“I’d bet most rock guitarists use only the bridge pickup with the tone control wide open 90% of the time… so why bother with a neck pickup and tone controls?” ESP LTD Deluxe EC-01FT review

If you prefer to keep your tone as big, pure and uninhibited as possible, this guitar certainly meets those goals without any feelings of compromise or missing out.

What is it?

I’m a big believer in simplicity when it comes to the electric guitar, especially when the priority is the boldest, most dynamic tone.

I often find that the best approach is to strip things down to the barest of essentials and that any and every addition to the signal path is more likely to take away than add to the equation.

Hey, this theory worked for everything from Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstein to Leslie West’s Gibson Les Paul Junior, and who could argue with that?

Playability and sounds

The LTD EC-01FT may be stripped down, but that doesn’t mean it’s austere. The mahogany body and three-piece mahogany neck are seamlessly joined as if they were crafted from a single slab of wood, and body routing is kept to a minimum to ensure maximum resonance.

The control cavity is a little larger than usual, but it provides ample space for a battery should you choose to later install an active pickup.

The neck’s Thin U profile combined with the deep cutaway facilitates fast, unimpeded playing across the entire silky smooth Macassar Ebony fretboard. The recessed bridge keeps the strings close to the body, making it easy to comfortably palm mute the strings.

Verdict

The ESP LTD Deluxe EC-01FT may be stripped down to the essentials when it comes to its single humbucking pickup and solitary master volume control, but its upscale materials, design refinements, quality hardware and impeccable craftsmanship result in a luxurious ax that’s much more than a bare-bones Junior model.