Epiphone Les Paul Ultra-II

Korean-made 2008 Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II. Now 54 or so years earlier, Gibson's Ted McCarty came up with the then revolutionary design of a solid-body guitar featuring a single-cutaway mahogony body topped by a carved maple top. Originally only available with a gold metal-flake finish, per the request of the origional endorsement artist, Les Paul. The Les Paul model also sported single-coil pickups called P-90s and a trapeeze tailpeice, similar to the style used by hollow-bodies archtops both accoustic and electric. A vol/tol array for each of two pickups and a selector switch to enable neck, bridge or both. This model was apparently only stable for a year or two. By 1959 The trapeeze had been replaced by the stud-mounted direct to the body Tune-a-matic bridge and string anchor. P-90's had been replaced with new "Patent Applied For" pickups that had no model numbers and only bore stickers labeled "PAF." It was still available with a goldtop or a black top with 3 pickups but the "Standard" featured a translucent sunburst which revealed some of the character and pattern of the maple cap. In the next 50 years gibson and literally hundreds of other luthiers and guitar manufacturers tinkered with this design while prices for the origional period peices soared to astronomical heights. The Les Paul Ultra II is essentially a modern replica aimed at emulating an unobtainable vintage piece priced so even a hobbyist can afford it. That's nice enough and for less money you can go with an Epiphone Standard or you can cough up another few hundred for a modern, American-made version. I was never particularly interested in doing either. And then Epiphone upped the Ante significantly: the Ultra II departs from classic recipe by virtue of weight-relieving and (some would say) tone-enhancing hollow chambers and, more significantly to me, an accoustic-sounding little pickup at the end of the fretboard. So you get a Les Paul with accoustic qualities. If you have particular pickup choices you probably want to upgrade anyway. Changing pickups is a bit unusual and you can't swap out the pots-the controls are mounted to a small circuitboard and direct the outputs of the controls to the preamp housed in the enlarged backplate. The neck humbucker measured 8.7KOhms I do not have a way to test output voltage so I can't report on that but going by dc resistance this would mean a low, somewhat trebly output but still about double that of a single-coil. The 2-conducter coax was wired to a 2-pin plastic connecter similar to that of many plug in battery packs. The Bridge measured a surprising 14.22 KOhms which would typically correspond to rather high output but it didn't seem to push the amp hard. I did opt to swap them out for DiMArzio 36 anniversary PAFs(get F-space for Bridge)and simply clipped the wires with a healthy inch or so and soldered the new pickup outputs with a heat-shrink wrap. You will not be able to perform a number of classic LP wiring modifications and you would need to drill to add miniswitches if you want coil-tapping or phase switching. I like upgrading caps but that doesn't apply here either. If you can't live without a whammy there are retrofit whammys that can give you back your wiggle-stick. I don't really see myself going there, though. anyway The LPU2 (pronounced "lue-pue-tue")was exactly as billed-a clean, Korean-manufactured (some are Chinese-mine says Korea)homage to vintage 'Pauls with a serviceable accoustic sound. It is not a high-output shredder but with gain tweeks and distortion pedals the stock instrument can cover any electric styles that don't involve whammy-bar antics.

I first played it at a music store I carry a Vox DA-5 amplifier and a Steinberger Sprit GT-PRO with me in the car. I brought in my DA-5 and tried a few settings and found that it wanted a little more gain to sound like it "should." This didn't surprise me as The Spirit is loaded with an Air Norton Neck, A Pro-Track middle and a Tone Zone bridge pickup. All are DiMarzio pickups and supposed to be boosted and refined updates of Gibson's PAF design-except the Pro-track. The Pro-track tries to be more authentically PAF than the others and has less output. With my ProTrack as a reference I had to admit these "Classic" gold-plated Humbuckers were not bad at all. With the gain upped a bit to compensate for the lower-output my familiar tones sounded all right, ringy clean and pleasently buzzy as the gain went up. I had set the volumes at nill prior to plugging in. I left the nanomag volume at minimum and worked first the bridge through a variety of volume and tone setting tweeks. The knobs rolled free and absolutely hum/glitch/snap/crackle free. There seemed to be a spike in volume in the last bit before max. The same was true with the neck. Then I started combos of both and found that this jump also seemed to act as an emphasis in the blend of the two pickups. Whichever pickup were set to full dominated the sound- a "neck-y" bridge or a "Bridge-y" neck could be changed quickly in character by slight tweeks to certain sweet spots...this was producing a grin as I have always had single-volume single tone control arrays. I always felt that you tweeked your pickups untill they worked well together. I had thought about adding independent volume controls but it never seemed worth the effort. Umm maybe I was mistaken about that-independent volume controls offer ranges of tonal variety and this character boost at the top end of each was different but appealing. I had read that LPs don't do the toggle switch cut-off thing well and was surprised to find that this guitar does allow you to turn the neck all the way down and crank the bridge and flip from middle to neck setting to off-on the output. I dialed down the electric pickups and turned up the nanomag. I play an eccentric percussive fingerstlye with a lot of slapping and plucking thumb movements that do not work well with piezo-style pickups. I usually compensate by playing away from the bridge and trying to be as light as possible. But the nanomag didn't suffer from that. I started running through the DA-5s clean and dirty models. The nanomag retained a surprising degree of "fauxcousticness" even on the highest distortion models but I soon went to the clean model to run through the controls. Same pop in volume/presence in the max setting. Hmmmmm...the implications had me switching to the british classic, setting a fat gain, maxing the bridge and rolling off the nanomag...played a couple of nice fat Angus chords and then rolled up the Nanomag volume...sure enough the distorted sound had a clear, articulate fauxcoustic shadow...oh I get it the shadow nanomag...nice... Drop the bridge and dime the nano-now it sounded like an accoustic with a bit of gristle. At home with the electric output to Digitech 350 and Nanaomag straight into the board I had no problems with using the direct signal from the nanomag. No phase issues, no need for a DI box just a straight cable and for recording it proves to be a versatile accoustic-changing the bass gain on the rear control array can vary the sound from a concert to a jumbo...and for most instances it can pass. I prefer the fauxcoustic of the nanomag to the fauxcoustic of any piezo I have played-neither is perfect but the nanomag sounds good and is much more forgiving of over-enthusiastic thumping. All of the controls are quiet and responsive-no buzzing or intermitant signal changes or drops. The range of sounds is astounding-especially if you run to seperate amps/channels

I was more attracted to the black (The Ultra is currently available with a translucent black and a rather garish "cherry" (RED-shaded toward magenta)but I met a 'burst at a "fatherly" NH music store and I gave it a go unplugged and I was pleased and seduced all 'round...it really played well and I finally understood the carved-top thing. I'd always played flat faced guitars-I'd considered the arch an anachronism from hollow-body arch tops but, for the first time, now saw an undeniable ergonomic advantage-especially for incorporating palm-muting whether flat-picking or fingerpicking. I didn't really like the pickup selector on the upper bout near the neck pocket. I have always preferred and played guitars with controls near the volume, below the strings but it didn't seem as awkward as I'd always imagined it would be. The bound neck was implemented well and the fret ends were comfortably profiled and absolutely no prickly ends. The neck and body do seem a bit out of synch but maybe the satin is part of why it is so comfortable to play. The neck profile is rather different from my other instuments and it turns out to by quite comfortable for me but if you like wide flat boards and skinny necks it could be an issue for you. The action was set conservatively but not uncomfortably high...action is a compromise as well as a personal preference and there's a range where just a little lower starts to produce buzziness and this was a bit above that-but it wasn't uncomfortable and chords rang out with crisp authority. There were no flaws, unpainted spots or wrongly-painted spots. The flame figure veneer is detailed and reasonably bookmatched. The gold hardware is smooth and well-attached. The tuners are very nice. I applied powdered graphite to the nut string slots-something I always do with plastic nuts-and found the tuning to remain solid and consistent. I want to give this a 10 but the output jacks are just too tight. In switching from nanomag jack to the the both jack to do some comparisons I actually pulled the center pin right out of a cable-now I go slow and give a little wiggle and it hasn't repeated but it is still a very forceful lock in when you plug in-and due to the preamp being on whenever the guitar is plugged in you can't just leave it plugged in-unless you like changing batteries.

This guitar was designed for the stage and studio. Songs that used to require switching to an accoustic now just need some volume knob tweeks. The hollow chambers and body-back sculpting are much more comfortable for long gigs or for sitting hours at the bandstand or in front of the mixing board...I would guess that impacts with large blunt objects would be harder on a hollow guitar than a solid one but there is nothing shoddy or scary about it's construction. The strap buttons are nice-a little wider and a little rounder-tapered than most and they accomodate a strap wel-not straining too much as it goes on. But I don't use standard straps. There is plenty of wood in the body to accomodate the longer screws of locking systems and I have installed a DiMarzio Cliplock strap. If you jump or dance around while playing you really should use some sort of lock system-any strap can fail at the button with just a slight twist...I think you could gig with just this guitar on almost any gig due to it's versatility but I don't believe you should-an informal gig is different but if you're being paid to put on a show you really need to have something else to grab in case things go kerflooey. 2 LPU2s would see you through most gigs.

Epiphone extends a lifetime warranty. The design is time-tested and the execution seems fine. This guitar should be playable for decades to come. I have no rating for the customer support peice and don't anticipate any dealings with them--if it suddenly goes south I will post an update. Bottom line this is a solid and well built guitar-treat it well and it will treat you well too.

The Nanomag alone is almost worth the price of admission. If I could integrate the nanomag into any guitar for $200 I might not have tried the LPU2 because I probably would have gone that route. I have a new appreciation for the Les Paul design. There is a reason so many guitars are so similar. The shaping and carving really do make it more comfortable to play. It is gig-worthy and ready to play-the controls make sense and it does just what it is advertised to do. I find more to love everytime I play it. It sounds great, plays well and opens up entirely new realms of sound and tone-now I can play distorted tones and clean delayed tones at the same time. Layered accoustic and electric sounds can be pulled off live and a mushy fuzzy heavy line can be given some definition by bringing up the nanomag. Most other methods for this are piezo-bridges added to your electric. They suffer from piezo quack and don't work well with my percussive attack-but if you have a beloved guitar that you want to add accoustic qualities to you could look at these options but to get a sweet Les Paul and a nice electric accoustic for well under a grand, well it's just a nice time to be alive and playing..If lost or stolen I would replace it-but probably with the black one...I did decide to add DiMArzio 36 Anniversary PAF neck and Anniversary PAF bridge pickups and am glad I did-the DiMArzios have more bite, chime and harmonics and just sit better in my ear but that's just my taste even bone stock this is a fantastic player's guitar. Well-done Epiphone!

Great features, nano mag is superb!

Got platinum award from Guitar World and rightly so it sounds excellent. All the usual les paul sound with the added bonus of the nano mag leaving endless options for creating the perfect sound.

No complaints, few little adjusts but every has their own personal preferences.

Feels solid and built to last.

For this price, i dont think it can be beaten!

Body: Mahogany, Strategically Chambered
Top: Quilted Maple
Neck: Mahogany
Neck Profile: SlimTaper, Satin Finish
Neck Joint: Glued-In
Truss Rod: Double-Action, 2-way
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fingerboard Radius: 12
Frets: 22, Medium Jumbo
Scale Length: 24-3/4
Nut Width: 1.65
Neck Pickup: Alnico Classic
NanoMag Low-Impedance
Bridge Pickup: Alnico Classic Plus
Bridge: LockTone Tune-o-matic
Tailpiece: LockTone Stopbar
Front Controls: Neck Humbucker Master Volume
Bridge Humbucker Master Volume
Master Tone
NanoMAG Master Volume
3-way Toggle (Humbuckers)

Rear Controls:
NanoMAG Treble
NanoMAG Bass
NanoMAG Gain
Tuners: Grover, diecast
Outputs: 1/4 Mono, 1/4 Stereo
Power: 9V battery
Hardware: Gold
Binding: Body, Neck
Warranty: Limited Lifetime

Would have given a 10 if there was a mini-switch to go from nanomag to magnetics.

This is where my review will differ from many of the others. I'll start with the magnetic pickups, they sound like an Epihpone Les Paul, if thats not the sound you looking for don't buy this guitar or change the pickups. I have three other Epiphone Les Pauls all modified a little differently. I have Les Paul Custom Black Beauty with Seymour Duncans (Jazz, JB, and Classic 59), a Les Paul Classic with S-D Phat Cats in it, a Les Paul Classic 12 string, and now the Ultra-II. If you can not get great sounds out of this guitar you are not trying. It has been a long quest for me to find an electric guitar with near acoustic capabilities.

My quest started with a Peavey EXP with a Fishman - moved on. Then I tried a Schecter C-1 E/A, close, but not there yet. Then I installed a ghost on a Dillion DRS500, closer, but not there. Then I bought an Epiphone Chet Atkins (changed out tone capacitors - usable, then the Ultra-II and I am there!! I play through a Marshall Combo (AVT-250) and can make this guitar sound just like a plugged in acoustic/electric hollow-body. Then with the roll of some knobs - the classic Les Paul sound, or blend to your taste for other great tones.

Ordered mine from Musician's Friend and it plays and looked great right out of the box. I have not touched a thing. I have given it a very close inspection and find no finish flaws or workmanship issues. I got the midnight black quilt - it is beautiful.

So of the reviews state this guitar is made in China. Mine was not it was made in the Unsung Plant in Korea.

I see no reason that this guitar will not be as tough as all my other Epiphones.

Been playing for over 35+ years, doing my current style of music (Classic Rock and occassionally some Country), with the same band for 14 years....gig after gig they hold up. Never needed Customer Support.

This is a great guitar. It sounds good, lighter than a standard LP, unlimited sounds, and very aatractive.

Made in China in 2008. Fake foto-flame top is actually a thin piece of cardboard, not real wood. The rest is plywood, except for the neck which is 3 piece breakable mahogany. The nano mag is built into the neck.

Magnetic pups sound very weak and muddy when distorted, harsh when cranked. The nano-mag sounds exactly like a piezo to me. Even with the bass and treble controls, I could not get a good sound out of it. The nano-mag controls are hard to use, you have to flip the guitar over every time you make an adjustment, which is a major pain in the ars. There should be a toggle switch like the Fishman Powerchip uses. It sounds like crap using an acoustic amp without some additional EQ, like 7 bands, to tame the harshness.

Action on mine was high, I don't really care about the rest if it doesn't sound good. Fake flame top is going to bring the resale value way down for sure. Epiphone pups are about as low quality as they come.

The gold hardware on mine was already starting to get tarnished. Be aware of this if you keep your guitars a long time. Epiphone switches, pickups, jacks, and controls would all be replaced if I had kept it.

Gibson is a good company to deal with in my experience.

I have been playing 40 years and hate this guitar. I traded it in (+ about $100 cash) for a Gibson Les Paul Vintage Worn and couldn't be happier. Better pups, hardware, electronics, finish, case, and overall quality. The biggest differnce being the overall tone. I will stick a Fishman on my LP soon and have the best of both worlds.

Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II, 2008, Korea, 22 frets, Chambered Mohogany top, Quilted finish, Master Volume, Bridge, Pickup Volume, Neck Pickup Volume, Nan-Mag Pickup Volume, 2 Alnico Classic Humbuckers and a Nano-mag, Active & Passive (hybrid guitar), Tune-O-matic bridge, Rosewood, Arrived stringed with a Hex wrench for the neck adjustment.

This Axe is stuck to my hands, it won't come off. Excellent tone for Blues, Jazz, Country, Rock, Acoustic. Rigged up with a Crate DXJ-112 for stage and studio work.

I did have to re-string and set-up for my personal taste but that happens with every new guitar that I get, otherwise I love this instrument.

Yes, this guitar is great for stage work, light, agile, attractive. The Gold plated H/W will probabbly rub off with my handling but I can depend on it to perform and I never Gig without a Backup, I'm not stupid.

I have owned many Epiphones and I've never interfaced with Epiphone on any instrument. They are fine instruments for a working guitarist. Limited Warranty blahh blahh.

Playing 41 years, 25+ professionally. I gig with a Mexican Stratocaster, a Japanese TSB-550 AriaPro Bass, Epiphone PR100. This instrument is comparable (even better) than the Gibson LP's. I great instrument and a reasonable price.

2008 Epiphone Les Paul Ultra II with nanomag pickup in faded Cherry Sunburst with gold hardware
Body: Mahogany, Strategically Chambered
Top: Quilted Maple
Neck: Mahogany
Neck Profile: SlimTaper, Satin Finish
Neck Joint: Glued-In
Truss Rod: Double-Action, 2-way
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fingerboard Radius: 12
Frets: 22, Medium Jumbo
Scale Length: 24-3/4
Nut Width: 1.65
Neck Pickup: Alnico Classic
NanoMag Low-Impedance
Bridge Pickup: Alnico Classic Plus
Bridge: LockTone Tune-o-matic
Tailpiece: LockTone Stopbar
Front Controls: Neck Humbucker Master Volume
Bridge Humbucker Master Volume
Master Tone
NanoMAG Master Volume
3-way Toggle (Humbuckers)

Rear Controls:
NanoMAG Treble
NanoMAG Bass
NanoMAG Gain
Tuners: Grover, diecast
Outputs: 1/4 Mono, 1/4 Stereo
Power: 9V battery
Hardware: Gold
Binding: Body, Neck
Warranty: Limited Lifetime

The Alnico Classic pickups have a very surpising warm tone with a nasty bite when needed and are good for just about every type of music except metal. The Nanomag pickup is embedded in the 23rd fret and disquised very well. You can use the humbuckers or Nanomag pickup by themselves or mix them which supplies a very nice almost "Strat" sound at times or get a very good Acoustic sound with good body. If you use the humbuckers by themselves it sounds just like a Gibson Les Paul IMO. This makes the Ultra II stand out from the crowd and will probably become a regular feature in some new models to come in the Gibson models.

The only grip I have is that they should have put in a toggle switch to change from the humbuckers to the Nanomag because you have to turn the volume knobs up and down for each pickup to turn one or the other "off".

The guitar was set up very well when received. String height, action, and intonation were pretty much right on.

The only thing I didn't like which is minimal was the neck which isn't finished, just stained, however, this does allow you to slide up and down the neck much faster so it is a plus; the minus is that the finish might wear off later.

Built as good as most Gibson Les Pauls I've played; just doesn't have as fancy an inlay. The body is definitely a little lighter than a regular Gibson LP but is still very solid and well made. The wood resonates well and you can get good sustain and tone.

You could gig with this guitar every night, no problem. Just keep your hands off the gold hardware or the finish might wear off. They need to come out with a model with chrome hardware.

No experience with Epiphone customer support.

I give this guitar a solid 9 and I have been playing for 30 + years now and have owned and played a lot of Gibsons, Fenders, Ibanez, and Epiphones. The tone is very warm and the sustain is just as good as any other Gibsons I've played. They need to offer the guitar in other finishes with chrome hardware. If they do they will sell a bucketload of them.

I wish it had a toggle switch to isolate the Nanomag from the humbuckers instead of having to use the volume controls. I could probably wire one in myself but don't want to yet.

If someone stole this guitar, I'd have bury him in the sand near some fire ant mounds then pour sugar all over his head...while I play on my recovered guitar sitting right next to him...lol

Just purchased (March 2008). Must have been made within the last year or so.

This model is an elaboration/refinement of the Les Paul Ultra reviewed elsewhere in detail on this site. The main change the Ultra made to the Les Paul design was a hollow routed "chamber" below the maple top, giving it a more semi-hollow body sound, which it definitely does. The Ultra 2's main difference from the Ultra is the addition of a 'Nano-mag' pickup located just south of the 22nd pickup, literally 'in' the fingerboard. This is an active pickup, powered by its own 9v power supply and with a separate set of gain/bass/treble controls built into the rear of the guitar. There is also a master volume control for this pickup on the front of the guitar. Finally, there is a choice of outputs: Either through a single 1/4 inch output for all pickups, or separately for the "standard" pickups (through one jack) and the Nano-mag output through a separate jack, for stereo output.

The "normal" pickups seem to be the classic "standard" Alnico Les Paul Humbuckers, with separate volume controls. The control setup differs from a normal LP in that there is a single 'master' tone control for the humbuckers, one of the tone controls having been 'replaced' by the master volume for the Nano-mag.

I'll be blunt: I bought this guitar MOSTLY because of the available Nano-mag. I've owned several 'real' LP's in the past and played plenty of others. I've always found it kind of a limited guitar for my purposes.

My guitar had a "Made in Korea" sticker, which surprised me because I thought they were being made in China. I had to root around to find one in my neck of the woods and was told that new shipments were not expected until late this summer into Canada, perhaps indicating that manufacturing is being shifted elsewhere. The serial number prefix is 'U', suggesting this was not made in the Samick factory where my Epiphone Joe Pass model was built.

Just a short comment on the body/material/construction front: The body on my guitar is laminated from at least 4 pieces of mahogany, with a faux flamed maple top. The 4 piece lamination of the mahogany is obvious, but the top APPEARS to be a single piece. Now, don't be fooled, that is not a 'real' flamed maple top - it's some sort of decal or photo trick below the finish.

Does not come with a case for purchase price. Budget another $90 or so.

I LOVE the variety of sounds this guitar is capable of. The Nano-mag adds a dimension that is just wonderful. It's aimed at capturing the "acoustic" features of the string vibration at a harmonically-rich location on the guitar. It does this in spades. Now, you won't be able to replicate the sound of your Larrivee acoustic, but that shouldn't be a big surprise. I know I will end up using the Nano-mag output alone a lot of the time. In some respects, the sound can be made to be somewhat 'Strat-like' (I know, sacrilege).

Rating only takes off a point because "perfect" would include some sort of 'out of phase' available combination.

The fact that you can mix in as much or little of the Nano-mag pickup output as you want into the output mix is what will give this guitar a dimension of versatility that few elecric guitars (at least without complicated on-board electronics) can match.

I read a review of the Ultra (1) model that suggests the hollowed-out body gives it a somewhat "wooly" sound. The reviewer used that term as a negative connotation. To my ear, I LIKE the wooly sound of semi-hollow guitars. This guitar will likely overtake "most frequent" use status from my 1983 Ibanez AM-50 which has a similar sort of sound.

Although I play almost exclusively without effects, through an old Roland Bolt-60 tube amp, I've found a LOT of great sounds available from this guitar - everything from sizeable crunch to delicate, airy sounds (with lots of Nano-mag, to be sure).

Pickup output is medium. My AM-50 definitely has it over this guitar for straight output, but that's why we have volume controls on amps and the option to add amplification. In my case, I can see using this guitar with both my amps - the Roland and a Fender Acoustasonic Junior (in stereo).

In all pickup configurations, the LPU is very quiet, pretty much par for humbucker guitars (at least, in my experience).

Ok, here's the first nitpick - My guitar came in the "faded cherry" finish - glossy red back overlapping the front gold/orange (faux) flamed maple front, but with a totally cheesy red satin finish on the back of the neck and the headstock. The satin finish feels and plays fine, but looks like like a bad barn-painting job. To have finished it in a gloss finish would have completed an otherwise very classy look.

The guitar is available in a 'Midnight ebony' colour that is more restrained and perhaps solves the criticism of the red satin finish job. If I had the option, I would have taken it in that colour.

My guitar came with an outrageously high, weirdly-tilted action that took about 2 minutes to fix and re-tune the guitar. Otherwise, the fit and finish were both really good. Neck ruler-straight. Frets EXTREMELY nicely finished (unlike a number of other reviewers of the Ultra model found).

The gold-plating on the hardware (which I would do without, if given the choice) SEEMS of reasonable quality. But, so did the plating finish on my Epi Joe Pass. It was not to be. But let's be fair, this guitar cost me $660 (Canadian). Given the gold/orange/red paint scheme of the overall guitar, the gold hardware does look good (at least for now).

Rating is discounted purely on the paint comment, but keeping in mind this is a substantially sub-$1000 guitar. Other than the paint, NO "eyesore" problems.

Finish on the Grover tuners appears to be particularly good. Odd, but welcome.

Time will tell on the gold hardware. Otherwise, a guitar, like any other piece of equipment, will treat you like you treat it. It's going to be less finicky than my Larrivees (humidity).

Because there were no obvious setup, performance or warranty flaws, I'm happy with it, but won't speculate further.

Oddly, the warranty is ONLY 1 year (not "lifetime" or "limited lifetime") - maybe that's a Canadian quirk.


Otherwise, No experience/no comment

Been playing 30+ years. Own 14 instruments currently (2 resonators; 6 acoustics; 5 electrics; 1 electric bass). Have owned somewhere between 25 and 40 'other' instruments previously. Am in the process of culling the herd somewhat for practicality alone.

The LPU2 has the potential to become my '90% of the time' (electric)guitar. A couple of features I didn't mention above, but which deserve comment are a contour cutaway in the body and noticeably lighter weight, compared to a normal LP guitar. Nice.

I would have given it a '10' if they finished the back of the body and the neck/headstock in a solid/glossy finish.

Like I said before, the Nano-mag pickup gives this guitar a dimension that is worth far more than the amount it adds to the purchase price - about $100 - $150. Peanuts.

I WOULD replace this guitar in a heart beat, BUT, I'd make sure I saw the actual guitar I was getting, given some of the quality control problems I've read about and the fact that production may be in the process of being moved somewhere else.