ESP Navigator Esparto SP-01 Cherry Red 1977
Navigator Esparto, cherry red, made in Japan around 1977. Navigator was the first brand of guitars ever produced by ESP, launching in 1975. They were a small operation made in ESP's Tokyo workshop, offering custom builds, necks and bodies as well as a small number of stock models. This one hails to their first few years of production, and it's very enjoyable indeed. It looks awesome: the cherry red finish lets the wide, wavy lines of the ash body do most of the talking. Despite being an ash body from the 70s, it's nice and light at 3.4kg too. A previous owner replaced the frets and refinished the neck, so our tech tidied the frets up and dialled in the setup, and now this is playing brilliantly. The light body, top notch woodwork and thin finish mean you get heaps of natural resonance, so this feels very alive in the hands. The tone is great too: the pickups are a 50s-style fat single coil, with heaps of weight through the low end, air and complex mids and a pleasing sizzling snap on the top end. It's very responsive, so all the little details and variance in your playing comes through in vivid colour. The neck is a great too, it's a comfortable moderate vintage C shape that feels well played in. You can still score new Navigator guitars today, if you've got the time to wait and the $5k+ to spend. This is a really fun way into the world of both high end Japan vintage stuff and the ESP universe, both of which are very fun places to hang.
Model: ESP Navigator Esparto SP-01
Made: Japan, ESP workshop, 1977 approx
Serial: none
Finish: cherry red, 'special combined finish' which appears like gloss nitro, appears to be original but not 100% verified
Body: sen ash
Neck: maple, maple fretboard, 25.5" scale, 7.25" radius, vintage C shape
Weight: 3.400kg
Mods: frets replaced, neck refinished, re-wired with original pickups/pots, bridge replaced
Pickups: ESP 'High Fidelity' single coil x3
Accessories: basic non-original hard case
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has the original gloss on the front but a newer coat of satin on the back, with scuffs on both edges and some dimples and dents on the end and front, The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, refinished in satin as noted, with rub wear on the back and some sanding marks on the front. The back has some scuffs and rub near the neck join, along the belly carve and around the cavity and in the bottom corner, as well as dimples along the back edge and in the elbow area and some surface scratches on the horns. The sides have rub wear and minor dimples on the top horn and elbow area and some dimples and scuffs on the bottom horn and near the jack. The front has some dimples around the bridge, elbow area, near the jack and along the back edge, as well as play wear on the guard and horns.
Overall: good condition (7/10)
Playing condition notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. Wearing fresh 10/46 strings.
Fret life: 8/10, frets replaced at some point, recently dressed and levelled by our tech and playing smoothly