Thought I would start off my 1st one on a light review and impression on my 1st Edwards purchase if anyone wishes to read or cares 
So I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a newer guitar instead of a vintage. I had my reservations as I would rather invest in some older Japanese made wood vs. newer Chinese made mystery wood lol however the price was so stupid, the praises on this forum are too good, and the pups are too darn creamy to pass any of this up. It arrived packaged well beyond belief but as many have said, I was amazed at the weight once I had it out of the packing.
The fit and finish of the guitar overall is very good, it could have been excellent and here is why:
- Inlays are well done, the ebony fretboard is pristine, the frets are not too bad but they still could have been dressed a little better. From the 12th fret on, they still have some sharper edges that should have never been OK'ed from quality control but I can fix that without too much sweat.
- The nitro has been done in a nice satin finish vs glossy and I dig that big time. I had always wanted a black custom but this one made me bite due to the Duncan P90's in a custom set up with the nice aged binding etc. There are a few spots on the top of the guitar where it looks like dust was present and was sprayed over with the nitro...another QC issue that should have been caught...especially on a $1100 or so retail guitar!? I tried to capture a few of the 6 or 7 spots that are not a HUGE deal but still irks me! One shows up on the horn and one near the selector switch.
- One last QC issue that I was surprised about is how the made a mistake on the routing lip via the back toggle port. You can see in the pic that a few little chunks must have came out and they just painted over it to try to fill in the damage...this is caused from a dull router bit and once again should never have been passed as OK. These are all minor gripes but it makes me wonder about the final inspection in Japan via the ESP reps and how they either got lazy or just said this one kosher?
OK, on to the good stuff. The neck fits right into a 59 radius and feel...really comfy and not massive or slim. The SD P90's scream and sound so good in this guitar. I took off and looked into the control cavity and the grain of the wood sure looks identical to mahogany but as it has been discussed here heavily, it must be of the SEA variety due to density and weight thereof. After playing this and comparing it to a Honduras mahogany based guitar, I can honestly say that the Edwards sings and resonates equally or better, possibly due to the lower density wood?
The weight difference is about a pound to 1.5 more under my Greco custom and is nice to have that option when you do not want to stand with a 10.5 or so lbs plank over your shoulder. No chambering at all, just a lower density farm raised SEA wood.Anyway, I will make this lame review brief but I hope it helps people out who are considering to buy this or any other Edwards guitar as they are sweet and impressive instruments and a foundation to what China is possible of in the guitar world. Imagine 20 years from now...these will be the new or additional collectibles I am sure
Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.
