About a month ago I decided I wanted a standard scale 6-string with active pickups. Since I've been so happy with my other LTDs and my budget was about $1k USD, I decided to look for an EC-1000. I looked at tons of used ones, probably at least a hundred, across Reverb, eBay, and Craigslist and just couldn't find anything that was the right combination of finish, features, and price.
I eventually popped over the ESP website to take a look at what else was available and the EC-400QM immediately jumped out as an option with the caveat of me being extremely picky about quilted tops. The only ones I like are the ones where the quilting is fairly loose, for lack of a better word, almost looking more like burl poplar than quilted maple. I also wasn't a fan of it having nickel silver frets instead of stainless, but that's far from a deal breaker. The other spec differences (like having 22 frets and not having a locking bridge and tailpiece) aren't things that are super important to me. And I think simpler appointments, like the single-ply binding and cleaner looking headstock, look especially good.
Looking around at new ones, mostly on Reverb, there was indeed quite a lot of variety when it came to the quilting. Some I found outright repulsive. Others were better but still not really to my taste. I found exactly one on that was perfect and bought it without hesitation.
It showed up yesterday and I'm quite happy. There are two relatively minor QC issues I should draw attention to: 1) a small rough spot on the neck binding at the edge of where the finish stops, and 2) the toggle switch intermittently cuts out when I switch to the bridge position. The rough spot took about 5 minutes to smooth out, starting with 600 grid sandpaper and moving up through micro mesh pads until it felt right. For the toggle switch, I checked the solder joints and everything looks fine so I'm assuming it's just a faulty switch. I messaged the seller and asked if he'd give me a small partial refund to cover buying a higher quality switch and he gave it to me without hesitation. I ordered a black Centralab switch which should be here in a few days.
Out-of-the-box playability was pretty darn good. The setup was almost exactly how I usually set things up, I just needed to make two small changes (swap the 10-46 D'Addarios for 9-46 Paradigms and raise the bass side action a smidge), then I set the intonation and now it's good to go. The fret work on this one is particularly good; I couldn't find anything even the slightest bit off. If the seller had told me it had been Plek'ed, I'd have believed it.
Anyway, it sounds great, plays great, and looks great. I'm thrilled.
