ESP USA TE-II Hardtail Guitar, Ebony Fretboard, Duncan Alnico II Pros, Violet Pearl
PLAYER'S PERSPECTIVE
It's always a treat to get a beautiful USA-made ESP into the shop. Built in ESP's USA factory right here in California, these instruments are top-of-the-line instruments on par with their renowned, artisan-made Japanese Custom Shop guitars. This gorgeous TE-II Hardtail in a beautiful Violet Pearl is ready to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee with its delicate looks, but absolutely fearsome tone and playability.
This guitar is so much more than just a fancy-looking T-style axe. As expected from ESP USA, the build quality and fit and finish are top-notch, and the guitar feels like it plays itself. It's a fine example of American-made guitar artistry. The action is extremely low and the notes still ring out with perfect clarity and massive sustain.
This guitar features Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups. Taking the "PAF"-style humbucker a step further, these have a very vocal quality to them and absolutely sing both clean and distorted. They'll clean up nicely with a nice top-end shimmer, but can also handle gain very well, from blues, jazz, and R&B all the way up to the heaviest modern rock, something vintage humbuckers sometimes struggle to do. You may have heard them at work on Guns N' Roses records - legendary axeman Slash has been the #1 user of these pickups. We think these 'pups sound pretty good there!
When high-end electronics meet superb construction and high-quality tonewoods, the result is something that's going to feel great, look great, and sound even better. That's ESP USA.
MANUFACTURER'S DESCRIPTION
Crafted at our ESP USA facility in Southern California, the USA TE-II Hardtail combines a completely classic shape with the ultimate in contemporary build quality and high-end components available today. It offers a mahogany body with bolt-on construction to its thin U-shaped quarter-sawn maple neck with natural satin finish for the smoothest and fastest playing experience. Optional premier-quality figured-wood tops are available on the USA TE-II Hardtail including flamed maple, quilted maple, lacewood, zebrawood, koa, open grain ash, and open grain mahogany, with a variety of amazing translucent gloss and satin finishes to choose from, as well as both maple and ebony fingerboards with offset abalone dot inlays.
The parts and components on the USA TE-II Hardtail are second to none, and include 22 extra-jumbo Jescar stainless steel frets, a Hipshot fixed hardtail bridge, a bone nut, Gotoh Magnum Lock tuners, Dunlop strap locks, and a variety of high-end Seymour Duncan, EMG or Fishman pickups, with a push-pull coil split control on the tone knob for passive pickup models. The USA TE-II Hardtail includes a high-quality ESP USA form-fitting hard shell case.
Graphite Neck Reinforcement Bars
Get maximum strength and stability from your guitar’s neck, with higher long-term reliability. All ESP USA models are made with two high-strength bars of carbon fiber.
Drop Top w/ Natural Masked Binding
The droptop design on many of our ESP USA models allows for the beauty of a figured top that’s bent over the arm contour, adding a little brightness to the overall sound while retaining the warmth of the body wood. The natural masked binding edge adds amazing visual contrast.
Deep Dish Jack
In addition to looking sleek, the Deep Dish jack installed on ESP USA models has the added benefit of providing the depth and angle of the cable to be easily looped around the player’s strap to better protect the cable from crimps or other damage.
SPECIFICATIONS
Body
- Model: USA TE-II Hardtail
- Color: Violet Pearl
- Body Wood: Mahogany
Neck
- Construction: Bolt-On
- Fretboard: Ebony
- Neck Wood: Quartersawn Maple
- Neck Finish: Natural Satin
- Radius: 12" (305mm)
- Scale: 25.5"
- Frets: 22 JESCAR FW57110 XJ Stainless Steel
- Profile: Thin U
- Nut: Bone
- Thickness @ 1st Fret: 20mm
- Thickness @ 12th Fret: 22mm
- Headstock: Matching
Electronics
- Pickups: Seymour Duncan APH-1N & APH-1B Alnico II Pro Set
- Controls: 1x Volume, 1x Tone
- Pickup Selector: 3-Way Toggle Switch
Hardware
- Bridge: Hipshot Fixed
- Tuners: Sperzel Trim-Lok
- Strap Buttons: Dunlop Locking
- Hardware Finish: Chrome
Miscellaneous
- Case: ESP USA Eclipse Form Fit Hardshell
- Strings: D’Addario NYXL REG LITE (.009 - .042)
- Made In North Hollywood, CA
- Serial #: US23136
- Instrument Weight: 8.5 lbs.
OVERALL CONDITION
Music Store Live is proud to be an authorized dealer for ESP. This USA TE-II Hardtail is 100% brand new and is being sold with a full manufacturer's warranty. Photos are of the exact guitar you'll receive.
Our in-house guitar tech will inspect, test, set up, and clean all of our instruments on site prior to shipping. All of our instruments are guaranteed to be fully functional upon arrival.