Aug 16, 2015 on facebook, someone selling his LTD bass guitar to me, and i just look out this LTD Bass guitar serial number H0409646 Made in Korea, i wanna know if this is legit or copy help me to verify, please help me find out about this. Has come to my attention we've never fully explained the current ESP serial number system, so here goes. The one above is Custom Shop, as most would know. The first letter(s) designates the Custom Shop, Original Series, Signature.
![Esp Serial Number Identification Esp Serial Number Identification](https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net/user_files/esp/user_images/002/003/882/medium.jpeg?1461779400)
Key people Makoto Suzuki (President) Matt Masciandaro (CEO) Products, Owner Hisatake Shibuya Website (Global) (Japan) ESP Company, Limited ( 株式会社イーエスピー, Kabushiki Gaisha Ī Esu Pī) is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of and. They are based in both and,, United States, with two distinct product lines for each respective market. ESP Company manufactures instruments under several names, including 'ESP Standard', 'ESP Custom Shop', 'LTD Guitars and Basses', 'Navigator', 'Edwards Guitar and Basses', and 'Grassroots'.
Their products range from Japanese-built custom shop instruments to lower end mass-production Korean, and Chinese made instruments. TA-200 bass guitar.
In 1975, Hisatake Shibuya opened a shop called Electric Sound Products (ESP) in Tokyo, which provided custom replacement parts for guitars and quickly gained a reputation for the high-quality of these replacement parts. At this time, ESP also began crafting guitars under the ESP and Navigator brand in the Japanese market. [ ] of and were users of these guitars.
[ ] ESP replacement parts were first introduced into the US in 1983 and began crafting custom instruments for local New York artists between 1984 and '85. Among these artists were (), (), and (), of and (). At this time, ESP also introduced the 400 Series as the first production line to be distributed in the US. During this same period, ESP began making the bodies and necks for and other manufacturers were using ESP as an such as, and. Many traits of the Kramer line are still visible including neck construction and body bevels. ESP tooled up for Tom Anderson's shaved bolt on neck heel on the Schecter bodies and this has since become a feature of their house brand.
In 1985, discovered ESP while on tour in Tokyo. Lynch walked into an ESP shop looking for a replacement neck and learned that ESP also built custom guitars. As a result, his famous was made and ESP released George Lynch's Kamikaze as its first signature model. ESP soon introduced the M1 Standard, MI Custom, Horizon Custom, and the Surveyor bass into the market.
[ ] At this time, ESP based its headquarters in a loft in downtown New York City on 19th Street. In 1989, the headquarters were moved to 48th Street near other famous music stores. [ ] Between 1990 and 1992, ESP expanded its as well as its standard product line.
The US replacement parts business was discontinued in order to focus solely on their guitar and bass line, as well as the Custom Shop series. [ ] There are about 41 signature series guitars. In 1993, ESP moved its headquarters again but this time to Los Angeles, on in. In 1995, the LTD series was created to produce ESP's high-quality products at a more affordable price. Soon after the introduction of the Korean and Indonesian-made LTD lines, ESP stopped selling the majority of its Japanese made flagship guitars in the United States, due to the high prices involved in exporting to the Americas. The lone exception was ESP's artist signature series, which remained ESP (rather than LTD) models. In the early 2000s (decade), ESP resumed shipping the standard Japanese made lines to the United States (where they are very popular among heavy metal and hard rock players), though at greatly increased prices compared to the early 90s.
[ ] Similarly to, ESP's chief competitor in Japan, ESP was initially known for making high quality and customized replicas of famous American guitars, including hot rodded and, as well as. The Explorer model, (known as the EXP/MX), shot to fame when avid ESP user 's band rose to popularity in the late 80s/early 90s. Models similar to Hetfield's black ESP even today sell for thousands of dollars beyond the original retail price.
However, just like with Ibanez, when the company realized the extent to which ESP was denting into sales of its own guitars, it filed a suit to prevent sales of these guitars in the Americas. ESP redesigned its lines to be less similar to the American models. [ ] In 2002, ESP was ranked among the music industry's fastest growing companies. [ ] This is largely due to the Fender buyout of, who ESP had struggled to compete with throughout the 1980s and 1990s. After the buyout, many Jackson endorsers switched over to ESP (this has ignited a feud between players, with Jackson players pointing out that ESP became known for copying popular instruments, including Jackson's Soloist and Gibson's Explorer models famously used by and respectively, while ESP players cite the Fender buyout as casting a shadow on Jackson's metal image and hail ESP as the new king).