# New guitar! ESP LTD PB-500



## sakeido (Jun 30, 2007)

I picked up a new guitar today, to fill the big 6 string void in my life. I thought about a Parker Fly but I decided I didn't want to spend a shitload of money on another guitar I would be too afraid to take out and play a show with. So I decided to look for a Les Paul-ish guitar, but I hate the way Gibsons play. I remember I had a look at the new LTD PB-500 awhile back and loved it - I went back to that store to see if they still had theirs. They definitely did, so I came home with one in a cool satin color. 

These things are AWESOME - mahogany body & neck, with a real flame maple cap on them. The cap isn't super thick - it does hit 3/4" or so at one point but averages only about 1/4" - but it is definitely real. The headstock also matches the body! The body is also very thick and heavy but well contoured with a tasteful carved top on it.

It has the normal ESP thin U profile and XJ frets, on a 22 fret 24.75" scale neck. They've got real Seymour Duncans, a Alcino II Pro set or something like that, along with a very nice coil tap on a push-pull tone knob that gives a great effect and a decent reduction in output. Makes for very good single coil sounds. Other cool features - Earvana compensated nut, natural masked body binding, creme binding on the neck and headstock, a very nice piece of rosewood for the fretboard, neat little MOP & Abalone dots (they are a circle of MOP or MOTO with abalone in the middle) and Grover tuners. 

The best part - the guitar is only $670cad. They have recently reduced the price on them and man, these things would be a steal for $850 or even $1000 (if they added locking tuners), so I was shocked when I walked out the door with one for under $700.

As far as the tone goes - great! I thought the pickups would be low output, but they are actually quite hot and have a great tone to them. Very dynamic and responsive and the big fat body gives a wicked low end to them, which is exactly what I was looking for. It plays like a beaut. I have definitely had guitars with better fretwork before, but they cost $300-400 more (at a minimum) and some of them didn't even have this many other nice features in their favor. 

Time for pics!


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## playstopause (Jun 30, 2007)

Very nice. Way better bang for your buck than a recent Gibson imo.

Congrats


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## HighGain510 (Jun 30, 2007)

Something about those bodies just doesn't agree with me, but I have heard some good things about them!  Glad you dig it man!


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## Michael (Jun 30, 2007)

Very nice. I like it.


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## D-EJ915 (Jul 1, 2007)

Man, that thing is fucking sweet looking, it's a Schecter Tempest but with correct knobs and switch layout!

Those SDs are pretty pricey too, so it's like a freakin steal.


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## Shawn (Jul 1, 2007)

Very nice! Looks comfortable too. Congrats!


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## sakeido (Jul 1, 2007)

I just finished stringing it up with some Elixirs and setting it up for a little drop C action. The action can get pretty low on this thing - and it plays just so nice. Sounds good too, have a very brief clip right here:

SoundClick song info: PB-500 Test by temps - One guy riffin as hard as he can.


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## D-EJ915 (Jul 1, 2007)

That was cool man, sounded like Nodes of Ranvier, which is a good thing \m/


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## Horizon Whore (Jul 1, 2007)

woah the potbellys are hot!!! fucking nice gat man, youll enjoy it


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