I am more than pleased with this instrument and I own over 60 guitars. It is certainly bang for the buck and it leaves me wondering what the ones that are over $ are like cause this is all I need.

I've owned this guitar for a few weeks now, coming up on almost a month and it still brings me joy each time I pick it up to play it.
In my case I knew I was looking for a good single cut les paul style guitar with modern features and beautiful aesthetics. This guitar checked each of those boxes for me so you kinda have to know what you're looking for to enjoy the product, Everyone has different preferences.

That being said I was pleased to purchase this guitar through sweetwater, though I ran into a couple delivery inconveniences the guitar arrived in perfect condition.
I received a 2024 model with some slight imperfections on the finish but those are just minor things that dont really bug me.

I have already taken this guitar out to gig a couple times now and plan to do so more frequently now that I recently bought a new case for it.
Even though the guitar performs as good as it looks stock, I will be upgrading it to my personal preferences in the near future.

I want to thank my sales engineer, Caleb Priest, for making this a smooth first purchase from sweetwater.

Awesome guitar great quality for the price.

This is a great guitar, at a really affordable price for anyone just starting on guitar. I wish they made guitars like this when I was growing up. Back then you had cheap junk and very expensive guitars. You can't learn on cheap junk.

Guitar arrived quickly and packed very well. Pictures don't do justice for the black finish it's gorgeous. After a quick tune up it was ready to play straight out the box. No truss rod adjustments needed. Cleans are nice and clear switching to bridge with some distortion sounds rad and the initiation was on the money right out of the box. Kenny at Sweetwater sent some pics and texts and really made sure the purchase was handled professionally and stress free. Very happy with this ESP would highly recommend, this is the 2nd guitar I've bought from Sweetwater and I'm already eyeing up a Tele.

So I've had this guitar for about two months and I gotta say I am very happy with the tuning stability on this Ltd. Maybe I lucked out but I hardly have to make any adjustments if it sits in a case for a week while I'm at work. I have the Earnie Ball 10-48s on it tuned to eb and I love it. As far as the humbuckers they are pretty good, I can't tell much difference from them and my Epiphone les Paul's. The playability of the neck is nice too, I wouldn't say there are no sharp edges on the frets there is slight but nothing too serious, frets are smooth, when I swapped out strings for the first time, I polished them and added some Dunlop fretboard oil cuz I noticed it was a little dry, but I do this with all my other guitars. For the weight it is light but not too light, this one is about 7 pounds and a half if I remember correctly, has good natural sustain, notes ring out nicely. The electronics are silent when switching the 3 way switch selector and the switching for the coil split on the tone knob, the coil split is a very nice feature on this guitar too, when playing cleans I always find my self in the neck pickup with the coil split engaged. My guitar also looks amazing the paint is really shiny and the binding is nice, I've looked this over and headstock and neck have no blemishes, on the body, right around where the neck is glued there's a bit of sand marks but real light, can barely see them. But I love this guitar, sounds good, plays good, looks good. I also want to say a big thank you to Taylor Perry, the sales engineer who was with it every step of the way, making this Sweetwater experience enjoyable and I will be using Sweetwater again!

Bought this guitar on a whim thinking I needed something to just jam on that I didn't have to baby.

Pros:
Cost - $ - inflation sucks but still a good value
Finish on this is pretty good with some minor binding issues around the fret ends.
Cut outs for soloing and the back of the guitar make it really comfortable to stand or sit while playing. Other guitars that don't have these recesses tend to dig into your sides so this was a nice change.
Once you've stretched your strings and intonated the guitar, the tuners and bridge keep things in tune rather well. Compared to a $ Gibson Les Paul Standard, it holds its own.
Triple ply binding surrounds the body top and the headstock which was a nice touch at this price point.
Push/Pull Tone Knob is a cool feature. I was really surprised how much I liked the coil splitting for the neck position. I didn't love that feature for the bridge position, but for cleans, you almost get an ESP/Less Paul and a Fender in one guitar.
Flag inlays, dead level and installed flawlessly.
Jatoba wood fretboard. I was skeptical whether I'd like it or not and so far, I do.
Resonates - the guitar has sustain. Without active pickups it just keeps going which surprised me. I also attribute some of this to the boost it's getting from my tube screamer. Without that, the sustain dies faster.

I wanted to give it 5 stars but here's why I docked it. The frets on this are uneven in spots. When I play the 3rd fret on the low e strong, my note pitches sharp. After taking out some tools and checking the levelness of the frets, there are some instances where a fret is taller than the others and requires a little work. I may have this plek'd if it continues to bother me. Nothing major but is a little irritating when that note doesn't sound right. For someone with experience, this will bug you. If you're new, you may not notice.

The nut had little attention given to it during install. It's a little tall which affects your action. The string cuts were good but the nut itself stands out like an eyesore. It was low on the low strings and super high on the high strings. I'll be redoing that piece.

My last thought on this guitar. Pickups. I bought with the intent to swap them out for EMG 60/81. I played it again today and was reminded why I bought it. It has a tight signal path that does metal pretty well. The attack it not great for sharp fast rhythms but it does ok. For jamming it suits my purpose.

Signal Path: ESP Ltd EC-256 > Boss TU3 Tuner > Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808 > Dunlop Crybaby 53550 Wah Pedal > Mesa Triple Rectifier > Mesa 4x12 Rectifier Cabinet

Would I buy it again. After seeing other comments about how the ESP LTD 1000 had similar fret issues, I would buy this guitar. It would have been nice if it had a battery compartment already routed in the back for pickup upgrades. If you want that, go to the 401 or 1000. This is a solid 4-4.5 guitar for the price.

The guitar has exceeded my expectations, though I really didn't have any informed expectations since I bought this to learn to play on after consulting with Ryan V. a bit. It stays in tune for quite a while before it needs to be adjusted, you can clearly hear the differences in tone when you switch between each of the settings and adjust the knobs, and it sits pretty comfortable on the lap (I don't really practice standing).

I have a lot of experience with other (wind) instruments, so take my opinions with a grain of salt. But as an absolute guitar beginner I have felt like this was a good purchase.

Rule#1: Get a professional set up! This goes mostly for beginning and intermediate players. Each guitar must be set up to suit "you" and strings properly stretched to provide optimal tuning stability. Mine is a 2021 model the only mods I've done are installed Grover classic tuners, and a graphite nut for added sweetness. Jam on!

Very poor quality Paint and neck/frets. Way thin body and poor sounding pickups, electronics/pots & switch noise when moving.

This guitar simply cannot be beat at this price range I own many guitars fender,gibson,prs,trust me this guy will not take a back seat to any of them seriously. This is probably the best 600.00 dollar guitar on the market thanks Tyler Moore and Sweetwater for always helping out.

This is a great guitar ! excellent tone and playability ! I use it for recording as well as live performance of Industrial metal music . From rhythm to solo work it is an amazing guitar for the money! The LTD EC-256 compares very nicely to expensive guitars !

Great guitar for the price played and looked great right out of the box! Personally I will be putting much better pickups in it but that's my taste can't say enough about it great guitar !!

I was astonished when I opened this guy out of the box, after waiting 24hrs ofcourse for the guitar to adapt to my climate at home. "It cant look as nice as it does in the photos" was my initial thought before purchasing. It is truly one of the nicest looking guitars I've ever seen or played and I've owned both Gibsons and PRS. I had concerns based on how affordable the guitar was but for once I feel that not only did I get a great deal but a quality product. I've yet to find flaws in the finish, binding, fade, or anything. This is apparently a limited build from ESP and harder to get than the PS5 nowadays. I lucked out and was able to scoop one up. Good luck on getting one and I'm sure you will not be disappointed.

This was a gift for my son. I already own a EC 256 myself just upgrades to a EC 1000. My son was ready for an upgrade to. I feel you get more for your money with the ESP LTD brand. The guitars are well made. They are easy to play I have not had to make any adjustments. Yes with all things you could get a set up for even lower action. This guitar really stands on it own

I bought an ESP LTD 1000 with factory Fishman Fluence Pickups. I really liked it so when I saw the ESP LTD 256 for sale at Sweetwater as a demo price drop I said, "I've got to buy it." The price was so low and for a few hundred dollars I thought that I could have a backup for my new guitar. My concerns were how much it was going to cost me after I pulled the pickups and I would probably, since it is an export guitar, bring it to Jeff, my friend and professional luthier at Sauve Guitars in North Adams Massachusetts.

But here is the shock... I am keeping the pickups on it and it does NOT need any fretwork to level the frets like a pro guitar like the EC 1000, which cost almost a thousand dollars more than this guitar. The frets are perfectly level. I have the action set amazingly low. It needs NO work at all... which is unheard of for a guitar at this price.

For basically an entry level price you can get a pro feeling instrument. And if you get it, as I did, as a floor demo guitar it's almost free. I was shocked AND the pickups sound great! This sounds and feels better than my 70s Les Paul Studio and my 80's Les Paul Standard... and I do not mean Epiphone, I mean Gibson.

The neck pickup sounds very close to a real 70s PAF that Gibson put stock in their Studios. Sounds very close to mine. And the bridge pickup sounds like a Duncan Screamin' Demon. It has that sizzling pushed PAF sound of 80s bridge pickups. And yes, if you play metal and you have a good amp this pickup can chug very well. Rock, blues, jazz... this is a very versatile instrument. And with the coil split?! You can get just about every sound that you can imagine. Maybe not a tele twang. But just about everything else. I was not big on the split coil tone, but I dislike every split coil tone that I have ever heard so...

The shocking thing most of all is that I like it in most ways MORE than the 1200 EC 1000 that I bought and it is better in most ways than my Gibson Les Pauls. Obviously all guitars vary and I grabbed a good one, but with modern technology they all are going to be in this production wheel house. You may find a better one... most will be about then same and with ESPs quality control with the LTD brand you should not get many worse.

Mr. Ortiz, my sales rep. is always very nice. The shipping was very quick and they had it packed and out the door the same day that I ordered it. My only complaint is I have purchased like 10 different guitars and amps from Sweetwater and this is the first time that I did NOT get my candy! NO BAG OF CANDY! But the guitar is very Sweet.

Have had this guitar for months, absolutely love it! Love the feel and look, also it sounds amazing!

You never know what you're gonna get when you spend $399.00 for a guitar, but this thing is excellent! The high-gloss black paint and classic binding with gold pickups and hardware look very similar to what you see in a custom. It's light, well contoured and nicely constructed. The pickups provide a nice variety of tones, the neck has the feel of a much higher priced instrument and it comes nicely dressed with jumbo frets. The neck pickup has a push-pull pot which when pulled up, produces some sweet bell tones. All in all I cant see spending more on a guitar when you get all this for such a great price.