ESP USA TE-II FR Guitar, Floyd Rose, Duncan Alnico II Pros, 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.

This TE-II FR is a heck of a lot more than just a fancy looking T-style axe. The craftsmanship is thoroughly immaculate and the guitar feels like it plays itself. It's a fine example of American-made guitar artistry. The action is extremely low and the notes still ring out with perfect clarity and massive sustain. The Floyd Rose hardware lets you wail away on the trem without worrying about compromising your intonation. Dive-bomb away, my friends!

The Seymour Duncan pickups in this are warm and round sounding while still providing plenty of bite and high-end sparkle. Whether you're playing heavy rock or need to back off the distortion and get some cleaner tones, these humbuckers will do that for you. The maple neck has a thin U-shape to it and feels very ergonomically comfortable under your fretting hand. By being made out of quartersawn maple, it will also provide a bit extra rigidity to eliminate any dead notes and minimize your need to adjust the truss rod throughout the year as the weather and humidity change. 

When high-end electronics meet superb construction and high-quality tonewoods, the result is something that's going to feel great, look great, and sound even better.

Details

Crafted at our ESP USA facility in Southern California, the USA TE-II FR combines a completely classic shape with the ultimate in contemporary build quality and high-end components available today. It offers a mahogany body with bolt-on construction to its 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 TE-II FR including flamed maple, quilted maple, lacewood, zebrawood, koa, open grain ash, and open grain mahogany, with a variety of amazing translucent gloss and satin finishes to choose from, as well as both maple and ebony fingerboards with offset abalone dot inlays.

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.

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.

Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Pickups

Our Alnico 2 Pro humbucker pickups will instantly turn your guitar into a true bluesbreaker. The Alnico 2 Pro Humbucker neck uses the soft treble attack and low string pull of an alnico 2 bar magnet, combined with a special vintage output coil wind to create a warm, sweet tone that is smooth and full, with tons of natural sustain. The highs sound thick and really sing, while the lows are warm and buttery, giving you a pickup that is very sensitive to pick attack.

The Alnico 2 Pro bridge humbucker’s highs are articulate and smooth, and the lows are warm and spongy. Combined with a high gain tube amp, the overdriven tone is expressive and soulful. For over 25 years Slash has been the champion of this pickup and used them exclusively on Appetite for Destruction, which has gone on to become the biggest selling debut album of all time.

Hand built in Santa Barbara, CA, the Alnico 2 Pro humbucker pickups use an alnico 2 bar magnet, nickel silver bottom plate, 4-conductor lead wire for multiple wiring options, and are wax potted for squeal free operation.