ESP LTD Viper 256

A solid SG style guitar – I have owned many guitars including Gibson and Epiphone SG guitars and am writing this based on my own 2018 Viper. The LTD Viper-256 is a solid, intermediate level guitar. Obviously inspired by the Gibson SG, it has a thicker body (40mm) and a very stable three piece mahogany set neck. It is considerably heavier than an SG (Epi or Gibson). I find… Read more

the heavier body to be an advantage as it has a darker, thicker tone and isn’t as neck heavy as SG’s usually are. Tuners are adequate but not brilliant, and the LH-150 pickups are a bit muddy when compared to Seymour Duncan’s, etc. particularly the neck. The pickups are similar to the JB/59 set with less treble. It sounds good enough for home playing and such but if you were going to use it in a band it would benefit from a tuner and pickup swap. Electronics are smooth and work well. The coil splitting sounds a bit like a P90 style. The fretboard is an easy to use 42mm nut width and it’s only barely fatter than the neck on a Japanese ESP or high level LTDs. Frets are not sharp though not quite as nice as the ones in my higher end ESPs. Certainly not sharp tho and comparable to the average Epiphone. The inlays are done well with the exception of one tiny bit of glue I found on the 15th fret. The finish is very good. Lovely see thru cherry colour and the binding is neat and smooth. Overall it looks well built and feels nicer to play than the Epiphone G400 I sold recently. The Viper-256 is a great guitar as it is for a beginner or intermediate player, or a good platform to mod.