These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the September 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
Any guitar that features a flat top, double cutaways, dual humbuckers and a locking Floyd Rose is typically pigeonholed as a “shredder’s guitar,” suggesting a predetermined limit of expression and application.
In fact, the platform was originally conceived to correct performance-limiting design flaws and, consequently, addressed the requirements of technically proficient virtuosos, helping them to develop their talents fully.
A handful of modern luthiers have refined the style over the past 30 years, and ESP now joins this small club with the new, Japanese-built E-II Series ST-2. (The E-II guitars replace the company’s Standard Series.) It’s a true player’s machine that rivals the finest contemporary guitars for playability, and at less than half the typical price.
