So good it eats Tokai's for lunch..... :roll:
"The holy grail. True ESP built in 1980, not the junky Kasuga built ones that everyone else tries to pass off as the real-deal vintage ESP Navigator Les Pauls. Solid maple figured top, one piece body, one piece neck (truly one piece, without even separate headstock "wings"), long tenon style construction, no heel cap. The best vintage Les Paul ever made in Japan. Eats a Tokai LS-200 for lunch. Pot codes date to 1979.
For more info on the true ESP built vintage Navigators, type this into Google.
Navigator: Uncharted. A History of Vintage Navigator LPs (1976 ? 1985)
...and read the section with the title "January 1981: A Snapshot as of Early October 1980."
Please educate yourself and read this article - it is important that you learn the difference between the exceptionally rare ESP built vintage Navigators (like this one) and the Kasuga outsourced ones.
Guitar is in absolutely excellent condition. Plays beautifully with great action. Sounds awesome. Fairly chunky '59 style neck profile. Virtually no fret wear and zero fretboard wear (absolutely no divots). No breaks or repairs, ever. No wear on the back of the neck. The only real condition issues to point out are the finish chip on the top near the binding on the lower bout, and there is finish cracking completely encircling the three-way rhythm/treble toggle switch (if you take off the plastic rhythm/treble ring, the guitar's clear top finish is actually stuck to the bottom of the plastic ring, so there is a little circle shape of the guitar's finish that comes off, the size of the plastic rhythm/treble ring, but then fits back in place like a "puzzle piece" when you put the plastic ring back on). The dark spot in the top between the knobs is not a crack or damage or wear at all - it is a natural dark grain mark in the maple top itself, actually very characteristic of these earliest true ESP built Navigator Les Pauls (in fact, that is sometimes another way of identifying these ridiculously rare guitars). Comes in the black hard shell case shown.
Yes, it's expensive. But try to find another one like this - trust me, it is not possible. Chances are, if you think you've seen or owned one before, it was actually a Kasuga made one (short tenon, heel cap, headstock wings, etc), and not a true ESP built vintage one like this. I have never seen one like this for sale in the United States, let alone on eBay. Again, please educate yourself on these and Google/read the "Navigator: Uncharted" article mentioned at the top of this description. And for fun, Google: Mick Taylor Hot Licks, and check out the vintage Navigator Les Paul that Mick Taylor played in that early 1980s video (another ultra rare true ESP built vintage Navigator Les Paul...)."