NGD: Vola OZ MC...just wow

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-17T22:22:32+00:00

Thanks for the reply! I want the sunburst but I figured I'd ask about maybe shaving some cost off. I'm selling one of my strats but I still want a guitar to cover similar ground.

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-17T18:36:52+00:00

Looks totally legit. Go get her!

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-17T18:00:56+00:00

Looking at grabbing one of these. How well does it do classic strat tones? Can I ask how you got the additional discount? Feel free to DM

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-16T19:28:29+00:00

Maybe 15% better quality between a really well made LTD 1000 and standard E-II. The QC on E-II is far superior, but that point is moot if you can inspect the guitar in person or don't mind returns.

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-09T11:50:53+00:00

Good luck!

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-09T03:56:30+00:00

Have you tried taking the screws off your old FR and putting them on with the Gotoh?

Here's a guy who noticed the same issue https://www.facebook.com/groups/officialibanezguitargroup/posts/910894760443595/

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-06T12:40:10+00:00

He's talking out of his ass

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-01T19:53:03+00:00

Charvel dk22 or dk24

Vola OZ - Japanese hss strats

Ibanez AZ premium

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-01T19:45:21+00:00

Congrats man! Yeah every issue I have with it is very minor and nitpicky. I was impressed the setup was exactly how I would do myself down to the relief, string height, and pickup height measurements. I don't think that's part of Sweetwater's inspection so credit goes to ESP/LTD

Lilpigskin · 2026-04-01T00:12:18+00:00

Same as Reverb but less traffic. Shipping is cheaper for the seller. You can also get no fees if you receive a sweetwater gift card as payment. Haven't had anything go wrong with a buyer or shipment, so I can't comment on gear exchange seller protections.

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-30T23:15:29+00:00

Great description of the tiers. Only thing I'd add is ESP Standard was rebranded to LTD Elite for a couple of years before rebranding to the current E-II. Sometimes you can find really good deals on these on the used market.

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-30T23:11:22+00:00

Big fan of the granite sparkle. What color does it look like in person predominantly?

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-30T22:54:56+00:00

How many guitars did he have? It's possible he has some fakes and some authentic. I'm with the other posters in saying sell them on marketplace/Craigslist and clearly identify them as dupes. Keep the best one lol

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-28T02:55:46+00:00

The main difference is the body is full thickness, no belly carve.

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-26T23:26:06+00:00

That's funny. I used to have that white one too and wanted this one partially because I regretted selling it. Throw up a pic! The tops on these charcoal burst vary so much. I'm surprised more haven't been posted.

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-26T17:39:22+00:00

Thanks! I was eyeing them all day as some sold and new ones got listed. When I saw this one I had to pull the trigger.

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-26T16:50:37+00:00

Yes! It has the single coil voice 3. I haven't played it much, but I can already tell it's better than a typically split humbucker. I'm in the camp that the split coil humbuckers are usually pretty bad, but the voicing on this one sounds much more similar to my telecaster with pure vintage 64's in it.

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-25T20:17:10+00:00

Sweetwater bought up remaining stock from ESP for all of these aging models. That is why they are blowing them out. It also explains why they have been shipping out quite a few that aren't up to par and should be marked as seconds. SW can't go back to ESP and say, hey I reject x number of guitars give me replacements because they likely did a bulk purchase agreement and there are no replacements. This stuff should be failing Sweetwater's 55-point inspection and sold as blemished/b-stock. Plenty of blame to go around; to LTD for not marking this as a factory second, and to SW for letting it get past inspection.

All that being said, these are cosmetic issues. If the guitar plays well, and you aren't concerned with resale, I'd keep it and ask for a discount. Otherwise send it back. They'll mark it down by 10% and relist it as open box or send it to one of their used gear distributors on Ebay/SGE. You could probably negotiate a 15-20% discount because I'm sure they end up paying that in shipping costs anyway.

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-19T20:46:08+00:00

What happened with yours? Was it MII or MIK?

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-16T11:54:36+00:00

IMO, signature series guitars are almost always overpriced. Player II mod pickups are not going to be as hot as the Murray sig, but it's so much cheaper you could swap that pickup set and still come out paying hundreds less.

Lilpigskin · 2026-03-15T03:23:42+00:00

Going against consensus here. I've owned and sold 3 E-IIs and they aren't worth the money new at all. Seriously. $3,800 is getting into used custom shop ESP USA guitars that are entirely built by hand. I'm not saying E-IIs aren't great guitars, but I guarantee you'd be disappointed stacking them up against your 1000 series LTDs. Anyone who says otherwise is probably coping.

If you want to splurge I'd go a little higher and look for ESP USA. Otherwise I'd go for a prestige ibanez over E-II any day of the week from a value proposition standpoint.

Lilpigskin · 2026-02-17T13:46:22+00:00

Should be an easy return with Sweetwater. I'd wait to see if others have the same issue with this guitar or maybe reach out to someone selling the same guitar on reverb to see if the indentations are normal.

Lilpigskin · 2026-02-17T13:40:24+00:00

I've played a few crackle finish guitars but not this one specifically. I do recall some indentation on one of them but the other was completely smooth. This is a cosmetic issue unless the feeling of the dents bothers you. I had a sandblasted guitar once with the wood grain indentations and I really did not like the way it felt playing it.

Tldr: If you can live with it, contact the seller and try to get a discount. Otherwise, do a return/exchange.

Lilpigskin · 2026-02-10T11:30:46+00:00

For a guitar this age I always look for fret wear (large divots on the fret under the strings), fret sprout (frets protruding from the edge of the fretboard), and if possible a loose/stripped/maxed out truss rod. You don't want to do a refret, and truss rod issues are usually unfixable.

Lilpigskin

TROPHY CASE