Hello everyone.
It took 4 and a half months for the guitar to arrive. I had an agreement with the Thomann team to contact me when the guitar arrived so I could go to the store in person and try it before buying it, which was incredible. Exceptional customer service.
About the guitar itself: When they handed it to me, I immediately knew I was going to buy it. It took me about an hour and a half just because I couldn't stop playing in the fitting room. The workmanship is exceptional down to the smallest detail. There were no scratches or signs of careless work. The finish is top notch. Very comfortable and easy to play thin-U neck with extra jumbo stainless frets - top notch. The locking tuners are a "must-have". Changing the strings is a pleasure. I put on 11-56 strings, tuned in drop-C and the guitar holds up pretty well in tune. The guitar didn't need any additional setup. It was even tuned straight out of the case. It comes with strap-locks installed, and I only had to install the strap-rings (they were in the case) on my strap.
Regarding the sound: this guitar is a beast! A real metal machine. Since it's my first guitar with active pickups, I can't give a very objective assessment in this context, but the Fishman's somehow suited my taste better than the EMG's, which I tried on another ESP of the same class. They sounded a little brighter to me and somehow more aggressive. But that's a matter of personal taste. Both sounded good. The Fishman's on this guitar have a push-pull function with 2 voicings - voicing 1 unlocks the full, aggressive capacity of the pickups, and voicing 2 gives a slightly more passive character, which works pretty well at very low tunings and for "calmer" clean sounds. Clean sounds are bright, crisp and crystal.
As a drawback, I can only point out the quality of the case and more precisely the interior. The material gives a slightly synthetic smell, but the case is by no means bad.
Overall, the guitar fully met my expectations! Yes - it's expensive, but it's worth every cent and the wait! If you're looking for this brand and this type of guitar - there's nothing to think about! Just save up and buy it!
P.S. I want to express my heartfelt and special THANKS to the beautiful people on the Thomann team for making this come true and also finding my car key which i lost somewhere at the store:))
