ESP Guitars

In 1975, Hisatake Shibuya opened a shop called Electric Sound Products (ESP) in Tokyo, Japan, which provided custom replacement parts for guitars. At this time, ESP also began making guitars under the ESP and Navigator brand in the Japanese market.

ESP replacement parts were first introduced into the US in 1983 and began crafting custom instruments for local New York artists between 1984 and 1985. Among these artists were Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick (KISS), Sid McGinnis of Late Night with David Letterman and Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones). At this time, ESP also introduced the 400 Series as the first production line to be distributed in the US.

During this same period, ESP began making the bodies and necks for Kramer Guitars and other manufacturers were using ESP as an OEM such as Robin Guitars, Schecter Guitar Research and DiMarzio. Many traits of the Kramer line are still visible including neck construction and body bevels. ESP tooled up for Tom Anderson's shaved bolt on neck heel on the Schecter bodies and this has since become a feature of their house brand.

In 1985, George Lynch discovered ESP while on tour in Tokyo. Lynch walked into an ESP shop looking for a replacement neck and learned that ESP also built custom guitars. As a result, his famous ESP Kamikaze was made and ESP released George Lynch's Kamikaze as its first signature model. ESP soon introduced the M1 Standard, MI Custom, Horizon Custom, and the Surveyor bass.

At this time, ESP based its headquarters in a loft in downtown New York City on 19th Street. In 1989, the headquarters were moved to 48th Street near other music stores.

Between 1990 and 1992, ESP expanded its Signature Series as well as its standard product line. The US replacement parts business was discontinued in order to focus solely on their guitar and bass line, as well as the Custom Shop series. There are about 41 signature series guitars.

In 1993, ESP moved its headquarters again but this time to Los Angeles, on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. In 1995, the LTD series was created to sell ESP's products at a more affordable price. Soon after the introduction of the Korean and Indonesian-made LTD lines, ESP stopped selling the majority of its Japanese-made flagship guitars in the United States, due to the high prices involved in exporting to the Americas. The lone exception was ESP's artist signature series, which remained ESP (rather than LTD) models. In the early 2000s, ESP resumed exporting the standard Japanese-made lines to the United States (where they are popular among heavy metal and hard rock players), though at greatly increased prices compared to the early 1990s.

Similarly to Ibanez, ESP's chief competitor in Japan, ESP was initially known for making high-quality and customized replicas of famous American guitars, including Strats and Teles, as well as Gibson Explorers. The Explorer replica, known as the EXP/MX, shot to fame when avid ESP user James Hetfield's band Metallica rose to popularity in the late 80s/early 90s. Models similar to Hetfield's white ESP even today sell for thousands of dollars beyond the original retail price. However, just like with Ibanez, when Gibson realized the extent to which ESP was cutting into sales of its own guitars, it threatened a lawsuit to prevent sales of these guitars in the Americas. ESP redesigned its lines to be less similar to the American models.

Original series and Custom Shop ESPs are handcrafted in Japan while the Standard Series ESPs are factory-made in Japan.

In 1996, ESP started its "LTD" series. are more affordable and cater mainly for markets outside Japan. The 1000 series LTDs are made on an assembly line in Korea whereas the 401 series and below are made in Indonesia.

LTD basses are instruments mainly aimed at beginners. Over the years manufacturing has moved between various locations, including Vietnam, China and Indonesia. Intermediate models were manufactured in Korea in the early 2000s (decade). The quality from these has led to continued demand for the LTD series.

Additionally, ESP has two separate Japan-only lines of guitars, the Grassroots (lower end) and Edwards (Mid-range). The Grassroots line is manufactured in Korea and are the equivalent or better than the Sub-400 series LTDs and can be considered a budget line. The Edwards guitars, on the other hand, the final setup is made in Japan but the bodies and painting are made in China (except for very few Edwards models that are made in Japan, but those are the exception to the rule) and boast similar hardware as their higher-end ESP counterparts but are not handcrafted. In terms of quality, in contrast to the USA lines (i.e. ESP Standard & LTD), the Edwards line generally lies in between the more upmarket LTDs and ESP Standards.