ESP USA Viper Guitar, Ebony Fretboard, Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pros, Midori Gold Sparkle
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 one's in a gorgeous Midori Gold Sparkle - a Seafoam Green-esque color with metallic sparkles mixed into in the finish, one of our favorite colors to date! This one also includes some classy gold hardware to match, which looks great against the green.
The Viper has long been one of ESP's most popular body shapes, and this luthier-built version is for the more discerning players wanting a bit more in terms of build quality and craftsmanship. This is a shredder's dream with killer playability in a simple and sleek package. The unmistakably meticulous attention to detail from top to bottom is stunning. The fretwork is pure perfection and allows for incredibly low action. A simple control layout gives you everything you need and nothing you don't.
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!
MANUFACTURER'S DESCRIPTION
Crafted at our ESP USA facility in Southern California, the USA Viper ups the ante on the ultimate offset double-cutaway guitar shape that so many ESP players have used over the years. The USA Viper offers a mahogany body with optional flamed maple and quilted maple tops and a wide variety of gloss and satin translucent finishes to allow the figured wood grain to be highlighted (solid colors are also available). These guitars offer smooth set-thru construction at 24.75” scale, with a three-piece thin U-shaped mahogany neck and ebony fingerboard with 22 extra-jumbo Jescar stainless steel frets and mother-of-pearl split-flag inlays.
We chose the very best components available for the USA Viper, including Sperzel Trimlok tuners, TonePros locking TOM bridge and tailpiece, Dunlop strap locks, and a bone nut. Pickups for the USA Viper include a variety of world-class Seymour Duncan (passive) and EMG (active) models, with a push-pull coil split control on the tone knob for passive pickup models. The USA Viper includes a high-quality ESP USA form-fitting hard shell case.
SPECIFICATIONS
Body
- Model: USA Viper
- Color: Midori Gold Sparkle
- Finish: Gloss
- Body Wood: Mahogany
Neck
- Construction: Set Neck
- Fretboard: Ebony
- Binding: Cream
- Radius: 12" (305mm)
- Scale: 24.75"
- Frets: 22 JESCAR FW57110 XJ Stainless Steel
- Inlays: Mother of Pearl Split Flags
- Neck Wood: 3-Piece Mahogany
- Profile: Thin U
- Nut: 1.65" (42mm) Bone
- Thickness @ 1st Fret: 20mm
- Thickness @ 12th Fret: 22mm
- Headstock: Matching
Electronics
- Pickups: Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Set
- Controls: Volume, Tone, 3-Way Toggle Switch, Push-Pull Tone Coil-Split
Hardware
- Bridge: TonePros T3BT Locking TOM w/T1Z Locking Tailpiece
- Tuners: Sperzel Trim-Lok
- Strap Buttons: Dunlop Locking
- Hardware Finish: Gold
Misc.
- Case: ESP USA Viper Form Fit Hardshell
- Strings: D’Addario NYXL REG LITE (.010 - .046)
- Made In North Hollywood, CA
- Instrument Weight: 7.7 lbs
- Serial #: US24111
OVERALL CONDITION
Music Store Live is proud to be an authorized dealer for ESP. This USA Viper 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.