#170 - 28th September - Okay then?!
3 1/2hrs - 300km - one way. I was driving quite a bit to the beautiful countryside of Baden-Württemberg to get a ESP E-II M-II Neck Thru Urban Camo. Magnificent product name! 💪
The active camouflage satin finish makes it very difficult to photograph or even see in normal light. Not sure if an untrained person is able to spot the guitar on the pic. It is there.
Main reasons for getting it:
- looks cool af,
- has two humbuckers,
- satin neck,
- floyd rose bridge,
- reverse headstock,
- 24 frets.
What worried me a little:
- I had never played an ESP before,
- I had never played active pickups, let alone EMGs before.
Japanese ESPs were recommended by a friend whose judgement I trust a lot. So that part did not really concern me too much... it just caused a little insecurity. But there was no reason for that. The E-II feels great, the build quality is amazing, the hardware is top notch. It's got all you could ask for in a guitar imho.
As for the EMGs, I watched multiple youtube comparison videos. One of the more extensive ones is this one. And what can I say? Yes, there is a difference. But ever since I got to produce and mix music, I learned that the tonal impact of different pickups that follow a similar design principle (in this case high output humbuckers), let alone in a high distortion setting, is really less relevant.
Everything that I will dial in on an Equalizer is going to have a way larger impact than the difference in the pickups. When it comes to guitar sound in a song production, the speaker selection is way more important imo.
In other words, the video convinced me that the EMG 81 sports a classic hard rock/metal sound that is super similar to any other high output humbucker and will totally work.
The only con - and I knew that this was a trade-off to be made - is the time it takes to set up the Floyd Rose. The strings on this beauty are four years old and the setup isn't great. String height works for me but the intonation across the fretboard isn't quite right and I also want it in a drop C# tuning.
Cleaning, changing strings and getting the setup right: Typical Sunday tasks.