Esp and Jackson...

[Grayfox958]

I belive both companys make fine products. Their are some Jacksons i hate and some ESPs i hate. But you cant go off and say that ESP sucks after you play ONE guitar, same for Jackson!. IMO

[mm2002]

ESP's don't really suck.....but there are better axes out there for the money. One of those just happens to be Jacksons.

[cookiemonster2]

Actually, only Eclipses II would have a veneer (quilted or flamed) OVER a full plain maple cap. Eclipses I have a full (but neither quilted nor flamed) maple top.

Don't all US Jackson's (but SL2MAH and Custom shop) have only a veneer on transparent colours?

My understanding is that there is only a veneer over the mahogany body, no maple cap on eclipse II's. I could be wrong.

Yes, Jackson uses veneer on their USA selects but they don't try to pass it off as a 3/4" top like ESP does. I guess that's what bugs me about it. ESP doesn't explain that in their specs.

I owned a Japanese built ESP for five years. It was a very good guitar but I still think they are over-hyped and over-priced.

[Gfunk]

No it is a figured veneer on top of a maple cap on top of a mahogany body. The custom series has a full figured maple cap. LTD uses both veneers and photo-flames.

[Xochitl]

Hi Gfunk.
Attracted by this thread?
My name's frisell in the "other forum". I finally bought the Horizon NT-II in STBK I was looking for at the time.

[Xochitl]

Not sure what you mean by that last post.

I believe people don't usually know what ESP means. ...and they don't really care.

BTW, ESP was fisrt a store that supplied parts ans electronic devices for guitars. They became a kind of guitar custom shop before making guitar production their main activity.

[Xochitl]

Yes, Jackson uses veneer on their USA selects but they don't try to pass it off as a 3/4" top like ESP does. I guess that's what bugs me about it. ESP doesn't explain that in their specs.

I partially agree with you on that. I had to investigate a bit before understanding this "maple cap + veneer" thing.

[zebutcher]

Sorry if i dont do a comparison.

So i will do it with my SLSMG ltd :

Neck : Jackson have this special neck. Not like ibanez very flat, but not very round. Its large and have good feeling with it.
ESP have a neck more round not so large like SLSMG, but more than a stratocaster.
The jumbo fret on ESP are very cool. Good playability. On SLSMG its more thin, but its cool with his neck profile.
Access for the last fret is the same between Jackson and SLSMG.
Ebony on ESP is more beautiful than SLSMG but it's new one. SLSMG is an old lady (2003)

Body : The SLSMG have a beautiful body like a woman : sweet and round. The flammed top is not bad but its not a real maple top. Binding is good, and finish is great.
ESP have a wonderful body. Quilted maple top, binding, finish and color are great. The back let see the neck thru.

Sound : SLSMG sound deep with his mahogany body and neck. ESP sound more bright with his alder wings and maple neck. I take this two guitars, like that i have 2 different sounds.
SLSMG have EMG and ESP have Seymour Duncan. So i can't really compare.
But i think the ESP is more neutral, don't have HIS sound. You (the guitar player) need to bring your touch.

Playability : I think i prefer ESP but they are very close for me. I prefer the round neck. (not an objective point of view)

Finish : ESP is higher. But if you comapre ESP and US Jackson its totaly close.

Conclusion : ESP and Jackson are very close. But Jackson have his typical sound. i think i can say : Jackson's guitar have souls.


PS : i posted some pics cause i know that you dont have this ESP in USA.

[roodyrocker]

I have a few ESP's myself and I can't say they're bad guitars. I still prefer my Jacksons but I do like the regular ESP stuff as well, not the LTD line. In fact one of those ESP's was originally Beachjammer's and it plays nice
The one thing I've noticed about ESP however is that they are not as consistent as Jacksons. I tried a new Lynch Sunburst Tiger a few years back in a store thinking I was going to buy it. It didn't feel right so I passed on it only to buy a used one that felt much better.

Rudy

https://www.wickedrocks.com

[6077dino]

I´ve had some ESP´s(KH-2 for instance) too and played a bunch(eclipses, horizons etc...). The only ESP I liked was M-II and neck thru M-II. ESP´s usually feel cold and dead. There is verry little life in them. Jacksons feel real.

I like that neck thru M-II a lot but still I feel that a SL-2 is far superior guitar. One thing I don´t like in ESP´s is the radius. Compound radius is just so much more comfortable for me. Qualitywise I think Jacksons are better too.

Pricing is not an issue too. A M-II neck thru costs about 1650€ in europe and a SL-2 can be had for 1750€. So there is no need to get an ESP on the first place!

[zebutcher]

I´ve had some ESP´s(KH-2 for instance) too and played a bunch(eclipses, horizons etc...). The only ESP I liked was M-II and neck thru M-II. ESP´s usually feel cold and dead. There is verry little life in them. Jacksons feel real.

I like that neck thru M-II a lot but still I feel that a SL-2 is far superior guitar. One thing I don´t like in ESP´s is the radius. Compound radius is just so much more comfortable for me. Qualitywise I think Jacksons are better too.

Pricing is not an issue too. A M-II neck thru costs about 1650€ in europe and a SL-2 can be had for 1750€. So there is no need to get an ESP on the first place!

Yeap in finland, but in france we have 19.6% of taxes...
Nad i don't know why, but jackson US are very expensive by europe shop.

[6077dino]

Yeap in finland, but in france we have 19.6% of taxes...
Nad i don't know why, but jackson US are very expensive by europe shop.

We too have taxation from hell. There is no way to get a real Jackson for that price in here. Thanks to EU we can buy this stuff inside the EU region. Germany and UK have the cheapest Jacksons. I´ll order mine from there.

[zebutcher]

I order mine in USA. Its cheaper to buy in USA and pay taxes&shipping thant but it in France...

[Brick]

Long Live Jackson!!!!!!!!!

[Grayfox958]

Long live ESP also.