ESP USA M-II HT Hardtail Guitar, Seymour Duncan Sentient & Pegasus, Open Grain Ash Blueberry

PLAYER'S PERSPECTIVE

It's always a treat to get a beautiful USA-made ESP into the shop. Built in ESP's USA factory right here in California, these instruments are top-of-the-line instruments on par with their renowned, artisan-made Japanese Custom Shop guitars. This stunning M-II HT is a great example of both ESP USA's quality as well as ESP's legendary design ethos! This one's finished in a wild Blueberry over open-grained Ash.

The M-II exemplifies what ESP has come to be known for - the no-nonsense Superstrat capable of tearing heads off with both its tone and its looks. The striking finish complements the guitar's aggressiveness nicely.

The workmanship is flawless as you've come to expect from an ESP of this caliber, including the beautifully-done stainless steel frets that make fretting and bending feel effortless. The neck shape itself is a nice middle-ground of "modern thin" whilst still having enough volume to wrap your hand around. All kinds of legato can be pulled off with minimal effort and expressive vibrato is always at your fingertips.

This guitar features Seymour Duncan Sentient & Pegasus pickups. These pickups are contemporary through and through, and were Seymour's attempt to create a passive pickup that had the articulation and output required for progressive rock & metal. And suffice to say, he succeeded. The Sentient is low output similar to the '59 and Jazz Duncan pickups, and sound fantastically clean but the low-end tightness is optimized for drop tunings and high gain. The Pegasus, being Alnico V, has all the shimmer and sparkle of an alnico pickup but with the clarity for high-gain chug. Both sound great in this guitar! The swamp ash body, maple neck, and ebony fretboard combine for a tone that is nice and bright, which helps retain articulation as you add more and more gain.

For the discerning player looking for a world-class guitar that has the quintessential ESP look and is a fully capable hard rock workhorse, the M-II HT is an awesome choice!

Details

Crafted at our ESP USA facility in Southern California, the USA M-II Hardtail offers a high-end take on one of the world’s most beloved shred guitars. It offers a mahogany or ash body with bolt-on construction to its extra thin U-shaped quarter-sawn maple neck with natural satin finish for the smoothest and fastest playing experience. Optional premier-quality figured-wood tops are available on the USA M-II Hardtail including flamed maple, quilted maple, lacewood, zebrawood, and koa, with a variety of amazing translucent gloss and satin finishes to choose from, as well as both maple and ebony fingerboards with clean abalone dot inlays.

The parts and components on the USA M-II Hardtail are second to none, and include 24 extra-jumbo Jescar stainless steel frets, a Hipshot hardtail fixed bridge, a bone nut, Sperzel Trimlok or Gotoh Magnum Lock tuners, Dunlop strap locks, and a variety of high-end Seymour Duncan, Fishman, or EMG pickups, with a push-pull coil split control on the tone knob for passive pickup models. The USA M-II Hardtail includes a high-quality ESP USA form-fitting hard shell case.

Graphite Neck Reinforcement Bars

Get maximum strength and stability from your guitar’s neck, with higher long-term reliability. All ESP USA models are made with two high-strength bars of carbon fiber.

Deep Dish Jack

In addition to looking sleek, the Deep Dish jack installed on ESP USA models has the added benefit of providing the depth and angle of the cable to be easily looped around the player’s strap to better protect the cable from crimps or other damage.