Because pointy-head, fixed bridge Horizons offend my sense of taste.
I'm not a really big fan of quilted maple tops but the black aqua on this guitar tones it down a quite a bit for a more subtle look, not something too overbearing. The maple binding and dot inlays are non-standard on a Horizon, which either have a white or no binding and offset dot inlays. But the looks they give to the guitar are not as instrusive, as compared to the disgusting pointed headstock that ESP puts on their current fixed bridge models, which make me sick to my stomach.
Have never used Sperzels since I started playing but I think they are okay on this guitar, but not fantastic in terms of how I do my tuning, compared to the Schallers on my Strat. The Schallers, to me, feel a lot better when I am tuning up. The previous owner changed the tone pot to a push-pull to act as a master coil-tap for both pickups. I might change this for a push-push and and swap out the volume pot for the same thing so I can have individual coil-tapping for that twang you can only get with a single and humbucker. The toggle switch feels fantastic. It lacks that 'springy'-ness that I feel on a lot of switches.
Despite the glossy neck, the neck plays fast and my thumb just glides smoothly along it. Palm muting is very comfortable with the Tonepro bridge, it gives me a good feel on how much pressure I am placing put the strings. With those pure-nickel 11s, the action is very low and plays great. To me, they feel like the 9s on my Strat but are listed by d'addario as more mellow. They did not sound drastically different, tone-wise, when I played the Horizon through my JVM and seem to be more tamed. I might just keep this setup and save myself the cash for some upgrades.
The tone. Oh, my goodness. Thick and full of that mahogany-maple goodness you can only get from that combination of woods. Sustain seems to last forever on this baby. It also seems to be audibly a lot louder, compared to my Strat, when I play through the JVM, that I have to turn down the master volume. The SD 59 and JB combination seems to bring out a lot of the the tone but I am still tempted to switch them out for a PAF Pro and an Air Zone from Dimarzio.