NGD: ESP LTD H308

[halogen8]

I've been lurking these forums for a few weeks doing research on which ERG to buy and having bought a beautiful ESP LTD H308 yesterday I figured it would be a good time to finally join the community.

After many weeks of late nights reading these forums, blogs and watching endless amounts of youtube videos, I finally pulled the trigger on an 8 string guitar and I'm really loving this thing.

I've been playing 6 string guitar since 1980 (I have yet to even master that instrument) but I felt like I needed something to breath new life into my otherwise stagnating playing style. This was exactly what I needed. I've only had this guitar for 24 hrs but from the first time I played it through the double rectifier at the Guitar Center in Rochester, NY (where I bought it from) I knew I needed this guitar. It's a truly dark and evil sounding beast.

One question I have: I am used to using D'Addario XL120s on my six string guitars. I know the shorter scale of this guitar makes it more difficult to use lighter strings. Should I stick with the .10 gauge set that this guitar is set up for or can I switch them out?

Thanks for having such an awesome and active community. The info I got here was very valuable in making my decision.

 

[goldsteinat0r]

ITT: Beastly instrument.

These are 25.5" scales, correct? You can typically go up or down one gauge without needing any significant adjustment. With such a wide range of pitches and gauges on one guitar I bet its difficult to get the tension you like on every string, though. I imagine a lot of people buy six string sets and then buy the two low strings separately? Probably takes some experimenting to get what you like, but thats half the fun! Congrats and HNGD!

 

[Philligan]

Great score man, I like those a lot more than the FM-418s

For strings, the top six or seven strings will be fine with your usual gauges. Say you play 10-46s on a 25.5" six string. If you're gonna keep this guitar in or around standard tuning, 10-46s will still be fine.

The only place you could run into trouble is the 8th string, and maybe the 7th depending on your preferences. But heavier strings will help with that.

If you're gonna tune it to F# standard, I'd suggest a 10-46 with a 60 for the B and either a 74 for the F# to start

EDIT: Kinda read your question wrong. See how you like the feel/sound of what's on there now. I think they come with 10-68s? IMHO 68 isn't heavy enough, I'd start with a 74 and go from there. It's all about finding what feels good to you, but that's a pretty safe starting point. You can swap around strings without too much trouble.

 

[stuglue]

Great to see a user review here.
Question for the owner, what does the neck feel like, its not a fat baseball bat is it? I've played a couple of ESP LTD guitars and they've impressed me. What's it like for bending the strings, are they tight? How are you finding the active pickups, will you swap em out?
What's the string spacing like compared to your 6 string, are you having to change your picking technique? Is it harder to navigate a wide fretboard? Sorry for all the questions but like you I im doing my research as I intend to buy this same guitar

 

[halogen8]

Great to see a user review here.
Question for the owner, what does the neck feel like, its not a fat baseball bat is it? I've played a couple of ESP LTD guitars and they've impressed me. What's it like for bending the strings, are they tight? How are you finding the active pickups, will you swap em out?
What's the string spacing like compared to your 6 string, are you having to change your picking technique? Is it harder to navigate a wide fretboard? Sorry for all the questions but like you I im doing my research as I intend to buy this same guitar

The neck is really nice, thin and easy to play, def thinner than a Les Paul. Bending seems fine, I bend a lot during leads and I have no problems at all. spacing is not an issue either, my picking technique has not changed at all.

The pickups are great, I'll leave them in. I've had EMGs in previous guitars and I like them. I was originally going to buy a Schecter Omen 8 or LTD H208 and eventually swap out the pickups since I've read that they are horrible. Problem with that is it will cost you well over $200 to swap out the pups especially for active ones. But both of those guitars have bolt on necks which I've read makes it harder to reach the higher frets if you have smaller hands. My hands are probably average sized, but I figured if the neck through body of the H308 makes it easier to play I'd rather have it.

Navigating the fretboard isnt that hard, I was worried about the width of the neck being a barrier but more I play it, the more comfortable I am with it. I was also concerned that the lack of distinct fret markers on the fretboard would be a problem, but this too is proving to be something that I can actually live with. It has inlays as well as markers on the side but they get lost in the binding and the fretboard inlays are a little too dark to see in low light conditions. These are minor gripes that are easily dismissed by the pros that this guitar has.

What I would recommend is finding one to try out for an hour or so. In all I think I played on 2 separate 8 strings for a total of an hour and half and felt confident enough to drop the money on one. After owning and playing it for a full day, I am confident and extremely satisfied with my purchase

 

[stuglue]

Thanks for the reply. I take it you didn't get to test the H208 before buying the 308? I ask tts because you mentioned you thought access to the high frets would be harder on a bolt on nic. Im in two minds, do I go with the 308 and benefit from the thru neck or do I buy the 338 and with the money buy the pckups I really want, dimarzio d activator in the bridge paf8 in the neck, however the 338 is a bolt on, aside from that and the ESP pickups that's the only difference between that and the 308 but I don't want the emg pickups.

 

[Goatchrist]

I just love the bindings! Congrats!

 

[The Grief Hole]

Enjoy it dude. Looks like a beauty.

 

[halogen8]

Thanks for the reply. I take it you didn't get to test the H208 before buying the 308? I ask tts because you mentioned you thought access to the high frets would be harder on a bolt on nic. Im in two minds, do I go with the 308 and benefit from the thru neck or do I buy the 338 and with the money buy the pckups I really want, dimarzio d activator in the bridge paf8 in the neck, however the 338 is a bolt on, aside from that and the ESP pickups that's the only difference between that and the 308 but I don't want the emg pickups.

I wanted to to test the 208 as well as the schecters but the music stores in my didnt have any and would have to special order it. You might want to think about going with the 338 if you are putting in passive pickups. I read somewhere that bolt on necks give you a brighter sound over set thru which can sound muddy. This might br one of the reasons that active pups are used in so many 8 strings, but I'm not sure how true that is.

 

[stuglue]

One final question, what's the pickup spacing dimensions, would it for a dimarzio d activator?

 

[halogen8]

Here's a little something I'm working on. You can get an idea of the different sounds this guitar can get from this track:

Solitude Pt 2

One final question, what's the pickup spacing dimensions, would it for a dimarzio d activator?

Sorry I have no idea.

 

[stuglue]

thanks for your patience with my questions, i appreciate your input. Im ordering one of these babies as soon as they come into the UK. Lefties are very hard to get hold of

 

[halogen8]

thanks for your patience with my questions, i appreciate your input. Im ordering one of these babies as soon as they come into the UK. Lefties are very hard to get hold of

Anytime! Good luck and I hope you enjoy it when you get it, I'm certainly enjoying mine.

 

[SYLrules88]

nice purchase! id love to play an ltd 8. i like pretty much every LTD i pick up and play so i dont think it would be any different with one of these!

 

[stuglue]

Halogen, do you have the neck dimensions of the H308?
Ive found the Damien Elite 8 ones and wanted to know if the ESP was thinner.
Here are the schecter measurements
Scale Length: 674mm/26.5”
A: Width at Nut- 54mm
B: Width at Last Fret- 76mm
C: Thickness at 1st Fret- 20mm
D: Thickness at 12th Fret- 22mm
Radius: 406mm/16”

 

[jordanky]

Looks great man, I just placed an order at work with a couple of these on it. My only gripe it that I hate matte finishes. Other than that, beast guitars man. Congrats!

 

[blastbeatdown]

i'm highly considering this guitar. everybody seems to hate the idea of a 25.5" scale 8 string but i can't stand the neck on my agile. sure i get great tension out of the bottom string with the 28.6" scale, which is important since i tune to drop E, but the high strings are so tight that it's way too difficult for me to play fast. idc if i have to put a .090 on this thing, the neck just has to be nicer than the agile. the thing feels like a tree trunk, and frankly it hurts.

 

[stuglue]

I would love an 8 at that scale, it would make a high A or Ab possible

 

[Faine]

I liked that guitar. I played one at the local guitar store. It's fairly light and has a nice neck. I love the flat black paint too. Nice guitar man! Congrats

 

[crankyrayhanky]

I've been lurking....just put this h308 on order!