This could be long and boring but here's a little story.
I got married back in '09. My wife gave me LTD B208 bass as a present for Christmas.
While I liked the bass, the neck never agreed with me it always bowed and it was impossible to play past the 5th fret. I took it to my guitar tech who advise me to either get rid of it, or try getting it repaired as ESP has lifetime warranty on their products
Fast forward back to November '13 I finally took the bass in to the store I bought it from and told the neck is unstable.
After a couple of emails and phone calls, the dealer managed to convince ESP to send a neck. (Takes 3 weeks to show up)
The neck arrives, and voila! It doesnt fit in the pocket!!! The store told me that they sent the info to ESP to see what they can do.
7 weeks later (End of Jan '14), I get a response saying ESP will take the bass back for repair.
The store gets the bass back in the beginning of March, and once the tech re strung it, the new neck warped to the point that it is unplayable.
By this time the dealer was fuming (I was actually chilled during the ordeal as I know not to threaten anyone working in retail) so they did a little bit of heck to ESP to send me a replacement bass.
Fast forward a month a few days later and I got my new bass!!
I have to acclimatize it and send it back for a set up in a few weeks (and Im not paying for it)
The biggest 3 differences I find between this one (made in '13) than the one made in '08-09 was.
1. The neck is back to the 5 piece maple/rosewood neck (the old bass was just a maple neck) It feels beefier and heavier than the old neck
2. They switched the body woods from agathis to basswood (adding weight to the body)
3. It comes strung with Cleartone strings (very bright and punchy like coated steel strings instead of SIT's)
At the end of the day, I had to wait 4 months and a week to get everything sorted out. Am I impressed with ESP? Not really. But at least they owned up for their warranty. But in all honestly I dont think I can recommend ESP to anyone :/
But I endured it just for Sentimental Value.
I got married back in '09. My wife gave me LTD B208 bass as a present for Christmas.
While I liked the bass, the neck never agreed with me it always bowed and it was impossible to play past the 5th fret. I took it to my guitar tech who advise me to either get rid of it, or try getting it repaired as ESP has lifetime warranty on their products
Fast forward back to November '13 I finally took the bass in to the store I bought it from and told the neck is unstable.
After a couple of emails and phone calls, the dealer managed to convince ESP to send a neck. (Takes 3 weeks to show up)
The neck arrives, and voila! It doesnt fit in the pocket!!! The store told me that they sent the info to ESP to see what they can do.
7 weeks later (End of Jan '14), I get a response saying ESP will take the bass back for repair.
The store gets the bass back in the beginning of March, and once the tech re strung it, the new neck warped to the point that it is unplayable.
By this time the dealer was fuming (I was actually chilled during the ordeal as I know not to threaten anyone working in retail) so they did a little bit of heck to ESP to send me a replacement bass.
Fast forward a month a few days later and I got my new bass!!
I have to acclimatize it and send it back for a set up in a few weeks (and Im not paying for it)
The biggest 3 differences I find between this one (made in '13) than the one made in '08-09 was.
1. The neck is back to the 5 piece maple/rosewood neck (the old bass was just a maple neck) It feels beefier and heavier than the old neck
2. They switched the body woods from agathis to basswood (adding weight to the body)
3. It comes strung with Cleartone strings (very bright and punchy like coated steel strings instead of SIT's)
At the end of the day, I had to wait 4 months and a week to get everything sorted out. Am I impressed with ESP? Not really. But at least they owned up for their warranty. But in all honestly I dont think I can recommend ESP to anyone :/
But I endured it just for Sentimental Value.
