Eminence - APT 80

A little history ...
It all began in 1975 when the young Hisatake Shibuya opens in Tokyo, a small spare parts shop for the audio, or music, under the name Electric Sound Products (ESP).
A few years later, following the boom of the electric guitar, it sells spare parts and guitar accessories.
This leads him, two years later, to offer Fender or Gibson copies CBU.
It is not so much in production but custom-made models to customer demand.
Do little time to ESP to carve a reputation, multiply signs and provide the best brands including Kramer and Schecter particular.
He began to produce its own original models marketed in Japan under the ESP and Navigator titles initially and then, success helping, the USA with the support of renowned musicians (Vernon Reid, Kiss, Ronnie Wood ...).
Until George Lynch discovered the brand during a Japanese tour, a meeting that will bring a long and fruitful collaboration.
Only remains for the young entrepreneur that settle in the US and open a plant in Japan.
We are in 1987. That same year, Hisatake Shibuya bought the brand Schecter brand Texan investors but maintains both companies their perfect independence.
Man done deal, he also offered the prestigious music school Musicians Institute (formerly Guitar Institute of Technology) in Los Angeles.
In the early 90s, ESP opened a boutique in California and in 1996, the demand for cheap models being felt, LTD subsidiary is created to provide strict copies of original models, this time manufactured in Korea and Indonesia .
Strong competition from Jackson, ESP still reaping the benefits of the redemption that mark by Fender in the early 2000s, countless guitar heroes denouncing their sponsorship deals to join (ESP Dave Mustaine, and Alexis Laiho, in particular).
Over thirty years as ESP his mark on the world of rock guitar and big sound.
We will not complain, especially as the brand continues to hold center stage with models rarely certainly renewed (but do we change a winning team?) But still sexy. A success that applies both to its flagship models (Signature) for their variations marketed under the name LTD.