ESP LTD EC-257 Black Satin

After playing this guitar non stop since I received it, I can honestly say it's well worth the price you pay and actually feels more expensive than it is. The guitar is perfect for metal and if you are a fan of the LP shape like me this guitar is just ideal. I've read online some people complain about the pickups, but I think they need to check they're amp settings, sure the ESP Designed LH-150 might not be the best on the market but they do the job just right. The weight is perfect, I enjoy guitars that are on the heavier side and also neck is ideal for hard riffing. My only complains would be the guitar tuners and the nut that I will change very soon. Initially I wanted to buy the EC407 but since I dislike active pickups so much, I choose the EC 257 and I am very happy about it. Considering this is my first ESP LTD I will most likely continue to explore other products from them. Also something very important that needs to be addressed : The Roasted Jatoba fretboard is actually very smooth and DARK not orange or light brown as it might be shown online, it give real rosewwod a run for its money. I reccomend this guitar to everyone in need of a 7 string work-horse that can be easely upgraded without compromisind anything in the looks department.
I reccomend this guitar to everyone in need of a 7 string work-horse that can be easely upgraded without compromisind anything in the looks department.

I reccomend this guitar to everyone in need of a 7 string work-horse that can be easely upgraded without compromisind anything in the looks department.

This is my first 7 strings and I got it to have one deeper rhythm track in my metal band recordings and open new tuning areas for writing. I had only tried one other brand for 10 minutes and had no idea what I was going into. Ordered this online taking a huge risk. I am beyond amazed at how great things turned out.
The looks are killer (that's why I got this model).
My palm/hand is 18 cm long, middle finger 10 cm approx and I struggle a bit with this fat neck (7 strings hell-llooo). But the jumbo frets are high as if the fretboard is scalloped and my playing speed got higher. It doesn't neck dive also.
Stays in tune perfectly even with death metal material.
When played unplugged, you can hear a big sound coming out of the body and that is already a good start. Pickups are fairly hot and have clarity in high gain settings. Bonus: it doesn't say in the description, but the tone is a push/pull pot that splits humbuckers into two single coils. Except for the understandable hum, the single-coil setting was highly versatile. Loved the "squawk" sound they get for disco/funky music.
The only downside for me is the pickup selector that kinda gets hit by my right wrist when tapping, but that will get on the way only in live situations and I intend to unscrew off the cap of the selector in those cases. Someone with 2 cm longer arms will not have that problem.
The price is incredible for what you get and doesn't break the bank if one wants to upgrade parts, which seems not necessary to me.
The bottom line, after 25 years of playing I have all the options I need for all the genres I play, in one guitar. And it looks so rock'n'roll.
If anyone has more questions, feel free to drop a line at gjergjmero@hotmail.com

I wanted to have a LP form guitar for a long time already. The big fight was to get a 6 string one (looks better with the gold hardware) or the 7 strings one. Since my main guitar is 7 str, one I did decide to go straight for the 7 str, one. Guitar has come pretty well packed. It has a small weird hole (like a needle head) on the 5th position at 7-th str. going under the jumbo fret. Even tho it is a small one, was easy to notice it's presence. The guitar had a bit high string action but it was corrected lately. The part that i do not like most are the machine heads - It should be the first thing that everyone should consider to change with something better. Otherwise everything else was fine on my new guitar. Even the stock pickups are pretty descent to play or record with them. Compared to the entry model LTD crafted in 2006 (ex260) that i own, this one looks not that flawlessly assembled.
Overall quality/price I think it is a good deal.

I wanted a 7 string LP style guitar, and luckily this beauty was made. :D
In terms of looks - this guitar checks all the boxes for me.

In terms of sound - it sounds pretty darn good! Both metal and clean.

In terms of playability - wow, it is really comfortable to play. The neck is easy to grip and the back of it is smooth, the weight is balanced and no neck-dives. It somehow feels lighter than my 6-string but it weighs the same.

In terms of features - i like it minimalistic so 3 knobs is perfect, the vol-vol-tone configuration was something I've changed though.

In terms of price - fair!

In terms of quality - this is where some corners were cut unfortunately. The nut was crudely placed, there was minor damage to the plastic pickup switch and to one of the pickup rings, the volume pots were B taper, but other than that I'm satisfied!