it didn't came with it, so I'll have to get one eventually anyway.
So overall I'm pretty happy with the purchase. The price I paid for it was fair but definetely more than what they used to sell pre-price hikes. The flipside is that it's in excellent condition and barely played. That will change as soon as I start giging it and smashing the wings into things
. It's a radical departure from what I'm used to play (which is exciting), and my bandmates loved the fuck out of it when they saw it today. It's got the looks for sure! It's also super comfortable to play standing up so it will probably become my main gigging axe for my metal band in the future.
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Nice. I’ve one myself. I got it in early 2015. I agree the neck is a bit cumbersome, and the knob placement is not the best.
