Esp ltd Qc. Dire!

skunkwerx

Unless I really am too picky? 

I’m not sure anymore.. 

Could just be a crack in the poly.. but the area there and above the volute is rough like it has overspray.. which makes it feel as bad as it looks. 

Also check the nut height/string over the first fret buzz city. 

Couple similar fractures over the body in various places.. 

Eh the fretboards good though!

Random fucking holes appear common on their Macassar Ebony boards these days.. 

I wouldnt mind but wtf is going on?! 

Same thing on a Kh Ouija and my ec-1000. 

All came from the Korean W plant? World music?

Notice the tooling marks and rough frets too! 

Another sneaky hole there up top and with some tear off lower down?


One in the body just for good measure.


And what the fuck does this mean?!?
13 on some masking tape? 

I might join it up so it makes it a B.. would be more accurate.. 



Guitar was bought brand new, retailer held it less than 12 hours before shipping to me.. 

Esp box wasnt sealed though and usually even in a hard case, these guitars come in a foam sheath with a foam disc over the switch.. neither of which were present.. 

hmm. 

skunkwerx

I dislike these scenarios... 

Weighing up a trip to Feline to get it set up and the nut inspected.. I dont know if a truss treak will cure it or if the nut is cut too low bass side.. 

Vs sending it back because fuck it.. if Gibson can knock out an American Jr for £200 cheaper than this which is so far perfect except one tiny blemish.. then these guys need up up their game... 

and I hate that because Esp were my go to.

duotone

No you are definitely  not being too fussy. If it was me I would send it back & wait until I can get to a store.  It looks like this lockdown has given some shops a license to send out items without checking them properly/at all.

13 ‘unlucky No.’ sticker...Maybe someone else stuck that on there before they sent it back?

Where did you buy it from?

Kittyfrisk

I'd be inclined to return it too.
The fretboard woodworm exit holes (pretty sure they are) do not really indicate quality materials being used.
The overall lack of attention to the finish & setup is as you say, very un ESP.
It's only going to annoy you from now on, so get a replacement & hopefully you'll be OK.

prlgmnr

You're not having much luck recently.

paulnb57

I would consider no option other that returning it....

MattW

That’s not good. Personally, I’d send that back.

i bought my first Ltd a couple of months ago and other than a couple of very minor paint runs (one on the side of the headstock and another on the binding at the 1st fret) I can’t fault it so I don’t know if I was lucky or you’ve been unlucky with this and the Ouija.

skunkwerx

Cheers guys. 

I genuinely began to wonder if maybe my expectations are just too high for production models y’know. 

It came from Guitarguitar. Not gonna flame yet as I havent contacted them yet! 

This is actually the 3rd Snakeybyte I’ve got through! The first one I checked out in Andertons, and didnt buy.. it had raised fret ends and a lacquer crack in the neck. 

The second had a weird neck angle which meant the bridge had to be canted to compensate which wasnt too bad, but the pickups were what I would call microphonic... feedback like crazy at any volume level no matter the distance to amp..

+ with the 2 Ouijas lol.. 

Certainly appears that their signature models despite being around the £1300-£1500 mark are sub par.. 

thats interesting regarding them being wormholes! Would never have thought that!

ThePrettyDamned

Looks like a dud. My old H1001 was nearly flawless... One minor binding overspray.

Shame - hope their QC isn't dropping... 

ICBM

No, you aren't being too fussy. One or two of those issues *might* be possible to overlook - but there are just so many, and some of them are quite serious. The fingerboard wouldn't be out of place on a sub-£100 Chinese acoustic.

If it buzzes at the first fret it's not fit for purpose anyway, regardless of the rest of it. This can't really be considered a 'set up issue' because the only proper way to fix it is to replace the nut, and that isn't acceptable on a new guitar.

I'd send that back and ask for a full refund, not a replacement. Then consider your options as to what *different* guitar you want, if any.

grungebob

Yeah there is no way in the world I would be convinced to keep that guitar. Send it back, get a refund and look elsewhere, there are some fantastic guitars out there these days. 

paulnb57

A Squier Bullet has less issues for about 120 quid, thats appalling quality from ESP at any price

DeeTee

That sucks, even the basic LTD models are normally pretty good. Stuff like that isn't acceptable on guitar that's over a grand. I've always liked the look of the Snakebytes too, but three in a row would make me hesitant to try number four.

RaymondLin

That's really bad, from the guy who selected the fretboard to the guy who put the frets on to the guy painted the lacquer and definitely the guy inspected it.

Really surprised that is allowed to come out.

LastMantra

That's really bad IMHO! Send back.

skunkwerx

For real. 

Its such a shame. I gave up on the Ouija and thought I’d take another shot at the Snakebyte but yeah, its nuts. 

I’ll keep ya posted what happens! I might try and get in touch with Esp to see what they have to say.. 

From what I know they have a Uk distribution centre. 

Guitarguitar had this up as ‘on order’, so I emailed them to see if they had an ETA, which when they replied they said they’d been in touch with the supplier and it was due any day. 

Next morning it showed in stock so I ordered it.. 

I’d like to know who the supplier is, presumably the Esp Uk dizzy centre.. 

I would presume it would be checked..

But I can’t believe standards are so low these days that the factory passed it, then the distribution centre passed it then the store passed it lol.. 

My suspicions however say this was a return... 

skullfunkerry

That is terrible, you're not being too picky. As others have said though, you've been super unlucky: I've had 4 LTDs and they have all been excellent 

skunkwerx

RaymondLin said:

That's really bad, from the guy who selected the fretboard to the guy who put the frets on to the guy painted the lacquer and definitely the guy inspected it.

Really surprised that is allowed to come out.

Haha so true. 

The funny thing is, on this and the Ouija, the detailed inlay(s) arent done very accurately. They use a lot of filler around sharp points, presumably where the router can’t go as narrow as the inlayed material is.. 

They fill those gaps, so why wouldnt they just fill the random holes too?! Haha.

skunkwerx

Though if they are worm holes.. This things staying in the garden til its gone back haha.. 

I’m sure there was a thread here about a lady who had a high end guitar, I canny remember the brand, Suhr or similar, and the body around one of the horns she noticed noises or something so sent it off, and lo and behold the pissing thing was infested with em  

eeek

StormshadowGuitars

skunkwerx said:

For real. 

Its such a shame. I gave up on the Ouija and thought I’d take another shot at the Snakebyte but yeah, its nuts. 

I’ll keep ya posted what happens! I might try and get in touch with Esp to see what they have to say.. 

From what I know they have a Uk distribution centre. 

Guitarguitar had this up as ‘on order’, so I emailed them to see if they had an ETA, which when they replied they said they’d been in touch with the supplier and it was due any day. 

Next morning it showed in stock so I ordered it.. 

I’d like to know who the supplier is, presumably the Esp Uk dizzy centre.. 

I would presume it would be checked..

But I can’t believe standards are so low these days that the factory passed it, then the distribution centre passed it then the store passed it lol.. 

My suspicions however say this was a return... 

Selectron are ESP's UK Distributor. 
Distributors generally do not open boxes to check anything anymore, they send it on to the shop who orders it and in a lot of cases they don't open them either unless they go on the wall.

It's usually only high end stuff that gets opened, photo's and weights taken and re boxed, Gibson, PRS and that kind of thing where they're unique.

mbe

I think ESP distribution in UK is by Sound-Service EU with a base somewhere near Bedford. The ESP website shows a link to there now.

The IW serial numbers should denote the manufacture by PT Wildwood Indonesia, a notoriously inconsistent factory. They contracted with Jackson for the Pro series and the QC didn't meet standards so they switched prodiction to Cort. PT Wildwood have produced much of the high end Schecter instruments and they are capable of the very best workmanship.

Looking at the Snakebyte reviews on Sweetwater, they all write in glowing terms so it begs the question is the UK distributor up to the task or are they just accepting sub standard examples. I think they took over the ESP distribution back end of last year and maybe they have inherited a load of crap stock.

I have 4 lowly LTDs all made in Vietnam and, whilst the cosmetics might not be perfect, they have no actual defects as such.

Send it back. At the same time you could let them know your relationship with ESP is soured and you want answers, because it's wasting everybody's time.