ESP LTD EC-256FM - See Thru Cobalt Blue Reviews

First, the guitar looks amazing. I love that sweetwater let's you pick from available stock.
The sustain is noticeably incredible.
Setup out of the box was very good.
I've played a lot of guitars over the past 20 years, and this is just a very good guitar. If I had to compare it to other brands, I'd say I like the fit and finish, tone, and feel of the guitar more than I've liked some $ epiphone les pauls.
For this price, I'd say there's no negatives to this guitar.

This guitar is better than I thought it would be. The finish is beautiful, the set up is perfect. The humbuckers sound awesome. Impressed with the communication with Ryan. Sweetwater's customer service is second to none.

Amazing guitar! Very comfortable to play and excellent action. The Les Paul shape and style is great. Thank you to Sweetwater for an excellent setup as well. God bless you all, in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.

Been playing off and on for more then a decade(still consider myself a beginner)- all guitars I've owned were cheap hundred dollar guitars all of 'em with some sort of fret buzz & after playing my new ESP LTD EC-256FM for a few days now I still find it weird playing a guitar and not having any fret buzz, it's just so smooth! And with it being so smooth it's just encouraging me to play even more. Great buy!

For reference, I play in a busy classic rock cover band (77 shows in 2022), and I own 20 + guitars, several of which were made in America. Most were purchased from Sweetwater.

My youngest son and I discovered this LTD model in See-Thru Black Cherry on Black Friday, 2021. We were amazed at how well it played and sounded through several different amps. Neither of us could put the guitar down. My son ended up buying it at the Black Friday price. I would have bought it if he hadn't! Fast forward to Christmas 2022, my wife got me the See Thru Cobalt Blue variety (from Sweetwater).

The guitar is just so "playable". Neck and frets feel so comfortable to my hand, and it is light for an LP style guitar. I have a Gibson LP Standard and other American made guitars - they currently stay at home. Cobalt Blue is currently my main gigging guitar. Now, I have Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in many of my humbucker guitars - so far, I am playing the Cobalt Blue all original, including the original tuners. I mean, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Blue stays in tune, and the pickups have great clarity and bite. Not the muddy sounding humbuckers that usually come on guitars in this price range. Coil split works well, although I honestly don't use it much.

I also own an EC-1000 in See-Thru Purple. Another great guitar, which came with Seymour Duncans already in it. Honestly, the EC-256FM is just as nice, for about half the price. Highly recommend the EC-256FM to anyone looking for a double-humbucker LP style guitar.

Have had this cobalt blue guitar for a year and it's an amazing value….holds tune finish is amazing and looks great. Great time and versatile with different distortions or standard tuning . Just fun to play

Okay now that i have had this guitar for a few weeks now its plays great! So much fun to play it. the only thing is the machine haeds are okay not bad nut i got some Gotoh Locking machine heads today the part number is SG381-MG-T very nice looking! Sweetwater does not have this part number i hope they may carry them at some point! Being that said this is going be a great update for this guitar! So for any one out there this guitar for the money and everything is a super guitar so any one out there ESP guitars are great!

This is the first LTD guitar for me. I have 2 Ibanez, one Semi and one hollowbody and a Carvin solid body Strat/Tele crossover. This LTD is fabulous! Did need a set-up but the fit and finish is flawless, humbuckers and split coil tap are very fine. Not much drop in volume with the split coil. Nice clarity to the pick-ups. I was also surprised at this price point that the volume and tone pots are quite good! They roll off gradually, not all at once. This is a small neck which is perfect for my small hands, so keep that in mind. Mine only weighs 6 lbs. 10 oz. For a Les Paul type guitar you can't do better for $.

Okay got her today at work! Open the box and the case! Wow what sweet looking guitar. The color so pretty. Okay let talk the build the guitar very high end. The neck feels great! Tonight I will plug it in and she what she sounds like! So would I buy and only one? Yes! Thanks you guys for all you do.

I bought my EC256 a few years ago before the price went up and paid just under $500 for it, and got every penny back in value with this gorgeous guitar. I've bought others since and this is still my favorite, no question. The action is low and super playable, the tone is amazing with both the coil splitters and regular humbuckers, and the color and wood grain pattern are gorgeous and make me want to pick it up and play every time I see it. I absolutely love this guitar.

Almost all the hardware is excellent and totally useable. The only thing I've changed on it is the plastic nut, which I swapped for an inexpensive bone nut that I ordered on AliExpress. That has GREATLY increased the tuning stability and in my opinion eliminated the need to upgrade the tuning machines simply with how big a difference it made. The attention to detail is apparent with every fret filed smooth, the clean binding wrapping the guitar, excellent paint work, the list goes on. This is a work of art at much as it's an instrument.

I hope that inflation and the cost increases on this model don't price-out new players looking for a good quality starter-to-intermediate guitar, because this 256 is everything an average or even an experienced player would look for. This is something you want to play and want to be seen playing. Absolutely recommend. I'll be broke and living under a bridge before I pawn or sell this.

I searched for the guitar I wanted for a very long time and I finally decided on the ESP LTD EC256 Cobalt Blue. I have a strat style guitar so I was looking for something more like a Gibson LP. I borrowed and compared guitars from friends to figure out what I wanted. It was hard to find exactly what I wanted in the price I was willing to pay. After watching many videos and reading countless reviews I went for it and bought the 256. I am so happy with it! The playability is amazing! It is more ergonomic than a LP. And it is gorgeous!!! The coil splitter gives so many tone options. It can sound like AC/DC or Hendrix! The blue looks different in different light. It's really cool. Sweetwater sends a picture of your actual guitar when they are preparing it for shipping. It looks even better in person. But every guitar will be different as it is a see through finish so you see the wood grain that is like a finger print unique to your guitar.

I've owned this guitar for 6 months now and have played it an hour or more each day. It's hard to describe, but this instrument just feels perfect in my hands. The neck is fast but there's plenty to grab on to, it's built like a tank, and looks even better in person. It arrived perfectly intonated and stays in tune better than my Tele! Sounds great, especially in the bridge position, and the price is unbeatable. I can't say enough good things about this guitar and working with Sweetwater in general. Get one!

I am a professional guitarist, and have a great collection of high end USA made guitars, Gibsons, Paul Reed Smith's, etc.... I stumbled upon this amazing guitar from ESP after seeing a Facebook ad for Sweetwater. After a while of deliberating about ordering a guitar online, I opted for this one in see thru cobalt blue.
When the guitar arrived, rather quickly I might add, I was blown away by the fit and finish....absolutely beautiful!!! Plugged it into my Marshall JCM 800 and it sang!!!! Plays and sounds great!!!! Worth way more than I paid....I want another, then I will order a USA PRS Custom 24 from Sweetwater!!!
Evan Neiman is my sales engineer....great guy, very knowledgeable, and passionate about his job and going the extra mile......its like I have a new music friend.....seriously, he never rushes me, and is very personable.....deserves a huge raise!!!
I am new to Sweetwater, and hope to be a long term happy customer!!!
Thanks guys!!

Mike Albright
20,000,000 streams and counting!!!!

Right out the box the playability and comfort on this guitar it"s just perfect. I have owned a few Les Paul style guitars but this one is the best in confort it"s half the weight and thinner than a regular Les Paul shaped guitar. The Coil tap it"s also an amazing feature for more sound options. The humbuckers are quite clean and they have an great sustain.

I don't know how I missed it but this guitar does have coil splitting (on the tone control).

Pushed it from 4.5 to 5 stars!

One of the best LP style guitars for the money.

This Guitar is Beautiful in looks, sound, feel, just all around awesome.

This is only the second guitar I've owned so I don't have much to compare it to, but this guitar blows me away with its look, feel and sound. I did not expect a $400 guitar to feel as solid and high quality as this. The finish, the hardware, the frets, and the pickups all scream high end. It's comfortable to play and the sound is warm and smooth. The only thing more satisfying than staring at this beautiful guitar on my wall is taking it down and playing it. This is one of the best purchases I've ever made.

This is the best guitar I own and play!

Beautiful guitar, they switched the inlay from saying the model on the 12th fret to the truss rod cover which is a nice fix as well. Had one small finish error but nothing to quibble about at this price range. Plays fantastic, sounds great (I have amazing amps so that helps) and plays really fast. Light weight but still has the ability to rock the house. The cleans are well defined and articulate well. The top on the one I received is gorgeous too, it may just be a laminate top but it looks just as pretty as my Gibson LPs with seemingly 2/3 the weight.

Overall a fantastic guitar for this price. I have inexpensive Ibanez ARZ and Epiphone LP style guitars and this one is just as good. Obviously more money can get you better pickups and some nicer options not available at this level. No complaints, looks gorgeous. Now I just need to find an LP sytle case I like since the ESP one weighs a metric ton (exaggerating a bit :-). I like it enough I'll probably get the purple one as well!

No, you won't be disappointed. This guitar is everything you always wanted at a price that won't break you.