The LTD Deluxes attempt the high-end at the mid-price, complete with branded components, matching headstocks and neck-thru-body builds
(Image credit: ESP Guitars)
NAMM 2023: ESP’s LTD Deluxe range is designed to offer high-performance builds with fancy finishes at a price that sits firmly in the middle ground. This year, the firm is adding four new electric guitar models/finishes to the lineup.
First up, the EC-1000 range of single-cuts gets a new Woodland Camo Satin finish, complete with black binding and hardware. A classic LP-style build, it uses mahogany for the body and neck, alongside Macassar ebony on the fretboard.
Then there’s a 24 3/4” scale-length, 24 jumbo frets and some branded hardware, courtesy of the Tone Pros bridge and a pair of Fishman’s flexible Fluence Modern humbuckers.
LTD Deluxe M-1000 Candy Apple Red Satin
LTD Deluxe M-1000 Candy Apple Red Satin (Image credit: ESP)
Elsewhere, the Super Strat-stylings of the M-1000 have been coated in a new Candy Apple Red Satin finish. However, unlike your typical S-style, it’s a set neck-thru-body construction (enabling a lovely speed-friendly curve on the rear heel join).
It has an alder body, 25.5” scale-length Macassar ebony ‘board, 24 frets and features a wealth of third party components, including a Floyd Rose 1000SE vibrato, Grover tuners and direct mount Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers.
LTD Deluxe MH-1000 Candy Apple Red Satin
LTD Deluxe MH-1000 Candy Apple Red Satin (Image credit: ESP)
On a similar tip, the MH-1000 EverTune takes the M-1000 template and – you guessed it – adds an EverTune bridge, tweaking it into a super-stable hardtail build in the process.
Finally, the list of new LTD Deluxe arrivals is rounded out by another EverTune-equipped hardtail: the TE-1000 EverTune Burl Poplar.
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This is a T-style body shape that, like the M-1000s, offers a set neck-thru-body construction, enabling better sustain and upper-fret access. It has a mahogany body with burled poplar cap, creating the swirling pattern on the top – here finished in a brooding Charcoal Burst.
Matt is Features Editor for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.
