Oops I did it again

[marnold***]

The latest one is a LTD EC-256 Honey Sunburst.

You just got one because I got an LTD bass. Copycat.

Seriously, though, HNGD! I'd be interested to hear how that one compares to the Ibanezes.

[stingx]

Berry nice! I like that particular model.

[Spudman***]

I'm having a hard time putting this guitar down long enough to write something about it. Just a moment.......
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Okay, I'm back. Hold on......
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Now I'm definitely back. I've been trying to think of all I want to say about this guitar...but I keep picking it up and playing and forgetting about any review.

To start - this is a very well constructed guitar. It looks worn but the spots don't feel worn or abused. Kind of neat however they did it. The whole guitar has a silky, satin finish and feels like an old friend when I strap it on. The neck is perfectly smooth in spite of the worn look. And speaking of necks, this is going to be in my top 5 as far as feel goes. It's fast due to the lack of gloss and the frets are a bit tall so the action is comfortably low, but it's still easy to get under strings for bends. It's also narrow side to side and fits my hand perfectly. There is plenty of room to maneuver on the neck and not cramped feeling one bit.

All the hardware has an aged look to it. It's like chrome that has satinized (become satin/dull in sheen). The pickup covers are bright chrome though. All the neck binding and pickup rings are aged yellow too. Nice finish to the neck as well. The back is a dark mahogany and the front is a dark rosewood. I took steel wool to the back of the neck, polished the frets and smoothed the fretboard a little. Afterward I did a light oil treatment to the fingerboard and was happily surprised that no color rubbed off. It's the real deal rosewood. It didn't even soak up very much oil so it appears to be good quality.

The flame maple top is like a guitar that has been owned, cared for but played in a variety of venues for the past 45 years and may have had a nitro finish. It's not breathtaking but it looks cool and respectable nonetheless. Not like some fad or toy guitar.

The sounds is pretty right on for a Les Paul type sound. In full humbucking mode it sounds very much what you would expect a LP to sound like. Now the real interesting part is that when the neck pickup is tapped it sounds more like a low output vintage neck humbucker. Very sweet and full of character. The tone knob dials in a very nice vocal vowel sound when it's rolled off. It doesn't seem to alter the output but gives it that classic trebleless tone you've heard on hundreds of recordings.

Strap buttons are solid and large but not overly large. Just right to keep a good strap on without worrying.

This one has a 3 piece mahogany body and it's easy to see the pieces in good lighting and the cavity cover is pretty small compared to a Les Paul's. I can't, however, see the headstock scarf joint so it looks like a 1 piece mahogany neck to me.

Now for the most interesting part - the volume knobs are reversed. Looks like it came from the factory that way. The electronics really had me stumped for a while after I got it cleaned up and strung up. I thought the bridge pickup was defective. Might be why I got the deal of the decade on it but I'm not sure. I'll swap those pots around as soon as I can force myself to quit playing it long enough. It really is a gas to play. I debated 9s or 10s and ended up going with 10s which was a good choice. Sounds balanced either plugged in or acoustically. It's actually pretty loud acoustically. It plays in balance too in a good position without any neck drop.

Knowing what I do now about this model LTD I can almost kick myself not getting one sooner. This guitar makes many of mine obsolete for me. This one is going to get a lot of play time no doubt about it.