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I just wanted to say I've had one of these for a few months now and it is Incredible! I've been playing LTD's for the past 9 years and own several other "1000-series" guitars and this is hands down the best feeling Guitar I've owned. The Horizon-III shape feels and looks incredible and the pickups sound amazing I personally love the custom-5 in the bridge. If you are thinking about getting one of these it is definitley worth it! (plus you just gotta love that gorgeous Purple Sunburst; even though Green would be killer too
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Hey Alvin, We're thrilled to hear how much you like your guitar and thanks for recommending it to other players as well as posting your product review here. This is definitely a cool shape. Thanks for choosing ESP!
When are you making new models of this serie? I think it's a fantastic idea to do kinda an affordable esp e-II horizon-III model!
Hi Lord, It's quite possible that we will add to this series next year. Thanks for pointing this out and letting us know what you're looking for.
Please make this model also as a bass.
Hi Felipe, Thanks for your suggestion. We have never made this as a bass before but we did make a Horizon style bass in the past.
I played the EII version of this a few months back at a Sam Ash. And something about the neck just felt perfect! It had a really smooth, and almost oily feel to the fretboard. That day I played about 10 different Guitars, everything from higher end Music Mans, EVH's, Jackson Soloists and Dinky's, Ibanez RG's, Gibson's, basically everything they had that I liked. And the Horizon EII felt and played the best! It was really all about that fretboard feel. I'm now curious is the neck on the LTD version, the same neck that's on the EII version that I played? Again, it just played like butter, very smooth and easy to play. No other Guitar's fretboard felt like that.
Hi David, Glad to hear how much you liked the E-II version. I would say that the neck specs are roughly the same but there is something really cool about the E-II and ESP brand in general, they just do a much better job of shaping everything so perfectly. So I think although the LTD neck feels great, it's not exactly the same. I would suggest if you can try an LTD neck first before you buy one, give it a shot and see what you think. Probably the main thing about that E-II is that the fingerboard is sort of glossy. This comes from polishing the ebony, so it almost looks and feels like a shiny paint surface (but not sticky). Hope that helps.
Just picked this up from Sam Ash. I love the guitar. It plays great and sounds great. I think the SD pickups sound great. I play a lot of 90s music grunge, metal, alternative, hard rock. I get pretty good tones out of it and works well with my Blackstar HT40 as well as a sweet PRS Tremonti MT 15 half stack at Sam Ash. I am not a Floyd Rose/tremolo fan, so thank you for the fixed/TOM bridge.
I love the quality of this guitar and plays like a dream. Thank you ESP. Keep putting out these and you’ve got a lifetime customer.
Hi amd64, Thanks for sharing your comments. We are thrilled to hear how much you like your guitar. Thanks for all the compliments and thank you for giving us a chance and trying this guitar out! We hope we can continue to come out with great new designs so you might consider adding another one of our instruments to your collection!
I am waiting for Floyd Rose option for it !
Hi Sean, Thanks for your suggestion/comment!
Just bought one of these. Made in Korea. Honestly, it's probably the best feeling guitar I've ever played. I played it at the store for a good two hours and just couldn't put it down. It's really light for Mahogany, but it sounds fantastic. The neck is just perfect.
I do have one criticism though - the bridge pickup choice makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Who buys this guitar and wants a Custom 5 in the bridge? I would have understood EMGs, Fishman Fluence pickups, or even a DIFFERENT Seymour Duncan pickup. I use a Seymour Duncan Omega in the bridge and the sound is unreal. It's a 2000% upgrade over the stock tone for literally anything from Jazz to Progressive Metal.
It almost seems like the Custom 5 was used by accident.
The only other thing is that the nut on the low E was cut a little too deep so it had to be filled to eliminate buzz. But now it's perfect, even in drop C. No buzzing anywhere, super low action.
I would really love to see an LTD Floyd Rose model in see through black (similar to the E-II model) and please... please! Change the bridge pickup!
Hey Mo, Thanks for your comments. Really glad to hear how much you like your new guitar! Thanks for sharing your criticisms as well. We think it's important to hear both what you like and don't like so we can work on improving and streamlining our product line for our customers. Did you already swap out the stock pickup for a SD Omega? What difference did you notice? What specifically did you not like about the Custom 5 pickup? I'd love to hear more. And for the nut thing, .... sorry that you had an issue with your nut cut a little too deep. Thanks for pointing that out too and glad you got that fixed. Thanks for your other suggestion on adding a FR model as well. That could be cool.
The Horizon III has a thin body, pointy headstock, black hardware, thin neck - the kind of stuff that you typically associate with hard rock, heavy metal, or even more progressive types of music. Nobody is buying this guitar to play Sweet Home Alabama. To me the Custom 5 has a more classic "rock pickup" tone that fits for playing things like classic rock, punk, etc. but it doesn't have the high end and the clarity that you need for more modern types of heavy music.
Seymour Duncan Omega is already installed: https://imgur.com/gD0R9yC
Fairly easy swap with the Custom 5, coil tap and everything.
Immediately I find that the tone is way more suited to the music that I want to play. Palm mutes sound punchy but also very clean. It can most definitely djent
When you play big chords you can hear all the different notes that compose them individually.
Overall I'd say the bottom and high end are more well defined whereas the Custom 5 was giving me a whole lotta midrange.
This guitar with the Omega pickup makes me a very happy man. <3
Hey Mo, Thanks for adding those details. It makes sense. The Custom-5 does have a lot more mids.....and I must say that Omega pickup looks really nice in there!
Just picked one up today. I traded in my Schecter Hellraiser C-1 FR for it. I love it! Lighter than you’d expect for a mahogany body. I’m not used to locking tuners, so there was a bit of an adjustment, but that’s fine. The pickup combination sounds great and the coil splitting feature adds more dimension to the tone. The finish is beautiful! The color is fantastic and the gorgeous flame top makes it pop! The heel is very comfortable and makes access to the upper frets a breeze. Very satisfied with this guitar!
Hey Shawn, Thanks for your comments! We're really glad you found this guitar and are even more excited to hear how much you like this instrument!
I really hope there are some models with different colors and tremolos in the future.
HI ItSoHMtD, Thanks for your suggestions.
Picked one up a while ago, it has become my most used guitar
Hi Logan, This is great to hear! Thanks for commenting here.
Beautiful instrument! I got to play one recently at Sam Ash and was very impressed. Personally, I would have liked a Floyd Rose option for it, but that is certainly not a deal breaker for me. I’m putting some serious thought into adding this fine guitar to my collection.
I'm Really, Really glad they added the Horizon III shape to the Ltd range, because I loved this from the E-II range.
Looks amazing. Can’t wait to try one out.