ESP LTD M-400 - Black Satin

This was my first guitar with active pickups and it sounds nice. If you're used to passive pickups, active ones don't feel very punchy. Other than that, the guitar is truly a fine piece of work.

Great guitar. Although I switched out the EMG active pickups for some Seymour Duncan Nazgul/Sentient pickups. Sounds amazing. Neck is thin and flat. Great for legato playing.

I was going to buy the Fender HM Strat reissue, but after looking closely at the specs, I realized that the only thing that was like the original was the body, neck, and tuners and $1200.00 for this guitar was way too much. So, I started shopping for something that was a better value, and bought this guitar for $800.00. I really liked it but the neck was awful. I couldn't bend any strings without feeling a grinding sensation across the frets. These were obviously not polished and finished. Plus the bridge doesn't even come close to matching the neck radius. A guitar at this price point should not have these issues. I will probably return it since getting these issues resolved will cost more money which I feel I shouldn't have to spend on a new guitar.UPDATE: I did return this guitar for exchange. Kudos to Amazon for a painless exchange. The replacement guitar had none of the issues the first one had. I absolutely love the neck on this and the EMG pick ups are amazing. This guitar is definitely a better value that the $1200.00 re issue HM strat. And the sound and tone will blow you away.UPDATE: After finding out I could not lower the pickups since the pictures of this guitar are not what you get when you buy it. There are no rings around the pickups and they are screwed in with a piece of dense foam under them that prevents lowering. The rings are @ 5 bucks a piece yet LTD chose to remove them. It took all of 15 minutes to install and I have full adjustability now. You will also want to replace the Floyd Rose Special as it is a POS. Get the original FR all made in Germany. The difference in weight and tone and sustain is definitely noticable. And it will stay in tune! You will also want to remove the ground wire on the claw which grounds the bridge. According to EMG this is a no no. Lastly, you should remove the neck and make sure it is flat along with the pocket in the body. My neck had a label stuck to the bottom of the neck that was clear coated over, acting like a shim. All screw holes had little high spots that needed to be sanded down. Plus there was a screw in the middle that was a high spots and needed to be ground down. I then bought a tapered shim set for the neck and calculated that I needed about 3/4 of a degree of shim. After prepping all surfaces and installing the shims and putting it all back together, I now have a guitar that plays like butter and stays in tune and is fully adjustable. It did cost me an extra $350.00 to do all this, but to me it was worth it.

I've been playing it for almost two months and I love it! Feel great, sounds great, looks great. I was worried having never played this brand before, but I am glad I chose it. My only complaint is the placement of the volume knob. It's so close the strings and I find that I bump it while playing. Easy fix, just have to train my hand/fingers positioning. Otherwise, very happy with this beauty!

Bolt on neck for $800???? Yea ok...no thanks. Better off with Schecter or Jackson for this price.

Plays awesome right out of box esp im impressed