ESP - Edwards & Navigator

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red king

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Does anyone know the difference between the Edwards and Navigator lines that ESP makes? Edwards models are more reasonably priced at around $750 - $900 CDN$, While navigator models are more in the neighborhood of $3,000 to $4,000.

Are Edwards guitars made in Japan, or are they licensed out to China or Korea? I've seen a few that haven't moved at all on Ebay, even though the price seems fairly reasonable.

thanks,

Red
 
Edwards is ESP's vintage style guitar line. They are production line guitars while the Navigator line is their custom hand-made special guitars.
 
the Edwards line is not new...they`ve been producing guitars under that name for many years however the line featuring the Duncan p`ups is only a few years old. Edwards was for a long time lower priced versions of the ESP line and Grassroots is the outsourced line. ESPs are very high end and give the US big two a run for their money. ESP was also making the Seymour Duncan line of guitars, and I own one from each level so I can honestly say F/USA has nothing on them. Recently I have not seen the Duncan line in the ESP chain of shops called Big Boss and I did read that they were no longer being mad...could be.
ESP also has/had a line called Proceed that were very high end as well, I see used ones but not new ones so it may be that Navigator has taken that line over. ESP also has a line called Progauge that is also made outside Japan. As far as I knoe the Duncan Edwards are MIJ and on another site we`ve been comparing guitars and some have serial numbers some don`t. I own 2 LPs from the D/Edwards as well as a strat and a LP jr. none of which have a serial number. The original LPs with Duncans were all gloss finished but they added matte finihed models a year or two ago. All of mine from that line were purchased used at at those prices they are a steal.
 
Sneaky - What do you think of your Edwards Seymour Duncan Les Pauls? I am looking at Korean Tokais, Japanese Tokais, Korean Deans, etc. What do you think? The Edwards LP's seem to fit in the price range between the Korean Tokais on the lower end and the Japanese Tokais on the higher end of the price scale.
 
well, got the first one last year. Liked it so much I bought the second this month. On an another site we were discussing these and one fella just got one and commented on his fretboard inlays...said they had a lot of filler on em. So I looked at mine, both are the same, they seem to have black something around the edges of the inlays but I must say, if he had not mentioned it I probably would have ever noticed.
They have nice weith to em, love the neck on mine...one is gloss the other matte. Workmanship seems to be very good, aside from the filler...by the way I looked at another one in a shop with block inlays and it was fine, no filler so it must be just the trapezoids. Mine play great and sound just as good. Couldn`t be happier... not even with a Gibson, had one a LP standard...it`s gone now. No offence to Gibson owners eh.
 
Sneaky ? thanks for a great description & good info on all those guitars ? very useful stuff. :-?

Just re. the filler ? yep, my 82 LS60 has that black filler around the trap inlays, & I?ve seen it on most older Tokais, but like you I wouldn?t really have noticed if others hadn?t raised the subject. Just my 2cents, but ? apart from ?top-of-the-range? high-$$$ models I think most makers have little issues like that ? Gibson may have less filler, although the pearloid traps themselves can be pretty ?tacky? & LPF has endless discussion of various sloppy QC issues on Gibson. :-?

Ian.
 
?Filler? ? a soft paste-like compound used to fill gaps around fittings, particularly in woodwork ? filler dries hard & can be sanded smooth so that gaps are filled neatly. Similar stuff is commonly used to fill small holes & cracks in plaster walls (eg ?Polyfilla?), but there are various formulations & various colours etc. for different applications. The stuff Tokai use is black & polishes to a high gloss,?it just looks like a black edge around the pearloid inlays ? sometimes it?s just a fine black line, other times it?s a thicker band ie when the inlay was cut far too small for the hole in Fretboard. :-?

Ian.
 

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