LTD M-7HT B Black Metal Black : Good metal guitar

I already own an ESP M Black Metal and I got tired of needing alternate tunings (drop A#) to have a lower sounding tone, so I decided to purchase the M-7HT and I think it was a good idea. Probably I will sell the ESP M Black metal since the two guitars look and sound almost the same.

Pros:

- good quality build

- good aggressive pickup

- push and pull volume knob to allow switching to single coil. Not sure is a true pro, since you don't buy this kind of guitar to use it single coil. Nevertheless the option is there if you want to explore it.

- the black satin paint looks very good

- quiet enough

- nice shine-in-the-dark dots

Cons:

- the volume knob is like a switch on/off. You can’t really use it to gradually turn the volume on or off. Going from 100% to 50% almost makes no difference and around 25% it just turns off. Not a volume knob but a switch. I will solder a capacitor to solve this

- the paint is more sensitive than the usual high gloss paint

- the last fret (24) is cut not exactly straight (it is probable a small problem which affects only my guitar)

- the fretboard is not pure black but more like a very dark brown. The ESP M black metal has a darker fretboard (to my eyes), but the M-7HT is more like almost black but not quite.

I am using it in drop A (A, E, A, D, G, B, E) with 0.64, 0.46, 0.32, 0.24, 0.16, 0.12, 0.9 string gauges. It sounds very good and aggressive and its quite playable. Bends are almost as easy as on a 25,5 inch guitar. The frets are not too large. I was afraid of this because I have rather small hands but it is not an issue at all.

Not exactly sure why there is a price difference of 240 Eur between M7-HT and M black metal. Its the same pickup, same materials and the Floyd rose 1000 is actually more expensive than the M7-HT' LTD locking system. Sure, the neck is a bit wider and longer but I don't think 38 mm longer and a few mm wider can justify +240 euro. So probably is just the ESP pricing policy.