ESP LTD Deluxe Viper 1000 Electric Guitar Vintage Black

I just bought guitar, and although it looks beautiful and sounds great, it neck dives worse than any guitar I've played. I wasn't aware that most SG style guitars have this issue cuz iv never owned one and I didn't try it with a strap before purchase. I will likely return it because it real uncomfortable to play for me.

Got the guitar and used it in a show the same day, no setup needed. The guitar was made in Indonesia but I found the quality to be top notch, not a flaw anywhere. I have owned countless Gibson SG's and in all honesty can say that this guitar out performs them. Highly recommend.

This guitar is so versatile. It came with EMG 81/85 pick-ups which is great for metal. I discovered after talking to EMG engineers that you can swap out the pick-up for any type of sound you want. They just literally can be plugged in and out. No soldering and No effort required! I purchased a couple different EMG pick-ups on ebay very cheap and I am extremely happy. Now I can play blues, jazz, funk, or metal on the same guitar. This guitar is very easy to lead because of the cut away on top and bottom. I had an Gibson SG Supreme that was my favorite guitar. This LTD cost a quarter of the price and it sounds just as good. I sold my Gibson and bought three ESP-LTD

I just bought this last week and been playing it everyday. I tried all the guitars in the shop. I tried the Ec-1000 deluxe and other guitars in this price range. The Ec-1000 sounds ok too. But I prefer the Viper. Is there a differene between the two? For me, this guitar plays fast. I can move around the fretboard better on this one compared to my first guitar (squier telecaster). There's no buzzing sound when you release the fret- it stays silent... the xj frets are also great because on medium frets i usually press 2 strings with one finger so the xj frets make playing more comfortable for me. The emg pickups have a nice sound. In my opinion, this guitar is really good if you like playing metallica, megadeth, or even just the duke nukem song. But dont get me wrong. The guitar is versatile - I can play ac dc, beatles, rolling stones, jimi hendrix, santana with the guitar. Perhaps other guitars (e.g. fender strat) will suit non-metal songs better, or give a better tone, but the viper 1000 is ok for those type of songs too, but maybe not as much as it is good for metal, but good enough nonetheless. The guitar is a little bit heavy on the neck but its not that big of a deal unless you have neck problems ofcourse. Thats the only negative i can think of. The guitar looks really nice especially in certain lights when it looks kind of grey/black. I recommend this guitar 100% to all metal fans.

I bought my viper in 2008 and had to move the front post for the neckstrap because it's position made the neck do a nose dive when I stood up to play! It appears from the pic above they changed that problem on the newer models. 4 stars for the older model! The EMG pickups give a strong heavy sound. I turn off the tone knob so the tone is not so bright. (think Hatebreed not Megadeth) This is my #1 guitar. I use heavier strings and play in drop D and this guitar will stay in tune through a 30 minute set. I have never needed to use the locking tuners. The guitar is light, well built, and I get a lot of compliments about it. I have the black cherry color, I'm considering buying a black one for a backup.

A few things to note about this guitar... the black one is much darker than it appears in the image above, also it is a bit neck heavy when standing. the active EMG pick ups scream harmonic's but will need a battery change once a year or so. Controls really allow you a wide variety of tones. I find it a bit more difficult to tap on this guitar but that could just be me... Reeks of beauty and quality!