I've taken my ESP Strat to get Plek'd...

[Hellbat]

My concern with the Plek process is that it isn't idiot proof, so someone can use it improperly and still get bad results.

[Genebaby]

My concern with the Plek process is that it isn't idiot proof, so someone can use it improperly and still get bad results.

Of course, it's only as good as the person operating it. Fantastic results in low actin can be achieved but you need to know what you're doing, or it will be mediocre and a waste of $$$, like my experience.

[Genebaby]

But was the fretboard laminated on that one, Vic?

Oh no Joe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw that piece of GMW shit fretboard last week when I dropped off the San Dimas. Russ has it there in a pile of crap that seems to live on this shelf.

[sully]

My concern with the Plek process is that it isn't idiot proof, so someone can use it improperly and still get bad results.

Yep! Just ask Gibson!

Sully

[toejam]

Oh no Joe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw that piece of GMW shit fretboard last week when I dropped off the San Dimas. Russ has it there in a pile of crap that seems to live on this shelf.

Nice!

[Maiden89]

Your ESP looks amazing! I don't think $250 is much, if it makes your guitar a better player, especially if your guitar is $8K. I was honestly expecting a lot more. I had a friend that paid over $100 just to change strings and set up his Floyd...

[xenophobe]

Thanks! Build quality is really above and beyond what I've seen of most manufacturers... an amazing guitar settled or aged badly and a normal fret level was complicated and didn't fully resolve the issues. The Plek turned it into the best neck it could be, really. It produced great results. End result is a neck you don't want to stop playing.

I really don't mind the price because it's a prohibitively expensive machine for a normal repair shop to buy and learn to use, especially considering how good the results are.

[Carbuff]

Wait, That guitar cost $8000 USD? It looks awesome and all but its really just a hotrodded strat. Am I missing something? Does it have some kind of collector value? Super rare? School me on this, if you dont mind.

[xenophobe]

Yeah, the original price to whomever ordered it was between $7000-$8000. I could get the actual cost from ESP, but I haven't bothered sending in the serial. Maybe it's in the high $6k range, but that's unlikely considering it's a 2009. That's just how much a real custom spec'd ESP really costs brand new (not a US-Market watered down custom order). Someone walked into their retail store, sat down and ordered this, and picked it up. It was mostly unplayed when I bought it.

I bought this used because my quote for a custom ESP Strathead came back at $7800 and spec-wise wasn't a whole lot different than this. They cost this because that's just what they charge for a custom. They're hand made one-offs using hand tools... no cnc, no pin routers, etc... all hand cut, hand formed and hand finished and with the exception of paint, they're all built by one person from start to finish. Does that justify the new cost? I have a Jackson Demon in the queue that has a MSRP of almost $10k. So, I couldn't justify the $8k on the Strat I wanted to order so the $2700 I paid for this made a lot of sense. I'm probably not the guy to ask for that opinion. lol

Best guess is, this particular guitar was probably built at their Craft House retail location. It has a rare serial number prefix for a custom ESP, N... that doesn't directly have any specific custom shop attributed to it. the guesstimate is that it was given a Navigator serial number due to it being a vintage build (speculation). Either way, guitars with a N serial prefix are pretty rare. I've never seen another and consensus on the ESP forum before I posted mine was that there weren't any N prefix guitars even built. If it didn't have an official ESP CS Certificate, most people would probably assume this was faked. Not that it matters, but non-Metallicrap stuff like this doesn't seem to matter to most ESP fans.

I think it's a really neat guitar. Build quality? It makes a Charvel CS or Fender Deluxe look unimpressive, to say the least. The level of detail that went into the build is just ridiculous. It even has an isolated rubber shock mount battery compartment. I WTF and lol'd when I first saw it because it looks mil-spec and could probably survive a war. Build quality surpasses any strat body I've ever seen. The neck profile is similar to SD, but it's a different slim reinterpretation of the classic Fender C shape. All the phenomenal build quality aside, the neck settled badly at the typical bulge/hump somewhere past the 14th and it had a complicated buzz issue. A normal fret-level helped, but it took a Plek to make it play like it probably did the day it left the custom shop.

As for collectibility? ESP Strathead? Sure, it has it all. Lawsuit Fender Strat headstock, bullet truss, angled neck place, easy access heel, script logo, rare serial prefix, etc... As for value? I probably wouldn't be able to sell it for close to what I have into it. Not many people really care about stuff like this. But, I like Strats and I like one-offs. ESP Japan has made quite a few Strats over the years, but this is definitely the highest quality strat I've seen. Many have v-trems and vintage tuners and Floyded factory strats are really rare. So this one is really special.

I have a custom pickguard coming, it's the same white/black/white, but it's cut for 1 EMG 81/85 and 1 volume. It has a set of factory installed custom Suhr pickups, and while they sound decent and modern vintage, the guitar is a bit too warm sounding so it'll probably get an 81 and stay that way.

[Carbuff]

Yeah, the original price to whomever ordered it was between $7000-$8000. I could get the actual cost from ESP, but I haven't bothered sending in the serial. Maybe it's in the high $6k range, but that's unlikely considering it's a 2009. That's just how much a real custom spec'd ESP really costs brand new (not a US-Market watered down custom order). Someone walked into their retail store, sat down and ordered this, and picked it up. It was mostly unplayed when I bought it.

I bought this used because my quote for a custom ESP Strathead came back at $7800 and spec-wise wasn't a whole lot different than this. They cost this because that's just what they charge for a custom. They're hand made one-offs using hand tools... no cnc, no pin routers, etc... all hand cut, hand formed and hand finished and with the exception of paint, they're all built by one person from start to finish. Does that justify the new cost? I have a Jackson Demon in the queue that has a MSRP of almost $10k. So, I couldn't justify the $8k on the Strat I wanted to order so the $2700 I paid for this made a lot of sense. I'm probably not the guy to ask for that opinion. lol

Best guess is, this particular guitar was probably built at their Craft House retail location. It has a rare serial number prefix for a custom ESP, N... that doesn't directly have any specific custom shop attributed to it. the guesstimate is that it was given a Navigator serial number due to it being a vintage build (speculation). Either way, guitars with a N serial prefix are pretty rare. I've never seen another and consensus on the ESP forum before I posted mine was that there weren't any N prefix guitars even built. If it didn't have an official ESP CS Certificate, most people would probably assume this was faked. Not that it matters, but non-Metallicrap stuff like this doesn't seem to matter to most ESP fans.

I think it's a really neat guitar. Build quality? It makes a Charvel CS or Fender Deluxe look unimpressive, to say the least. The level of detail that went into the build is just ridiculous. It even has an isolated rubber shock mount battery compartment. I WTF and lol'd when I first saw it because it looks mil-spec and could probably survive a war. Build quality surpasses any strat body I've ever seen. The neck profile is similar to SD, but it's a different slim reinterpretation of the classic Fender C shape. All the phenomenal build quality aside, the neck settled badly at the typical bulge/hump somewhere past the 14th and it had a complicated buzz issue. A normal fret-level helped, but it took a Plek to make it play like it probably did the day it left the custom shop.

As for collectibility? ESP Strathead? Sure, it has it all. Lawsuit Fender Strat headstock, bullet truss, angled neck place, easy access heel, script logo, rare serial prefix, etc... As for value? I probably wouldn't be able to sell it for close to what I have into it. Not many people really care about stuff like this. But, I like Strats and I like one-offs. ESP Japan has made quite a few Strats over the years, but this is definitely the highest quality strat I've seen. Many have v-trems and vintage tuners and Floyded factory strats are really rare. So this one is really special.

I have a custom pickguard coming, it's the same white/black/white, but it's cut for 1 EMG 81/85 and 1 volume. It has a set of factory installed custom Suhr pickups, and while they sound decent and modern vintage, the guitar is a bit too warm sounding so it'll probably get an 81 and stay that way.

Thanks for taking the time to explain that all to me. I can tell that you really enjoy and appreciate all that went into making that guitar. I think thats awesome. Ive always wanted an old esp strat. I remember on the cover of guitar player many moons ago, Jake E Lee had a yellow one that he was holding with the strat head pointed right at you with the big ESP logo in your face. I also recall the David Letterman guy. (name escapes me at the moment, Hiram?) had one like that too in the 80's. I knew they were expensive, but had no idea. Enjoy the hell outa that thing.

Edit: It was Sid with the yellow esp strat on Letterman.