ESP USA M-III 2PT Guitar, Seymour Duncan Classic Stack & '59/Custom Hybrid Pickups, Gotoh 510 Tremolo, Tiger Eye Sunburst

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. We're stoked to get in another gorgeous ESP USA M-III 2PT HSS! This one is finished in a beautiful Tiger Eye Sunburst over a flame maple top, and has an added classy touch of gold hardware.

The workmanship is flawless as you would come to expect, 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.

We especially like the tonal formula of the Seymour Duncan pickup set and the Gotoh EV510 tremolo, which provides the axe with both acoustic clarity as well as what we found to be an extremely responsive and versatile tremolo. Both R&B and metal guitarists alike here at the shop agree that the tones offered by the Seymour Duncan pickups to be in a "sweet spot" output range of "a little more than vintage, but not too hot" to cover any genre.

For the discerning player looking for a world-class guitar that's both a visual standout and tonal workhorse, this M-III fits the bill as a more-than-viable option.

Details

Crafted at our ESP USA facility in Southern California, the USA M-III 2PT is the perfect choice of guitars for everyone who needs an expressive, high-performance instrument for every genre of music. It’s a classic H/S/S setup with your choice of Seymour Duncan or EMG pickups in a variety of models to suit your personal tone and dynamics preferences. The USA M-III 2PT offers an 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-III 2PT 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-III 2PT are second to none, and include 24 extra-jumbo Jescar stainless steel frets, a Gotoh EV510TS-FE 2-point tremolo, a bone nut, Sperzel Trimlok tuners, and a Dunlop strap locks. Controls include a push-pull coil split control on the tone knob for passive pickup models. The USA M-III 2PT 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.

Drop Top w/ Natural Masked Binding: The droptop design on many of our ESP USA models allows for the beauty of a figured top that’s bent over the arm contour, adding a little brightness to the overall sound while retaining the warmth of the body wood. The natural masked binding edge adds amazing visual contrast.

3-Piece Neck-Thru Body: ESP USA models that offer a neck-thru-body design incorporate a three-piece laminated neck design. This increases the strength and stability of the neck, leading to better long-term reliability along with excellent tone and sustain.

The Pickups

Seymour Duncan Stack+: The Classic Stack Plus neck pickup looks and sounds like a true Stratocaster single coil but none of the traditional single coil hum. It’s got all of the sparkle and the chime that you would expect from a vintage Strat pickup. Like its neck counterpart, the Classic Stack Plus middle pickup provides all of the classic Strat chime. However, we build it RWRP to give you that perfect in-between sound of positions 2 & 4 when split to keep the set completely hum-free in all selector positions.

Hand built in Santa Barbara, CA, the Classic Stack Plus Stratocaster pickups use hand ground alnico 5 rod magnets and comes with a splittable 3-conductor lead wire to give you access to true single coil operation. Each pickup wax potted for squeal free performance.

Seymour Duncan '59/Custom Hybrid: The ’59/Custom Hybrid is a medium output humbucker pickup that sparkles with upper midrange harmonic content and grit. The brainchild of our incredibly knowledgeable forum members, this humbucker is the result of experimental coil swapping in order to push into new tonal territory. The mismatched coils, and the alnico 5 bar magnet keep the low end nice and tight and give the mids a grind that is perfect for hard rock and metal. Plenty of crunch and bite on top as well. When split, you get the Custom’s 7k coil for a more distinct single coil sound. Pair with the ’59 neck or Jazz neck model for a nicely balanced setup.

Hand built in Santa Barbara, CA, the 59/Custom Hybrid medium output humbucker pickup uses mismatched coils, an alnico 5 bar magnet, nickel silver short leg bottom plate, 4-conductor lead wire for multiple wiring options, is vacuum wax potted for squeal-free performance, and is available in standard humbucker or Trembucker spacing.