Metal and hard rock guitarists are often seen with custom guitars. A brand of electric guitars preferred by many metal and hard rock musicians is ESP. ESP guitars are the leading brand of signature guitars for hard rock musicians from top groups, such as KISS, Metallica, Megadeth and The Rolling Stones. The ESP brand was born in Japan in the mid 1970s fathered by Hisatake Shibuya. Electric Sound Products started out offering custom guitar replacement parts in Tokyo, Japan. After gaining some notoriety as a high quality parts manufacturer, ESP began creating a line of electric guitars. In the mid 1980s, ESP guitars were discovered by some a couple famous rock musicians, including the lead guitarist for Metallica. Signature ESP guitars were added to the company’s guitar line, and ESP started gaining popularity in their custom guitars.
The surge of popular demand for custom ESP guitars helped the company move their headquarters to New York City. After moving to New York, ESP discontinued offering replacement parts and placed their focus on the electric and bass guitar lines with a priority on custom guitars. After only a couple of years in New York, the company moved their headquarters to Los Angeles where they gained more fame among hard rock musicians. ESP guitars are relatively young compared to many other popular guitar brands, but they are recognized as one of the fastest growing custom guitar manufacturers worldwide.
ESP stopped shipping the Japanese made guitars to the United States shortly after moving their headquarters to Los Angeles because of the cost of exporting. This sprouted the birth of LTD guitars, which offered lower priced versions of ESP guitars. ESP signature guitars, however, were still exported to the United States. In the early 2000s, ESP decided to once again export their full line of guitars to the United States, but the cost was far less affordable than it had previously been.
Because ESP guitars are known for being custom made, it seems that creating a line of in stock guitars would be difficult. ESP also offers in stock models of both their signature lines and other standard guitars. With very few exceptions, each custom ESP guitar is closely related to an original body shape, though. ESP guitars are still manufactured in Japan and are created with the highest quality materials. ESP also created another company that offers similar guitars at lower cost and lower quality materials. LTD is the child company of ESP. The LTD guitars are manufactured in factories in both Korea and Indonesia.
In addition to custom electric guitars, ESP also creates bass guitars series as part of their guitar line. Included in their signature bass guitar line is a custom guitar created for Tom Araya of the band Slayer. Surprisingly, custom ESP guitars are highly affordable in comparison to other leading guitar brands custom guitars, such as Gibson and Fender. The LTD guitar brand is more affordable due to the lower standard of quality, which makes it far less popular among serious musicians.
