Last June[1], I bought an ESP/LTD Vintage-214 (M) bass guitar for less than £300. I chose the LTD as I was impressed with the ST-213 HSS M which became マミカスター. As expected, the built was good and her tone was just solid. She looked like this when I first bought her, and I called her TIMOchan, for obvious reasons:

She then underwent her first transformation by way of a new anodised Fender pickguard for the Precision bass which I bought on eBay, and her final (probably) makeover with gold racing stripes, as well as Schaller strap locks. And this is what she looks like now:

TIMOchan has an alder body and a two-piece bolt-on maple neck. She already sounded ace out of the box, and even better after my brother gave her a simple set up. I was told that her neck was a bit bowed but she was fixed as best as he could (I haven’t had her done up by Steve yet) as I didn’t have a large enough Allen wrench for her truss rod. The neck otherwise felt fine, and the XJ frets didn’t need their edges filing. Kudos to the QC.


I am no bass player but slapping the strings seemed, umm… easy. The pup config was similar to a Deluxe Precision, comprising a J-styled bridge pup and a central P-styled pup, both of them of the OEM variety designed by ESP (the LDJ and LDP, respectively). Plugged into my Behringer bass head through an 18″ speaker, her tone ranges from a low growl to quiet(ish) sweetness. The bridge was robust and it didn’t matter that this wasn’t a string-thru body.

As for the electronics config, the knobs are pretty much vol/vol/tone. As for any future mods, I may consider getting Fender Noiseless bridge J-styled pup for her. As I am already happy with her bridge, I won’t be on the lookout for a BadAss any time soon.

Check out this cover I made of SCANDAL’s Standard using TIMOchan:

TIMOchan’s current specs (as listed by ESP)
Construction: Bolt-on neck
Scale: 34″
Body: Alder
Neck/fingerboard: Maple
Fingerboard radius: 400mm
Finish: Black
Nut width: 42mm
Nut type: Moulded
Neck contour: Thin U
Frets/Type: 21 XJ
Hardware colour: Chrome
Strap button: Schaller security strap locks
Tuners: LTD Vintage
Bridge: LTD DB-4
Neck pickup: ESP-designed LDP
Bridge pickup: ESP-designed LDJ
Electronics: Passive
Electronics layout: Vol/Vol/Tone

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[1]I’m playing catch up. Gimme a break.