1970s ESP Navigator SP-01 Esparto

The ESP Navigator SP-01 Esparto was produced in the late 1970s, during the formative years of ESP.

An advertisement in the September 1976 issue of Music Life mentioned, “Navigator Catalog 2 available now.”
I recently managed to obtain that very catalog and confirmed both the Esparto’s existence and its model designation.
By the 1980 catalog, however, the Esparto name had disappeared — although a photo of the model still appears on the back cover.
This suggests that at the time the 1980 catalog manuscript was prepared, the Esparto was still in production, but was phased out shortly thereafter.
We can reasonably assume, then, that the Esparto was built from ESP’s founding in 1975 until around 1980.

The finish is extremely thin and prone to scratching.
According to the catalog, the body is ash, though it’s hard to distinguish from sen ash by appearance.
It’s a solid (one-piece) body, though in those days, a solid body didn’t necessarily imply a higher-grade model.
The beautiful sunburst finish immediately draws the eye — perhaps the work of Mr. Nishimori, ESP’s legendary early finishing master, whose “NSB” (Nishimori Sunburst) finishes are still admired today.

Interestingly, the routing was done after finishing, and this Esparto uniquely features a Phillips-head truss rod adjustment screw, reminiscent of early Fender models.

The electronics have been replaced, but when I removed the pickguard, I found screw holes marking the outline of the original guard.
The current pickups are stamped “SD 2 93” — not enough to identify the exact model, but clearly an early Seymour Duncan set.

Tonally, this guitar has an aged, open character — even more “seasoned” than the original pickups would have offered.
Weight: 3.32 kg (including strings)
(Updated August 24, 2016)