ESP LTD Viper-256 - Snow White Reviews

I started playing as a little child and thirty-plus years later I have owned and played a lot of instruments. This LTD Viper (basically an SG shape) plays better than the last Gibson SG that I bought from Sweetwater a few years ago. It plays and sounds better than the 80's SG that I owned. And it is hard to compare it to my 70's SG that I still have, as they are very different guitars. That SG has a huge boat-neck that I dislike, but I love that guitar. This guitar is a close second for SGs that I have owned.

For a few hundred dollars you can get as good an instrument as you could in the 70s, or 80s that then would have to be hand made and cost well over a thousand dollars in 70s and 80s dollars. The technology is just threw the roof. Today's technology has improved to the point where companies can manufacture professional instruments at the cost of a weekend trip. The quality of these LTD guitars is just fantastic.

This particular instrument -- to compare it to an SG, or Les Paul sound, in case you cannot play this guitar and are buying it through the mail -- the pickups are clear, but with growl. The neck pickup has a very Dimarzio Norton, or Duncan Jazz (but louder) sound and feel to it. You can play nice clear sticcato runs. For me the perfect neck pickup sounds like pulling a string of perfectly shaped pearls through your hand. As each one passes you feel the identical and smooth flow of pearl to pearl. And you can achieve this with this neck pickup.

The bridge pickup has enough output to chug metal with it if you choose to. It is not high gain, but it is no shrinking violet either. It has a very Duncan Screamin' Demon sound to it. PAF on steroids. I like it, but on this guitar I will swap out the bridge pickup for a White Dimarzio X2N, as I have 2 other LTDs and one has this exact same pickups and configuration and I wish this guitar to be more of a high gain beast. But you do not have to swap out the electronics. These are good solid pickups and you do get a coil tap as well -- so splitting coils is an option for you too.

The neck feel good in my hand. It is not too thick like my late 60's/early 70s SG. It has more of the slim-taper feel of slim taper Gibsons, but with a slight D shape. You have access to every fret without issue. VERY comfortable and the fretwork is amazing for basically an entry-level instrument. Whenever I buy an import it is usually to hot-rod it and I have to get Jeff my freind and luthier at Sauve' guitars in North Adams Mass to grind, level and polish the neck. But I have the action amazingly low and ZERO fret-buzz.

My complaints about this guitar are minimal. The color option is just black and white. No gig bag or case with it. But you know this going in. It is not a negative surprise. The weird thing is my guitar arrived with the B and high E strings broken!? As soon as I saw that I thought, "Well there is going to be damage to the neck!" But no. There was 0 damage to it. Can very cold air break the strings? I have purchased 100 instruments through the mail in my life... maybe more... and I never saw broken strings with no damage to the guitar.

My sales representative is Patric Ortiz and Mr. Ortiz is always a great salesperson. He is kind, funny and professional. I had a bad experience with a sales representative named Tim. I have never been so rudely spoken to on my adult life. But everyone else that I have worked with there for the 5 or 6 years that I have been purchasing from them has always been great and Sweetwater is the kind of company that you root for. They have a great atmosphere, people (aside from the one individual who I am sure does not represent the company), and products. Oh and I got candy to throw to the wife!

Thank you as always Sweetwater!