ESP is a Japanese manufacturer of guitars, founded in 1975 by Hisatake Shibuya in Tokyo. The company started out by providing custom replacement parts for guitars, but very quickly built a name for themselves after introducing their own high-end guitar designs. Today ESP is one of the world’s most popular guitar brands.
This article will look at the new left handed ESP guitar range, including standard models as well as limited run and more custom options.
In the grand scheme of things, and considering that they are one of the biggest guitar brands around, the company actually has a really excellent selection of left handed ESP guitars and basses available. And in a good variety of colors to boot! Well done ESP!
The ESP Family Explained
LTD – The Ltd brand was introduced in 1996 in order to bring the prestige and quality of ESP to a more wallet friendly price, and therefore to a much larger audience. The more premium models such as the EC-1000 are made in Korea, while the more affordable guitars are manufactured in Indonesia.
E-II – The E-II Series is designed to bridge the gap between the mass produced Ltd guitars and the Japanese built Custom Shop models. These guitars are made in the same factory as the custom models, but are mass-produced as opposed to being hand-crafted one by one. This results in a higher quality, premium guitar, but without the premium price tag that the Japanese ESPs command.
Others – These are the main two ranges that we will cover in this article as they are the most readily available, however other options are available (and some are mentioned below). For example ESP also has 3 Japan-only lines called Edwards, Grass Roots and Navigator. There’s also the Japanese ESP Custom Shop where you can have your ultimate dream guitar built. Depending on where you live there may also be other options, for example take a look at the ESP USA range which are handcrafted in California.
Left Handed ESP Guitars (New Additions)
This list purely shows the brand new additions to the range for this year. You can find the rest of the current stable of left handed ESP guitars by visiting the link at the bottom of this page.
I’ve included a handful of pertinent specifications for each guitar, but you can check out the ESP website (link at bottom of page) for full details.
Ltd EC-1000 Burled Poplar/Blue Natural Fade
- Body : Mahogany w/ Burled Popar Top
- Neck : 3-Piece Mahogany w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Tonepros Locking TOM
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan Pegasus (B) & Sentient (N)
- Finish : Blue Natural Fade
Ltd EC-1000S Fluence Black
- Body : Mahogany
- Neck : 3-Piece Mahogany w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Tonepros Locking TOM
- Pickups : Fishman Fluence Modern Ceramic (B) & Alnico (N)
- Finish : Black
Ltd EC-1000T Flamed Maple/Black Natural Burst
The ‘T’ in the model name stands for ‘traditional‘. This means that the body is thicker than on the EC-1000, has no belly-cut, and is also weight-relieved for comfort.
- Body : Mahogany w/ Maple Cap
- Neck : 3-Piece Mahogany w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Tonepros Locking TOM
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan Pegasus (B) & Sentient (N)
- Finish : Black Natural Burst
Ltd EC-1000 Violet Andromeda
- Body : Mahogany
- Neck : 3-Piece Mahogany w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Tonepros Locking TOM
- Pickups : Fishman Fluence Modern Ceramic (B) & Alnico (N)
- Finish : Violet Andromeda
Ltd EC-256 Vintage Natural
- Body : Mahogany w/ Flamed Maple Top
- Neck : 3-Piece Mahogany w/ Roasted Jatoba Fretboard
- Bridge : TOM & Tailpiece
- Pickups : ESP Designed LH-150B (B) & LH-150N (N)
- Finish : Vintage Natural
Ltd Eclipse ’87 Black
- Body : Mahogany
- Neck : 3-Piece Mahogany w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Floyd Rose 1000
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan JB (B) ’59 (N)
- Finish : Black
Ltd Eclipse ’87 NT Pearl White
- Body : Mahogany
- Neck : 3-Piece Mahogany w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Tonepros Locking TOM
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan JB (B) ’59 (N)
- Finish : Pearl White
Ltd F-200 Black Satin
- Body : Mahogany
- Neck : 3-Piece Maple w/ Roasted Jatoba Fretboard
- Bridge : FR by Floyd Rose Tremolo
- Pickups : ESP Designed LH-301B (B) LH-301N (N)
- Finish : Black Satin
Ltd H-200 Flamed Maple/See Thru Purple
- Body : Mahogany w/ Flamed Maple Top
- Neck : 3-Piece Maple w/ Roasted Jatoba Fretboard
- Bridge : LTD Fixed w/ String-Thru
- Pickups : ESP Designed LH-301B (B) LH-301N (N)
- Finish : See Thru Purple
Ltd M-1000HT Black Fade
- Body : Alder w/ Burled Poplar Top
- Neck : 3-Piece Maple w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Hipshot w/ String-Thru
- Pickups : Fishman Fluence Modern Ceramic (B) Alnico (N)
- Finish : Black Fade
Ltd M-1 Custom ’87 Candy Apple Red
- Body : Alder
- Neck : 3-Piece Maple w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Floyd Rose 1000
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan Distortion (B)
- Finish : Candy Apple Red
Ltd Mirage Deluxe ’87 Pearl Pink
- Body : Alder
- Neck : 3-Piece Maple w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Floyd Rose 1000
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan Distortion (B) & Hot Rail (N)
- Finish : Pearl Pink
Ltd Phoenix-1000 Vintage White
- Body : Mahogany
- Neck : 3-Piece Maple w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Tonepros Locking TOM
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan Custom (B) & Phat Cat (N)
- Finish : Vintage White
Ltd SN-1000HT Purple Blast
- Body : Swamp Ash
- Neck : Roasted Maple w/ Roasted Maple Fretboard
- Bridge : Hipshot Fixed
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan Pegasus (B) & Sentient (N)
- Finish : Purple Blast
Ltd Viper-1000 Quilt See Thru Purple Sunburst
- Body : Mahogany w/ Quilted Maple Top
- Neck : 3-Piece Mahogany w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Tonepros Locking TOM
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan Pegasus (B) & Sentient (N)
- Finish : See Thru Purple Sunburst
Special Run Models
But wait, there’s more! ESP may allow certain dealers to order models usually only available right handed as long as a minimum order is placed – so some stores will offer left handed ESP guitars that you won’t find anywhere else!
As you can imagine, these very limited guitars are part of super small runs (I believe 6 is a common number), so these are very special and rare indeed. One of the best places to go for these is our friends over at Xtreme Lefty Guitars. They always have a ton of amazing left handed ESP guitars in stock, with more arriving all the time. The image below shows just a small selection of what they have available at the time of writing, so click here to see exactly what they have in stock!
From left to right: E-II SN-2 Blue Natural Fade, E-II Horizon NT-II Tiger Eye Amber Fade, LTD EC-1000FM See Thru Purple, LTD EC-1000 Fluence Tiger Eye, ESP Signature George Lynch Skulls & Snakes.
Left Handed ESP Basses
You didn’t think I’d forgotten about the often neglected southpaw bassist did you? Check out the latest additions to the range of left handed ESP basses below.
Ltd D-4 Burled Poplar
- Body : Mahogany w/ Burled Poplar Top
- Neck : 7-Piece Maple/Jatoba w/ Roasted Jatoba Fretboard
- Bridge : LTD BB-604 w/ String Thru
- Pickups : ESP Designed SB-4B (B) & SB-4N (N)
- Finish : Black Natural Burst Satin
Ltd D-5 Burled Poplar
- Body : Mahogany w/ Burled Poplar Top
- Neck : 7-Piece Maple/Jatoba w/ Roasted Jatoba Fretboard
- Bridge : LTD BB-604 w/ String Thru
- Pickups : ESP Designed SB-5B (B) & SB-5N (N)
- Finish : Black Natural Burst Satin
Ltd Surveyor ’87 Black
- Body : Alder
- Neck : Maple w/ Macassar Ebony Fretboard
- Bridge : Gotoh 201B-4
- Pickups : Seymour Duncan Vintage Jazz (B) & Vintage P (N)
- Finish : Black
ESP USA Configurator
Still not enough options for you? You might like to check out this newish section on the ESP USA website which will allow you to design and purchase your dream ESP USA guitar.
At the time of writing the only left handed option is the popular Eclipse model. Available options include woods, color, finish type, pickups, and hardware color. Once you’ve finished your build, you can save it for later, or send it off to ESP for a price quote.
Try it out here – ESP USA Guitar Configurator
So that about wraps things up for the current southpaw ESP range – hope you found what you were looking for!
ESP Guitars Website
When LeftyFretz first started back in 2010 the ESP website was pretty awful when it came to left handed models – there was no information anywhere! However ESP has now turned things around completely and easily has one of the most lefty-friendly websites around. A specific left handed section clearly lists all available southpaw guitars and basses – top marks!
For more information:
ESP Japan Website
ESP USA Website