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ESP LTD M-100FM Electric Guitar See-Thru Black

The ESP LTD M100FM Electric Guitar, with itsreverseheadstock and dual ESP LH humbuckers, delivers a broad tone with searing highs.ESP carefully designs & builds all of their instruments with painstaking selection of materials & components and ...

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Searched ESP LTD M-100FM Electric Guitar See-Thru Black in Reviews

Very good budget rock guitar

Sound	I purchased this guitar back in 2000 and it's been my #1 until getting my JS a year and a half ago. I originally purchased it because I liked the LTD M line's resemblance to the Hammett series without the price tags. It also felt good in my hands compared to a few more expensive models that I tried. The string space was comfortable, not too wide or tight and the flat radius helped with sweeps and large bends. I believe the body is mostly agithis, which is similar in tone character to alder, but the maple top adds a little more snappyness. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard that also serves to enhance the treble aspects of the guitar. I found the stock pickups to be a little lacking in definition. They were decent for hi-gain sounds but the neck would become muddy very quickly. I also found the neck pickup a little bassy on clean settings and usually played the guitar with the tone knob on 10 to compensate. For rock, there are better options, but it would provide a very nice jazz wooly tone that belies its reversed headstock and hardcore looks. The bridge pickup was also adequate for metal and hard rock but after a few years and a change in musical taste, I swapped these to a Dimarzio Paf Joe and Fred combination. This brightened the guitar a little but it made it more crisp and midrangy as well. I had always had difficulty getting a clear tone when hitting a bassy open note and then playing something higher up on the neck. The pickup swap helped this considerably but the tone was still a little fuzzy and unrefined. The bridge was decent, it stayed in tune fairly well but I eventually swapped this, with some modifications, to an original edge. This did not impact the tone much but I made the switch mainly because I wanted a slightly lower profile and a trem bar that would remain in place. As you can expect, the bridge and neck profiles didn't match and the intonation was a bit problematic. Still, it served me well for a few more years and provides me with a very capable back up today. The sound is more suited to rock.
Action, Fit, & Finish	Another reason I purchased this guitar was because of the set-up. It felt better in my hands than some of the other more expensive guitars I was trying. I believe it was set-up at the music store I purchased it, which has since closed, and they did an excellent job. I also took it back there when I needed to change the strings and they were very helpful in showing me how to make adjustments with the Floyd Rose trem.
Reliability & Durability	I've played the guitar for almost 10 years. The neck is still straight and the action is still pretty good. It could probably use a fret level as there are some buzzy spots, but I believe it's been well worth the $300 USD I paid for it originally. The finish is thick and I've put some dents in it without breaking through to the wood. The wiring has never let me down and all the soldering joints/shielding etc. has held up over the years. I highly recommend it's durability.
Customer Support	I've never had to deal with them.

Liked about it	1. Thin neck with a satin finish played really well. 2. Played it for years and it's always come through. 3. Great finish.
Didn't like	1. Stock pickups need to be upgraded. 2. I came to prefer the Ibanez Edge/EdgePro trems to the Floyd Rose