westhemann Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 I bought an Edwards Forest guitar off ebay from this seller http://www.katanaguitars.com/product-list/1 It is a transluscent Blue 5 piece maple/walnut neck thru with an Ash body...Duncan pups,original floyd,yada,yada...I am sure you guys are familiar with these guitars and if you are not a quick Ebay search will give you all the info you could want.. I have always heard that these guitars were "comparable to LTD deluxe"...Well...they lie.I have had several LTD deluxe guitars...one of which(an eclipse) is sitting on my wall as we speak...and these LTD deluxe guitars in NO WAY compare to the Edwards I just recieved.. Fellow Americans...I have news...ESP has been making fools of all of us..So has every other American and Korean guitar line ...as well as the guitars we recieve as "made in Japan" These Edwards guitars are the exact instruments that are available in Japan for the Japanese to buy for themselves...Mine was imported straight from Japan to me by the seller I linked...and they are superb... NEVER have I played such a playable instrument...never has a guitar sounded so perfect...the fluidity and grace of this instrument is unparalleled by anything in my experience... The most playable Gibson I have ever touched does not compare..I just don't know what to say.. granted...this one is the only Edwards I have ever played....but I will be buying more... By the way...they are even smaller,lighter,and more refined than the ones available here..I have not touched the action or setup in any way except to tune it to pitch and set the trem flat to that pitch...the intonation is spot on... There is one small problem.The volume and tone knob appear to do nothing...plug it in and it plays until you unplug it..I am sure something is wired incorrectly inside and I will get to it this weekend and find out..if I can put it down...strangely enough it does not bother me because the guitar is dead quiet when not being played... I do not know if Katana sets them up themselves...maybe they do...I got this one discounted because of two small discolorations of the wood under the finish inside the cutaways...you can't really see them,but on ebay Katana took very hi res photos of them so it could be seen.. Anyway...just thought you guys should know...we have been duped Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fowl2338 Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 Damn, you buy a new guitar every day...?? :huh: haha But, question...it says Edwards, but (ESP) in parenthesis. Who actually makes these...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 In 1996, ESP started a new brand, LTD. The LTD guitars are similar to ESP guitars and more affordable and cater mainly for markets outside of Japan. The 1000 and 400 series LTDs are made on an assembly line in Korea whereas the series below 400 are made in Indonesia. LTDs are made out of cheaper materials than ESPs and ESPs use better quality hardware. The Custom Shop and Original Series ESPs are handcrafted in Japan while the Standard Series ESPs are made in the ESP factory in Japan. ESP moreover has two separate Japan-only lines of guitars, the Grassroots (low end), and Edwards (Mid-range). The Grassroots guitars are manufactured in Korea and are equivalent or better than Sub-400 series LTDs and can be considered a budget line, the Edwards guitars on the other hand are manufactured in Japan, and boast similar hardware and setups as their higher-end counterparts, but are not handcrafted. In terms of quality in contrast to the USA lines (i.e. ESP Standard & LTD), Edwards guitars generally lie in between the more upmarket LTDs and ESP Standards. ESP's guitars overall cater for a wide range of players, producing superstrat styled guitars, les paul styled guitars, Flying V styled, Star styled, et cetera. As ESP technically has two lines, one for USA and Japan, there are slight differences, with the ESP USA Line lacking guitars such as the Strat-like Snapper, Forest GT, and as well as some of the Japanese artist models. However the ESP Japan Line on the other hand lacks the Les Paul-styled Eclipse guitars. Their custom line however, has been known to produce some of the most unusual designs such as a Gundam Beam-rifle replica guitar, as well as the "ESP Machinegun" used, by the Japanese band Alfee. From wikepedia.. Damn, you buy a new guitar every day...?? I just happened to buy two last weekend with my tax refund...Before that,aside from a $250 impulse POS here and there,nothing for a while. I used to have a history of buying guitars on credit...the last two years I only buy if I have cash outright...it's still G.A.S. though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 the Edwards i have played have been pretty damn good - mostly Les Paul copies this time last year there where some real bargains to be had importing these from japan with the £-$ exchange rate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fowl2338 Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 I used to have a history of buying guitars on credit...the last two years I only buy if I have cash outright...it's still G.A.S. though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 You get your Jackson in?How do you like it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fowl2338 Posted May 30, 2009 Report Share Posted May 30, 2009 (edited) You get your Jackson in?How do you like it? Yes i did (yesterday)! But it came poorly tuned, so Mr. Floyd novice (aka...ME), is trying to get used to this "new technology" Although i have a feeling the jt580 (i believe it is) is not going to be perfect... Edited May 30, 2009 by Fowl2338 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2009 They always come untuned...but yeah,it takes a bit of getting used to. All double locking trems work well when they are new,so don't worry about that..the difference is in how much abuse they can take without getting worn out. I have not gotten mine yet,so first hand I am not sure how well the trem is hardened...but it is supposed to be pretty decent. I also have a floyd original in the box sitting here..and a floyd lopro as well..so I will be able to tell you when it comes in if the trems will be a direct swap or not. Just to give you hope...when my Edwards came the floyd was not set right and the guitar was untuned as well,but less than 5 minutes later I was playing it in tune with the trem level and the nut locked... That is what you can look forward to once you get the hang of it...it always seems horrible at first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted May 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2009 Okay,well...I got into the control cavity this morning and figured it all out..What I thought was a coil split switch was really a "direct" switch... the coils are not split at all...rather this is how itworks.. With the switch in the up position,everything works like a regular 2 humbucker,3 way toggle setup with one volume,one tone...flip the mini switch down and it bypasses the volume and tone...so you get a "hotter" sound,if you wish it.. So I have found that I can leave the volume down and switch to "direct" for rythm,and as soon as I stop playing I hit the switch and it goes silent...or I can leave the volume up and use the direct thing for rythm and flip the switch to run through the controls and get a more fluid,less biting lead tone for solos... Really it is a neat setup,once you get used to it. By the way,the control cavity is well sheilded with sheilding paint everywhere and foil on the inside of the cover,so no unwanted squeeling...and the wiring is very,very tidy... I am very impressed with the Edwards line,based on this guitar.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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