NGD - LTD Eclipse EC256

[domct203]

What a great guitar for $500. Played great right out of the box.

I was looking for a backup guitar, and something I could take to unknown locations for jams and gigs and not have to worry about my Gibsons getting stolen.

I was going to go with an Epiphone LP, I’m a single cut guy, and have always played a Gibson LP so the Epiphone was my first choice.

A long time friend of mine that I occasionally get together with for odd one-off projects or just impromptu jam sessions or open mics was raving about his new LTD Eclipse 256. He was telling me how much better it plays than his Epiphone LPs.

Next time I was able to get together with him I had a chance to play his and I was quite surprised how well the guitar played. The action was a bit high, he’s a strong strummer and likes his guitars that way so I didn’t mess with his setup to see if I could get it to play better.

The next day I ordered one for myself from Sweetwater.

The guitar is finished well, I can’t find any blemishes in the finish. The flamed top is very nice, mist likely a veneer at this price point but still very nice.

The fretwork is very good, no buzzing with the supplied medium action setup. The fret ends are rounded, a nice touch for the jumbo frets.

The pickups are not my thing at all. The bridge pickup is too shrill in the highs and too thin in the lows. The neck pickup was muddy with clean chords but didn’t sound bad at all for high gain lead work at the higher frets. I had already planned on changing the pickups after playing my friends guitar.

The nut was the basic hollow molded plastic type with no shaping done to it at all. The strings sat deep and the edges of the nut were sharp and uncomfortable. Nut action was good, about .005” at the high E and about .008” at the low E when checking the first fret clearance while fretting at the second fret.

The bridge intonated fine and seems well built.

I changed the nut to a Tusq XL and did my basic setup and set the neck relief to about .004”. Nut action is .003” for all strings. I was able to get my action at the 12th fret to about .045” on the treble side and .060” on the bass side with no audible buzz through the amp. Not bad at all for a $500 guitar.

I put a PRS Tremonti Treble at the bridge and a DiMarzio PAF Pro at the neck (my favorite pickup combo) and this guitar plays and sounds fantastic.

Highly recommend.

Dom

 

[bandit2013]

Looks great Dom.
I took the Epi route. Bought two of them. They play well. Pickups are a not bad.

Is the neck width the same? I usually felt the imports had a thinner neck than most.

 

[domct203]

It feels about the same, an Epiphone sized nut fit it perfectly width-wise.

Dom

 

[domct203]

Added a Floyd Rose FRX. The fun factor of this guitar just tripled.

The install was super easy and so far it’s very stable.

Dom

 

[bandit2013]

I was thinking of doing the same thing to the Epi LPs Had the trem already in the cart but bailed on it as nobody could answer the question on the neck angle.

Then I had the bright idea, why not get one of those Lucille in black and get the FRX for that instead. Not sure why but always wanted a semi hollow with the FRX. Not fond of the Bigsby thing.

 

[bandit2013]

That axe looks sic with that FRX. You reminded me to get one myself as I never followed through with the plan. Reason why I bought two Epi LPS. I was going to add the FRX to one and leave the other as a hard tail.

 

[domct203]

Did you notice that the bridge base is black, & the bridge/saddle chrome? I was not really happy with how it looked when it was all chrome, so I took a shot buying a used black version at a good price and just used the base & whammy bar.. Looks way better. I think I’m going to swap in the black locking nut at the next string change.

Dom

 

[bandit2013]

I saw that. Was wondering if you bought two and pieced them together, or was it a special order.

So is the arm a screw in type. I see it has a grub screw to put some tension on the plastic collar or insert. It could be a push in type but cannot tell by the images.

 

[domct203]

It’s a push in style. There are two set screws to set the tension. I’m going to replace one of them with a thumbscrew. When I have the tension set on the bar where I want it, the bar is really hard to pull out. If you like your bar loose it’s fine, I like mine to stay put. Right now I’m loosening one of the setscrews to take the bar in/out and it’s a pain always needing an Allen wrench to do it.

Other than that I have no complaints.

Dom

 

[bandit2013]

The black and chrome parts go well with the different colored pickups on the guitar. Nice combination.

 

[domct203]

Thumbscrew in, works as I wanted it to.

Much better than the Allen wrench.

Dom

 

[bandit2013]

That is a cool trick. Will see when the bridge arrives. thanks for the tip.

 

[domct203]

That is a cool trick. Will see when the bridge arrives. thanks for the tip.

This is what I bought, I couldn’t find any like this made in the USA.

M5 x 12MM, trimmed 1MM or so off the threads.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1854098685...ar=693202176516&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[domct203]

Had a great rehearsal yesterday, played the Eclipse 80% of the session.

I can’t get over how well this guitar plays. The LTD neck is just a bit thicker than the 60’s slim taper neck on my ‘13 Gibson LP.

It sounds great too, plenty of body and sustain, notes are clear.

However, the FRX is not returning to zero every time. If I pull up it’s a dead on return, if I dive and come up easy it stops a few cents flat, if I give it a quick tug up it settles back to zero. If I just let the bar snap back up it’s dead on every time.

I was using the trem stabilizer, it does a great job of keeping the bridge stable during bends and feeling like a hard tail, no issue with double stop bends. I messed with setting that stabilizer screw a bit and thought I had it straightened out, but it still stops just a cent or two flat on slow returns or light downward vibrato with the bar. A little tug up and I’m all good. I removed the stabilizer and still have the issue so that’s not the problem.

I’m going to break it down and reset-up the trem. I’ll look for any wear on the knife edges, and check that nothing is rubbing on the spring and tension screw. I’ll lube up all the contact points and have at it again. The locking nut seems to be holding the strings just fine, and with the exception of stopping a few cents flat it stayed in tune the entire time I played it. Even when the trem stopped a bit flat, all the strings were exactly the same amount flat.

Dom