ESP Eclipse setup

 This beautiful ESP eclipse guitar came in for a setup. It's a nice single-cut guitar with a set-in neck and a set of active pickups.

Here are its specs:

-maple/mahogany body,

-custom binding on top and back,

-mahogany neck (set-neck),

-ebony fretboard, white binding, flag inlays,

-scale: 629 mm, 22 XJ frets,

-1x EMG 81 humbucker (bridge), 1x EMG 60 humbucker (neck),

-3-way toggle switch, 2x volume controls, 1x tone controls,

-Gotoh tune-O-matic bridge, Gotoh Magnum Lock tuners, gold hardware,

-finish: vintage black

Tone:
 The guitar sounds bassy and there's loads of mids on tap. The active EMG pickups are way too hot and you can easily get more gain out of your amp using these pickups. The clean sounds become a bit crunchy and the crunchy ones become much heavier.
 The extra gain boost could also be provided by a nice pair of  passive pickups and a clean booster pedal. It's also more versatile as you can easily adjust the boost level and control your playing dynamics.

Hardware:
  The locking tuners are a bit tricky to work with but they stay in tune once you get it right. Be careful not to accidentally cut the string while tightening the locking mechanism of these gotoh tuners.
 The bridge is comfortable and it's easy to set the intonation right.

Neck and body:
  The neck on these esp guitars is very comfortable. The extra large XJ frets and the satin finish make the eclipse neck suitable for shredding and soloing. You can also access the lower frets of the 22-fret neck thanks to the deep single body cut.
  The body is much thinner and lighter than a gibson style one and it has a few contours for comfort. I would prefer the body to be a little thicker but the eclipse is not the traditional les paul copy anyway.
It's lighter and it's suitable for stage use.

 This eclipse guitar was set up for metal playing in C standard tuning. We used a set of 7-string Ernie ball strings and the lighter string gauge was left out. The nut and bridge weren't quite happy with the new string gauges but the guitar was meant to be used for a recording session only. Then, the guitar got set up for a standard E tuning with a set of 0,010" strings.
ESP or LTD?
 The ESP single-cut model range is vast and the lower priced LTD guitars are value for money instruments and real workhorses. I own an Ltd ex-401 and a stock LTD H-50 horizon model. They are both very nice instruments and I got to compare them to the Japan-made Eclipse. I 've also set up and played many ltd models(ex, ec, h, and vypers) of the 50, 401 and 1000 range.

 The price-tag gap between the ltd and esp models does not reflect the much smaller difference in performance and tone. An ltd ec-401 guitar with Emgs sounds almost identical to the eclipse I and II models and the performance is excellent in both cases.

Here are a few pictures of the actual guitar: