ESP Guitars Debuts 12 New Additions to Japan-Built E-II Series

Jeff K.Jeff K.
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    ESP Guitars Debuts 12 New Additions to Japan-Built E-II Series

    ESP Guitars has debuted 12 new guitars under their ESP E-II brand at the 2023 NAMM Show. The guitars, built at the ESP-owned factory in Tokyo, Japan, will be available at ESP dealers in the US and international distributors this spring.

    “In 2014, we took our former “ESP Standard” series and changed the name to ESP E-II,” says Matt Masciandaro, president and CEO of the ESP Guitar Company. “These are among our highest quality factory-built instruments, and they’re currently in use by many professional recording and touring musicians.”

    Two new Arrow models join the ESP E-II offerings for 2023. The E-II Arrow and E-II Arrow NT are both being offered with a figured burled maple top and an outstanding Nebula Blackburst finish. These guitars offer a set of top-tier features and components, such as neck-thru-body construction, stainless steel frets, Floyd Rose Original tremolo (upgraded with stainless steel screws), satin-finished neck, and Gotoh locking tuners.

    The popular single-cutaway E-II Eclipse Series has expanded with four new models: E-II Eclipse FR (Charcoal Burst), E-II Eclipse Full Thickness EverTune (Black), E-II Eclipse (See Thru Black Cherry Sunburst), and E-II Eclipse (Tiger Eye Sunburst). Each of these guitars offer a tailored set of components designed for modern music performance, ranging from the EverTune constant tension bridge to innovative Fishman Fluence pickups, to stainless steel frets, along with performance features like satin-finished necks. All of them offer the superlative build quality and attention to details for which the E-II Series is renowned.

    Another four new guitars have been added to the E-II M Series with the E-II M-II HT (Mercury Blueburst), E-II M-II (Black Natural Burst), E-II M-II Neck Thru (Snow White), and E-II M-I Thru NT (Snow White). Designed for speed and precision, these M Series models offer flat bodies, set-thru or neck-thru-body construction, and updated features that include stainless steel frets, Bare Knuckle or Fishman Fluence pickups, Gotoh locking tuners and more.

    Another highlight of the newly-introduced ESP E-II offerings includes the E-II SN-III HT (Tiger Eye Sunburst). This bolt-on guitar provides an alder body with flamed maple top, a satin-finished maple neck, a reverse tiltback headstock, extra-jumbo stainless steel frets (with scalloping from frets 15-22), a Hipshot hardtail bridge, Gotoh locking tuners, ESP strap locks, and a black bone nut. Its versatile tones are driven by an H/S/S configuration of a Fishman Fluence Modern Humbucker active pickup in the bridge position, and two Fishman Fluence Single Width pickups in the neck and middle spots.

    Finally, the ESP E-II Viper (See Thru Black Cherry) offers the classic asymmetrical double-horned body shape with modern enhancements for contemporary music styles. Built with set-thru construction, the E-II Viper See Thru Black Cherry has a mahogany body and a mahogany neck a satin finish on the back for extreme speed and fluidity, extra-jumbo stainless steel frets, Gotoh locking tuners, a Gotoh TOM bridge and tailpiece, and a bone nut. Its active pickups are a set of highly versatile Fishman Open Core Classic Humbuckers.

    All ESP E-II instruments include a high-quality ESP hardshell case. Detailed information and complete specs on all ESP E-II guitars is available on the ESP web site at www.espguitars.com.

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    101
    101 wrote

    Agree with the previous comments.  I live in the US and have many ESP branded guitars, some customs prior to the Tokyo consolidation, obviously more SS team builts intended for foreign markets, and a few Korean/Indo LTDs.  I own exactly zero E-IIs (nor ESP USA for that matter) and will never buy one on principle alone.  Those managing the brand have done so poorly for almost a decade now, and I would anticpate some sort of shell game or rebranding effort to occur in the next few years as it's currently an absolute disaster in the US.

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      Algy
      Algy wrote

      yeah man.. I've been a fan of ESP since the 80s .. couldn't quite get one or afford one then.. all of a sudden it's E2.. feels like a computer game .. the ESP USA thing should have been a more appropriate branding exercise .. let ESP be ESP (Japan originally) be.. 

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        mbesp
        mbesp wrote

        Unfortunately I can not reply to the reply on my comment but I do agree it is superficial of me.  Cant help it though.  I love my ESP and my LTD but man that E-II just looks like some weird no-name brand stuck on the headstock.   Was having the ESP logo on their standard japan guitars making the custom Japan guitars worse or something?  Seems like it was an unnecessary change.

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          mbesp
          mbesp wrote

          Got to be honest, the E2 branding on the headstock still makes them look cheap to me. 

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            Oliver H.
            Oliver H. wrote

            How superficial. These continue to be great instruments.

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