The ESP EX is a series of

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

s produced by ESP produced in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

with the ESP logo as part of the ESP Original Series. Notable users of models in the EX Series include

Patrik Jensen Patrik Niels Jensen (born 24 November 1969) is a Swedish guitarist. He is the rhythm guitarist and a founding member of the extreme metal bands The Haunted (1996–present) and Witchery (1997–present), and also a former guitarist for Orchris ...

and

Anders Björler Anders Björler (born 26 February 1973) is a Swedish musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the metal bands The Haunted and At the Gates, alongside his bass-playing twin brother Jonas Björler. Björler has also directed, edite ...

of The Haunted, Peter Tagtgren of

Hypocrisy Hypocrisy is the practice of feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not. The word "hypocrisy" entered the English language ''c.'' 1200 with the meaning "the sin of pretending to virtue or goodness". Today, "hypocrisy" ofte ...

Seth Seth, in the Abrahamic religions, was the third son of Adam and Eve. The Hebrew Bible names two of his siblings (although it also states that he had others): his brothers Cain and Abel. According to , Seth was born after Abel's murder by Cain, ...

Behemoth Behemoth (; , ''bəhēmōṯ'') is a beast from the biblical Book of Job, and is a form of the primeval chaos-monster created by God at the beginning of creation. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful ...

Devin Townsend Devin Garrett Townsend (born May 5, 1972) is a Canadian singer, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He founded extreme metal band Strapping Young Lad and was its primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist from 1994 to 2007. He has also ...

and

Jed Simon Jedson Louis Simon (born February 27, 1964) is a Canadian guitarist. He was a member of supergroup Scar the Martyr and has been a member of numerous bands, including Front Line Assembly, Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole, Tenet, and Vimic ...

Strapping Young Lad Strapping Young Lad (SYL) was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, '' Heavy as a Really Heavy ...

, Chris McCarthy of Internal Bleeding,

Wayne Static Wayne Richard Wells (November 4, 1965 – November 1, 2014), known professionally as Wayne Static, was an American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, keyboardist, and primary lyricist for the industrial metal band St ...

Static-X Static-X is an American industrial metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1994. The line-up has fluctuated over the years, but was long-held constant with band founder, frontman, vocalist and rhythm guitarist Wayne Static until his d ...

, Dan Jacobs of

Atreyu Atreyu is an American metalcore band from Yorba Linda, California, formed in 1998. The band's current line-up consists of clean vocalist Brandon Saller, guitarists Dan Jacobs and Travis Miguel, bassist and unclean vocalist Marc "Porter" McKn ...

Silenoz Silenoz (born Sven Atle Kopperud, 1 March 1977) is a Norwegian guitarist who is a founding member, along with Shagrath and Tjodalv, of the symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir, of which he is the primary songwriter. He is also guitarist fo ...

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic lang ...

, and

Jesper Strömblad Clas Håkan Jesper Strömblad (born 28 November 1972) is a Swedish musician who is the guitarist of the bands The Halo Effect, Dimension Zero and Cyhra, and formerly of In Flames and The Resistance. He is best known as the founder and forme ...

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish Heavy metal music, heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990 out of the Swedish death metal, Swedish death metal scene. Their lineup has changed several times, with vocalist Anders Frid ...

. ESP began the EX Series with models such as the EX-100 and the EX-102 among others. In 2000 there was an EX-350 that was a set neck with a Floyd Rose and 2 humbuckers, it was only available in oxblood red. In 2003, those models were discontinued and the EX-351 and EX-50 were introduced. The EX-351 was discontinued in 2004 when the EX-400, EX-400BD, and the EX-260 were introduced. The EX-400BD was discontinued in 2007, therefore the EX-400, EX-260, and EX-50 are the only EX models currently produced by ESP in the LTD production line. The discontinued models are still sold online or in some guitar shops that still have them in stock.

History

The EX series began as the MX Series in the mid to late 1980s, firstly producing a MX 220 based on a 1970s Gibson Explorer Body with the ‘famed’ banana headstock, then later with the MX 250 model (as shown in the pic above) with a smaller headstock and a 1980s Gibson body shape. Towards the late 1990s the range was renamed as ''EXP'' series (often simply called the ''ESP Explorer''), which featured a design exactly like the

Gibson Explorer The Gibson Explorer is a type of electric guitar model by Gibson guitars, released in 1958. The Explorer offered a radical, " futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Flying V, which was released the same year, and the Moderne, wh ...

, down to the same rounded body edges and headstock shape; the only differences being EMG pickups, two control knobs (versus the three on Gibson Explorers) and the ESP logo on the headstock. Soon after Gibson's decision to sue ESP, ESP discontinued the EXP series for international markets and began production of the current EX series, featuring a different design with more pointed edges and the usual ESP headstock shape, to avoid any lawsuit. Metallica's

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder, and a primary songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his raspy voice and intricate rhythm playi ...

is probably the most renowned user of the MX series, which he has been using since the late 1980s. He further popularized the series with his legendary "EET FUK" MX 220 and his custom ESP JH-2, a black MX 250 with diamond plating. Hetfield's equipment includes many custom made guitars that closely resemble the original EXP guitars in looks as well as specifications. The most recent example (though with a few alterations to body and headstock design) is the ESP JH Snakebyte, which has been available to the public – along with a lower-priced LTD model – since the summer of 2011.

ESP EX

This is ESPs standard EX series guitar. This is very similar to the ESP LTD 401DX with the only major differences being that it is made in Japan, has Gotoh bridge and tuners as opposed to ESP bridge and Grover tuners and has a bone nut. Other specifications : *Body Wood: Mahogany *Neck Wood: 3-piece Maple *Fingerboard Wood: Rosewood *Pickups: EMG 81 (Bridge)/EMG 60 (Neck) *Bridge: Gotoh TOM with tailpiece *Nut: 42mm Bone

ESP LTD EX-401DX

This is ESPs latest addition to the EX LTD line-up. It has exactly the same spec as the original EX-400 but it now has a

Floyd Rose The Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo, or simply Floyd Rose, is a type of locking Vibrato systems for guitar, vibrato arm for a guitar. Floyd D. Rose invented the locking vibrato in 1976, the first of its kind, and it is now manufactured by a company ...

Special tremolo. It is also only available in a black flamed-maple top which was usually never used on the EX series. The inlay was also changed to an arrow shape as opposed to dots. Other specifications : *Body Wood: Mahogany *Neck Wood: 3-piece Maple *Fingerboard Wood: Rosewood *Pickups: EMG 81 (Bridge)/EMG 60 (Neck) *Bridge:

Special *Nut: 42mm

Locking Nut

ESP LTD EX-400

The EX-400 features

set-in neck A set-in neck (often shortened to ''set neck'') is a traditional form of joining the neck of a stringed instrument with its body. This is typically done with a tightly fitted mortise-and-tenon or dovetail joint, secured with glue. Sonic qualit ...

construction in a 24.75" scale. The

fingerboard The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The stri ...

features dot inlays with the model name at the 12th fret. It has 22 extra jumbo frets and an Earvana compensated nut. It comes in black and olympic white. The Black with black diamond plate and black hardware was discontinued in 2006 due to the introduction of the Wayne Static Model, which has a chrome diamond plate on top of black finish. In 2007 came the diamond plate in a metallic chrome color. LTD EX-400bd Chrome-color is the latest Explorer from ESP. The tuning pegs are Grover tuners. It has one volume and one tone control knob and a 3-way toggle. NOTE: It was deemed discontinued in the 2007 catalogue, but quickly returned due to mass demand. In 2009, the ESP LTD EX 400 was discontinued, and the ESP LTD EX 401, and ESP LTD EX 401DX took its place as the premium ESP EX series guitar. Other specifications : *Body Wood:

Mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

*Neck Wood: 3-piece

Maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

*Fingerboard Wood:

Rosewood Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus '' Dalbergia'', but other woods are often ca ...

*Pickups:

EMG 81 The EMG 81 is a popular active humbucker guitar pickup manufactured by EMG, Inc. It is usually considered a lead pickup for use in the bridge position, paired with EMG's 85 as a rhythm pickup in neck position (Zakk Wylde Zachary Phillip Wyl ...

(Bridge)/

EMG 60 EMG, Inc. is the current legal name of an American company based in Santa Rosa, California that manufactures guitar pickups and EQ accessories. Among guitar and bass accessories, the company sells active humbucker pickups, such as the EMG 81, ...

(Neck) *Bridge:

Tune-O-Matic Tune-o-matic (also abbreviated to TOM) is the name of a fixed or floating bridge design for electric guitars. It was designed by Ted McCarty (Gibson Guitar Corporation Gibson, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation and Gibson Brands Inc ...

with Stop Tailpiece

ESP LTD EX-360

The EX-360 has a

, 24.75" scale. The

features dot inlays with the model name at the 12th fret. It also has 22 extra jumbo frets. It comes in black, metallic blue, and white with black hardware. It has one volume and one tone control knob with a 3-way toggle. NOTE: This guitar is now discontinued. Other specifications : *Body Wood:

*Neck Wood: 3-piece

*Fingerboard Wood:

*Pickups:

(Bridge)/EMG 60 (Neck) *Bridge:

with locking nut

ESP LTD EX-260

The EX-260 features

construction in a 24.75" scale. The

features dot inlays with the model name at the 12th fret. It has 22 extra jumbo frets. It comes in black with black hardware. It has one volume and one tone control knob with a 3-way toggle. The tone control knob has a coil tap switch that is actuated by pulling up on the knob and thus turning the humbuckers into single coil pickups. Other specifications : *Body Wood:

Agathis ''Agathis'', commonly known as kauri or dammara, is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees, native to Australasia and Southeast Asia. It is one of three extant genera in the family Araucariaceae, alongside ''Wollemia'' and ''Araucaria'' (being ...

*Neck Wood: 3-piece

*Fingerboard Wood:

*Pickups: 2 EMG-ESP LH-300 *Bridge:

with Stop Tailpiece

ESP LTD EX-50

The EX-50 features

bolt-on neck A Bolt-on neck is a stringed musical instrument neck that attaches to the instrument body with either bolts or screws, as opposed to glue and joinery as with set-in neck joints. Methods The "bolt-on" method is used frequently on solid bo ...

construction in a 24.75" scale. The

features dot inlays with the model name at the 12th fret. It has 22 extra jumbo frets. It comes in silver with black hardware, or black with silver hardware. It has one volume and one tone control knob with a 3-way toggle. Other specifications : *Body Wood:

Basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River to ...

*Neck Wood:

*Fingerboard Wood:

*Pickups: 2 ESP LH-150 *Bridge:

with Stop Tailpiece

ESP EX-280

The EX-280 (only available in Japan), features

construction in a 24.75" scale. The

features dot inlays, with two regular dot inlays on the 12th fret. It has 22 extra jumbo frets, and a carbon nut. It comes in black with black hardware. It has two volume knobs, 1 for neck pickup and 1 for the bridge pickup, and a mini toggle PU selector. Other specifications : *Body Wood:

*Neck Wood: 3-piece

*Fingerboard Wood:

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

*Pickups: 2 EMG 81's, on Neck and Bridge. *Bridge:

with Stop Tailpiece

Syu Custom

The custom EX-280, used by

Syu is a Japanese musician, best known as the leader and guitarist of the power metal band Galneryus. He also performs guitar and lead vocals in Spinalcord (formerly known as Aushvitz) and was formerly a member of Animetal. Under his own name, Syu ha ...

Galneryus is a Japanese power metal band, formed in Osaka in 2001 by guitarist Syu and vocalist Yama-B.Artist.cdjourn ...

, features characteristics similar to that of a standard EX-280, except that it has a bone nut, two EMG 89 pickups and a coil split switch.

References

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External links

Official ESP EX page at espguitars.com
EX