ESP, NaviGator LP-480, 1982 - Mick Taylor / Arlen Roth

Tabs

Specifications
Builder: 
ESP
Model: 
NaviGator LP-480
Year: 
1982
The Story Behind

In the ’70 Japan started copying American brand guitars, before the major brands reacted and opened themselves factories in Japan to produce at lower cost their guitars. Often not taken serious by the musicians, it is nevertheless to be noted that those instruments can have an excellent quality and sound, sometime far superior than their originals from the US. 

In 1975, Hisatake Shibuya opened a shop called Electric Sound Products (ESP) in Tokyo. It provided custom replacement parts for guitars. In 1976, ESP gained a reputation as a provider of high-quality replacement parts. At this time, ESP also began crafting guitars under the ESP and Navigator brand in the Japanese market. 

In the early '80 Mick Taylor used several ESP NaviGator models. All those guitars are master build copies of famous American guitars. This special one, a Les Paul copy, was ordered and personally picked up by Arlen Roth in the Japan factory and used by Mick Taylor among others on Arlen Roth's educational video: Mick Taylor: Rock, Blues & Slide Guitar, reissued as DVD in 2006.

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