I was looking at some ESP “Gibson” remakes myself. I love that body on them so much, but I want a flat black one. It didn’t come with humbuckers originally? I think the one I was looking at had them though.
LOL My six string Ibanez SR-506 bass was made in Korea too but I still love it to death. Never got more than a shrug from me.
@John_E Oh definitely. My apologies, as I didn’t intend for that to come off insensitive but I could see it being read that way. It was definitely meant as a jab at the snobs and not the manufacturing. I am also a proud owner of several Korean Ibanezeses.
@Bersist Hehe, it did – this was an upgrade because some of the electronics had sustained some damage in a move. It’s got a different tone now for sure, but the original sounded amazing asw ell.
@chordsykat - I was agreeing with you, not getting offended, you’re going to have to try much harder than that.
BTW, here are two awesome ESPs
purple tinted black ESP…
And this bass…I want this. I love the red binding and p’ups, very ‘60s Batman. I like the simplicity of this. And it makes it very dangerous that it is in driving distance…
This is actually one of the ones I wanted, such a kick ass looking bass!
Haha, no I absolutely was apologizing for sounding like a dickhead. 
I’m gonna guess guitars are just straight-up being produced better and like any technology (which is a big part of this conversation, I’d wager) we’re finding ways to make these great sounds for cheaper. I mean, I get so many Youtube suggestions for “I can’t believe this cost $200!” and you click on it to find a really really nice guitar, a lot beyond “entry level” in ability, being produced by a company you’ve never heard of. It’s great and I think new competition for the old guard can only mean good things for musicians.
I remember being a huge Children of Bodom fan just a few years back – I’d catch a ton of their shows up and down the East Coast (RIP, Alexi). And Henkka, the basist, would pull out those wicked looking ESPs and he would look like the biggest badass from the planet Hell Yeah. They are a dream!
Dat bloo. 
I know, right? Not really cheap though.
This is why I’m at a loss at what I should buy next since getting back into playing, following trying to play producer. I’m glad muscle memory does everything for me though.
I’m actually super impressed at some of these $200 Jackson or Ibanez guitar models that parade themselves as entry level guitars buy they truly are quality guitars despite their price.
Wow ESP always have my attention and this time is no exception. Mike, you always find amazing basses. This is supposed to be a Precision/Jazz split? Yikes that price made my ass hurt.
In 1996, ESP started its “LTD” series. These guitars are similar to lower-end ESP guitars, but are more affordable and cater mainly for markets outside Japan. The 1000 series LTDs are made on an assembly line in Korea whereas the 401 series and below are made in Indonesia.
You can read it all on the Wiki. It’s really interesting and they became more popular when some big players switched to ESP (Jeff Hanneman, James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine, etc.). For bass we have Tom Araya! The brand seems more targeted towards metal which is a smaller audience than for example mainstream music, so I don’t think they are less desirable but they just focus on a “niche”. I had a LTD-ESP EC403 which was made in Indonesia. That guitar was top notch quality!
The ESP USA and custom models are much more expensive. So it’s similar with most guitar brands.
Indonesian made guitars are, in general, top notch; many can easily compete with MIK/MIJ in a lot of cases, and by extension, MIA, since MIA is no better than MIJ (and often worse, unless you’re someone like Fender that artificially limits parts selection by region.)
I’d stand my Indonesian-made BB734A or TRBX604 up against any production MIJ or MIA Fender I’ve seen, in terms of quality.
I want a Passive P/J bass pretty badly. The awesome Lakland Geezer Buttler is way out of my budget, but this Frank Bello LTD if freaking awesome. The red trim and pick ups, throw some red strings on it, and it would sit next to my LTD Tom Araya Slayer bass, with red strings, wouldn’t they be a pair.
I love the blue more traditional P bass as well/ plus I actually like the P body shape vs. the Jazz body shape that is on the Frank Bello bass, and I would be happy with either one, But the Frank Bello would have to be the one, just so it could hang with the Tom Araya bass.
Frank Bello is a very good “finger style” metal bassist (like the add on reverb says) like Cliff Burton, Steve Harris, Robert Trujillo, and he absolutely kicks ass, I would be stoked to have one of his basses.
What I would really love is to have this Bello bass and this Brownsville bat bass have a bass baby.
Bellow red lines and pickups, Brownsville’s bat body and bat inlay and headstock.
Tananannananana
I would be all over that bongo if it was a 4 string, but the barolos were a 5 string only build.
Trip to Brooklyn today and she made it home.
Mint. Not bad for $500. Guy selling it said it wasn’t loud enough for him. I wasn’t going to tell him how to make it louder.
This is one heavy sucker. Solid. Neck is pretty chunky. Once the neck settles in (was super flat) and I swap stings I’ll post a clip.
Digging it so far though noodling around.
Wait… WHAT?
$500 seems about right, I think it is $749 new.
There are 3 levels, just like the Tom Arraya bass.
One under a $800, one about $1300 and then one way more. I think the Frank Bello is about $3400 and the Tom arraya is $5000
It is funny that the Tom Arraya is the highest priced top model, but it is lower priced base model, at like $549
I can’t make sense in it.
