ESP LTD MH-1000 Guitar Review

The ESP brand is very well known for excelling in the hard rock and metal genres. It loads its instruments with active pickups and playability features that cater to the most dedicated shredders out there. The ESP LTD MH-1000 is hardly an exception. At first glance, you can tell it's high quality, but there's more to this guitar than you could see initially. Let's take a closer look to see what makes it special.

Features: The body of the LTD MH-1000 is made of mahogany wood for tonal and sustain assistance. The top, on the other, is made of quilted maple to enhance its aesthetics. There are three finishes available, including pure white, see-thru black, and see-thru blue. All three give off a different impression and style. The neck is specially set to eliminate any bulky junk, and is made of hard maple wood for durability. The fretboard is made of rosewood, and has twenty four extra-jumbo frets with white abalone inlays on the top quarter of the fretboard. The LTD MH-1000 has high quality hardware to match its build. The tuning heads are Grover brand, and the nut locks in place. The bridge, meanwhile, is an authentic Floyd Rose tremolo. Electronically, the ESP LTD MH-1000 has two EMG active humbucker pickups, one volume and one tone control knobs, and a three way selector switch.

Playability: The LTD MH-1000 has a definite lean towards the shredder's style of play. It has an extremely thin neck for fast movement up and down the fretboard. Also, the way it is set into the body was come up with to eliminate the bulky joint that gets in the way of higher frets. With that gone, high fret access on the LTD MH-1000 is as easy as it gets. Finally, the locking Grover tuners and locking nut ensure that, even with the use of the tremolo system, the guitar will simply not go out of tune.

Sound: The EMG active humbucking pickups on the ESP LTD MH-1000 are certainly best at metal. Any high end solos will obliterate eardrums, and the low end will sound just plain beastly. That's a given with EMG's. But the LTD MH-1000, when the settings are manipulated correctly, can hold its own when playing blues and even a little clean. It's not the absolute best out there for other genres, but it will get the job done and sound good doing it.

Overall: For the musician looking at high end guitars geared toward playability and metal sound, the ESP LTD MH-1000 is hard to beat. It is aesthetically beautiful, high quality all around, and a monster when plugged in. You can find the LTD MH-1000 in music stores for about $1,000.