Where can I find an Esprit Case? Do they still make them? If not, will any other case work?

Has anyone changed the pickups in these guitars, if so, what has worked best for you?

Thanks!

I haven't seen a case for sell anywhere for mine. I use either an acoustic case with some padding underneath the body section, or just a wide case. I have a BC Rich case that can fit pretty much any guitar I have in it.

I've tried a few different pickup sets in mine. I personally think that vintage or moderate output pickups sound best in mine. When I tried high output, they got somewhat boomy. I definitely found it better to have a lower output in the neck position due to the chambered resonation factor.

A good Gibson Burstbucker set or medium output set sounds awesome. If you're looking for a good cheap alternative, there's a guy on eBay selling Giovanni pickups. They're not bad at all. I had a set of Duncan Blues Saraceno pickups in it that were great (PA-TB1 and PA-TB3). But I opted to stick with Gibsons for a nice colorful flavor. Even the 498t and 490r set is nice. You have to lower the pickups a smidge and an orange drop cap works well to clean them up. Gibsons have been my personal favs in mine

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Thanks! I really want to solve the case problem. Maybe find a custom case company that will not cost too much. Did you look at any of the 335 cases or the smaller 335s (336 & 339)? I am wondering if modifying them would work. I'll look at an acoustic cases as well.

Not sure I like the neck on mine, and I have to get it set up. It is a wide flat neck that takes a bit to get use to.

And the guitar is much heavier that I would have thought.

As for pickups: Do you like the Gibsons that you put in more than what was there in the first place? I agree with you that high output pickups probably will not work with this guitar.

I haven't tried any 335 cases. I never really took the opportunity to do that. I bought the BC Rich case I use for it now for $60 on Craigslist. It fits good and snug in a Yamaha APX acoustic case though. You just have to add a typical bath towel underneath the body section.

Yea, genuine Gibsons are much better than the Duncan Designed pickups I took out. They're much more flavorful. I aso forked out the extra $6 on Orange Drop caps to clean them up. You could try doing that first if you think the DDs just need to clean up a little.

You might want to double check that neck width. I didn't find mine to be much different than typical. 2-1/16th spacing at the bridge, 1-11/16 nut. No big deal there. You might be experiencing the feeling of having a short scale as opposed to a typical 25-1/2" Fender or Squier Strat scale length. If you're not using 10's for your string gauge, you might want to consider doing that to compensate for a loss in string tension.

My Esprit clocks in at around 9- lbs. Its lighter than my LP, and about 1 or 2 lbs heavier than a couple of my Strats. Considering the body size, that's still pretty good. If you're interested, I'll try to post some pics of how I solved the headstock heavy balance issue I had with mine. I didn't have to re-drill anything to get it to work.

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I guess I should weigh it.

The neck on it is about 1/16 wider than my 59 LP reissue.

Maybe it is the distribution of weight that is bothering me.

I think once I have it set up (the strings are much too low) I'll know more.

Why do you think there are Duncans on this thing now?

Sure I'd love to see what you did to solve the weight issue.

This is what I did to solve the balance issue:



The problem with the balance on these guitars is the upper horn wasn't designed to be extended to a proper balancing extension. Luckily, it's not by much.

The parts used are these:
Ibanez neck ferrule
Dunlop strap lock sleeve
Original strap button
Longer strap button screw

By doing this you extend the strap balance to the proper measurement needed for the headstock to keep from wanting to dip downward. It may look a little funky at first, but it works well, feels solid and secure, requires no body mods or extra drilling, can be put back into its original state very easily, and makes it more comfortable to play. I don't even think about the protrusion anymore. And it doesn't go noticed by anyone. I've never really had anyone ask me about it after checking the guitar out. You can find these parts cheap on eBay. Something to think about if the balance ever bothers you.

As far as the pickups, I guess I assumed you were wanting to swap the stock pickups. Esprits came stock with DD hb102 pickups.


If this isn't what you have on yours, then I really wouldn't know what you have on there. My assumptions were based on that and the notion that it wasn't necessarily specified as to what you currently have on it.

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Thanks for the balancing idea. I'll have to see what I think about it after playing it a lot more. My pickups are something very different than that, but I do not know what they are. I'll have to look into it. I do like the idea of putting some Gibson pickups in it, perhaps the same thing that is put into their 336, 339, or 335. Do they use the same pickups for all these guitars?

Was the top wood the same for all these Esprits? It looks like alder to me, but it could be spruce. Seems like this has too much grain to be spruce, but maybe not.

Thank you for the information! I really appreciate it.