The guitar will be unveiled at NAMM 2017
Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid is being honored with his own tribute ESP guitar. The LTD Cult ’86 is a tribute to the guitar that helped put Reid and the band on the map in the late ’80s. It will be unveiled at the 2017 NAMM Show in January in Anaheim, CA.
For their debut album Vivid, which became a double platinum-selling recording with a lasting cultural impact, Reid was most closely identified with his ESP guitar that he’d customized in a swirling multi-colored finish. Much like the original version, the Cult ’86 offers bolt-on construction with an alder body, a three-piece maple neck, and an ebony fingerboard. It uses a three- pickup configuration, with two EMG SA pickups in the neck and middle position, and an EMG 81 at the bridge.
A Floyd Rose Special locking tremolo is provided to allow for the kind of uninhibited and expressive playing for which Vernon Reid is world renowned. Much like the Vernon’s original ESP, the Cult ’86 is based on the ST body style, and features the distinctive multiple swirls of color that immediately make it identifiable with its original designer.
In the early 1980s, ESP’s USA offices first opened their doors, and were originally based in New York City. At the time, ESP was a young and relatively unknown guitar manufacturer, and the company was looking to get the validation of impressive players who could help spread the word about ESP’s now-legendary quality and innovation in guitar making. One such NY-based player was a local hero named Vernon Reid, who’d already made his mark performing with innovative jazz musicians like Ronald Shannon Jackson and Bill Frisell. Right around the time that Reid connected with ESP, he was also putting together his own band, which shortly became known as Living Colour.
