ESP Guitars, one of the world’s most respected guitar and bass manufacturers, has announced that Matt Masciandaro, the company’s president and CEO of the brand’s USA operations for the past 39 years, has decided to retire. Moving into Masciandaro’s former role as president is Todd Binder, who has spent more than three decades at the company, and most recently has served as ESP’s vice president of product development. ESP celebrated its 50th year in business in 2025.
“On behalf of ESP Japan, I wish to express our sincere gratitude to Matt for his many years of dedicated service and his steadfast commitment to advancing Mr. Shibuya’s vision in the United States and across the world,” says Mr. Fujimori, Chairman, ESP Group. “His contributions to the ESP brand have been invaluable, and the foundation he has built will endure for years to come. We congratulate him and wish him the very best.”
Founded by Hisatake Shibuya in 1975 as a small instrument service shop in Tokyo, Japan, ESP Guitars became a global success after opening its first US offices in 1985. Matt Masciandaro, who’d previously worked as a tech and a tour manager for bands including Aerosmith, Motörhead, Dokken, and others, joined the company soon after, and was quickly tapped to lead the then-new ESP USA division. At the time, ESP’s USA headquarters was based in a small loft apartment in Lower Manhattan, New York.
The brand grew exponentially under Masciandaro’s leadership. He relocated ESP’s USA headquarters, first in 1989 to New York’s 48th Street to be in close proximity to the city’s famed music stores, and then a few years later to California with an office in Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard. As ESP quickly grew, Masciandaro moved the company to a location in North Hollywood, and then again to its current USA HQ location in Los Angeles.
In 1996, Masciandaro and Binder were instrumental in the launch of ESP’s LTD Series, which made use of ESP’s instrument designs but were manufactured as high-quality, mass-produced guitars and basses using higher volume OEM factories outside of Japan. LTD — with manufacturing coordinated by the USA team — allowed for a significant expansion of ESP’s revenues and global customer base, and Masciandaro’s US-based team was tasked with the worldwide sales and marketing operations of the ESP brand. In 2013, Masciandaro opened the company’s first US-based manufacturing facility where the high-end ESP USA Series is produced.
“I am both proud and humbled by the trust that Mr. Shibuya placed in me back in 1987 when I was chosen to lead ESP’s USA operations,” says Masciandaro. “A lot of this job was ‘learn as you go,’ but most of the time, we went above and beyond both our own expectations and those of ESP in Japan. I have nothing but the highest degree of confidence that with Todd at the helm, ESP will continue long into the future in its position as an innovative, high-quality provider of musical instruments.”
“Matt has been a dedicated leader and a true champion for this brand, and I’m grateful for every year I’ve had the privilege of working alongside him,” says Todd Binder, newly-named president of The ESP Guitar Company. “This company’s success has always been a collective effort — rooted in Mr. Shibuya’s founding vision, strengthened by the outstanding team at ESP Japan, and driven every day by the talented and passionate people we have here in the US. I’m honored to carry that legacy forward, and I couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead for ESP.”
More information on ESP Guitars is available on the ESP web site at www.espguitars.com
