Navigator PMT T-style, walnut stain, made in Japan 1986 approx. Navigator is a brand under the excellent ESP umbrella, offering Custom Shop tier vintage style guitars these days. Back in 1975, the very first guitars made by ESP proudly wore the Navigator brand, and by the mid 80s when this beauty was made, the Nav stuff represented the company's highest end models. ESP was basically a custom order operation at the time, and a look through their catalog will show Warmoth-style options to buy necks and bodies made and routed to your preferred spec. This one hails to that era, so you can sensibly guess it was a custom ordered guitar and therefore not an exact match to a standard catalog offering. That also means it's frightfully good... holy guacamole, it rules. Firstly, the neck: it's a gorgeous piece of flame maple, carved to a soft V and capped with a dark, streaky piece of rosewood. It feels phenomenal, it's hard to overstate how nice in the hands it is. The body appears to be alder and is stained to a rich walnut colour and finish with a super light clear coat, which is showing plenty of natural wear for it's four-ish decades playing tunes. It's very resonant in the hands, and with the subtle single join down the middle is obviously a classy piece of timber. The tone is arresting: percussive and immediate, with a gorgeous depth to the fundamental note, musical mids with plenty of harmonic complexity and an understated chime on the top end. It sounds superb into any amp in the shop: clean, crunchy, filthy, dark, bright, big, small... whatever you've got, this will bring out the best in it. I love the rubbed-up finish and heavily aged brass hardware too, it has the look of a well loved family heirloom. Once you find an agreeable ESP, it's very hard to live with lesser guitars: this is such an excellent instrument. Do yourself a favour, friend.

Model: ESP Navigator PMT
Made: Japan, 1986-7, ESP workshop
Serial: none
Finish: walnut stain, gloss lacquer
Body: alder (not verified)
Neck: flame maple, rosewood fretboard, 7.25" radius, 25.5" scale, soft V shape
Weight: 3.725kg
Mods: bridge pickup replaced, re-wired with new Gotoh switch, pots and jack, new tone cap and wire
Pickups: Seymour Duncan single coil (neck), stacked single coil (brand unknown, likely to be a Duncan, bridge position)
Accessories: new DCM hard case

Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has dimples on the end and scuffs on the bottom edge. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor dimples and some rub wear on the back only. The back has a decent bald patch along the top edge, dents near the ferrules, dimples along the back and bottom edges and some scuffs on the horns and near the neck plate. The sides have scuffs on the top horn, surface scratches and rub wear in the elbow area, dents and scuffs near the jack and some scuffs on the bottom horn. The front has dimples around the bridge, back edge and bottom corner, a scratch near the tone knob, scuffs and rub wear in the elbow area and some play wear on the guard and horns. The brass hardware has plenty of patina.
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: 7/10, minor wear only