ESP LTD EC-1000S Fluence - Black

First, the stock photos don't really do the "tiger eye" justice. The color is more of a fiery orange than a brown that stock photos indicate. The flamed maple has almost a 3D look with the look of the grain changing with the angle of viewing. She's a beauty, but loves fingerprints. The Fluence pickups are supremely quiet, loud and clear, if that makes sense. My guitar teacher was impressed with the sound despite being an old-school guy when it comes to gear. I like the Fishmans, but you should try them out at a store first. The tuners are slick, sensitive and locking. The XL frets make bends easy and smooth and the neck is very comfortable. All in all this has a lot of nice touches and everything says quality. It's fun to play and really resonates in your hands, giving you feedback. I think this could use a longer scale length neck to go with the 24 frets, if I have any quibbles. This version is made in Korea.

ESP used to make some really high quality guitars in the LTD line. That being said, this is when they were still being made in the Korean factory. In a momentary lapse of reason, I purchased this, $1100, Indonesian made, EC-1000S and was instantly regretful upon it's arrival. With the myriad, of inexpensive, high quality, import guitars now available, I can no longer recommend LTD instruments. After the pandemic, we saw a major price hike on everything, and frankly, a downturn in quality. Sad to say, even luxury items, such as import guitars were not immune to these quality problems as I am sure there are less workers with any experience making these dreadfully, low quality instruments. On to the guitar I received... First off, the seller shipped the guitar in the, inner, triangular container which is only enough to protect the guitar in a music store back room, definitely a very poor choice when shipping a guitar. The outer container was absent. Upon unboxing, right away, I noticed a massive, paint flaw on the front face of the instrument (pictured). Clearly, when the guitar was painted, an airbubble didn't escape, causing it to pop during the drying period, and leaving an appropriately BB sized divot, in the finish, right on the front face of the single cut horn. Ridiculous that something as big as this was not caught in in the paint shop, and then a second time in the supposed US inspection facility. This is clearly a B-Stock instrument. Sloppy paint, sloppy binding, uneven, ripply, clear coat. Poorly cut nut... What exactly makes this guitar worth $1100??? The LTD name? Laughable... This is a $400 guitar with flaws and expensive pickups. I plugged the guitar in to hear the Fishman pickups, and they were comically thin sounding with extremely low output. I am guessing this guitar sat for a long while, and the battery was dead or there was something else wrong with the pickups themselves or the wiring. Having been told Fishman makes their pickups in China, this is not surprising. A dealer informed me that a lot of Fishman's arrive in these guitars DOA. I didn't bother to swap the battery as the guitar promptly made it's way back in the shipping box and back to the returns depot. Simply resting on the laurels of a name like ESP, just does not cut it these days. Save your coins... If you are looking for an affordable, lower end guitar with mid tear components, check out Schecter. I don't particularly care for their brash designs, however, I can vouch that their QC is much higher than LTDs, currently. I can no longer recommend LTD instruments and I can honestly say that this guitar has quelled my desire to own anymore LTDs. I attached a picture of the ridiculous paint flaw in this Indonesian made, $1100 guitar. I didn't bother photographing anymore of the issues as it is extremely difficult on a gloss black guitar. I think think the hole on the front is quite enough to support my review.

I took this guitar on an airplane a few days after it arrived it had a good set up on it. I did a weeks worth of outdoor gigs in Florida it performed flawlessly. The piezo system is excellent. It stayed in tune well. I then flew back to Minnesota with it and did a gig in 90 degree heat in direct sunlight. Once again it performed flawlessly and stayed in tune. The neck didn't change at all in those temperature extremes. It is worth the money.

I could not be happier with this guitar. It is so fun to play. Quality of the guitar body and neck are amazing as are the parts. This is my first guitar with Fishmans and they are great. They have a very hot and bright signal but you can back them off with the more passive pickup style by popping the tone knob out. The tuners are very slick and adjust easily. I frequently change to various non-standard tunings and the guitar adapts very well. The neck is slim and slick. The ebony fretboard is so smooth. It plays like a dream! All 24 frets of it.

Super fast delivery! And the guitar is great!

Strings are buzzing against the fret board and the intonation is off, needs work right out of the box. For the price, this guitar should be ready to play. Fret board was very dirty too, I don't feel like its worth the price at all. The neck feels small, maybe because its 24 frets on a 24-3/4" neck, probably should be 22 frets. Nice looking guitar though.

Descontento. Me parece que le faltan etiquetas de un producto nuevo. Ademas vino con un defecto en el traste 1 y estaba como sucia. En la imagen e puede ver que la banderita esta rota. Las pastillas no tenían los plásticos con los que suelen venir encueltas. No se que ha ocurrido pero estoy decepcionado 😞

Nothing bad to say about this guitar . I’ve own many American made guitars and wasn’t sure about Ltd plus coming from a online retailer what was it gonna be like . The guitar arrived fast and packed ok. The neck is really stable feet work is good miner fret buzz at a low action . The body was pristine, the locking tuners are very touchy high ratio . The Fishman pick ups well if you love EMG’s your gonna love these clarity of each string is unreal . I can also say this is the loudest resonating guitar I’ve ever seen