Epiphone Sheraton II

New guitar, made in Korea. Archtop semi-hollow body (similar in style to the Gibson 335). Dual humbuckers, maple body, neck and fingerboard. Set-neck construction. Stop tail-piece. Laminated top. Custom inlays - classic Epiphone vine-inlay head stock, diamond-block fret inlays. Walnut sunburst finish.

I bought the guitar as a compliment to my Guild SG-stlye solid-body. Primarily will be used for blues and jazz, but also for Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers rock. My amp is a Fender Blues Deluxe. The sound is warm and full, particularly on the middle setting. The bridge-pickup setting may be a little thin and has less bite than I would like, but its not bad (especially with a DOD Classic Tube pushing it!). Neck pickup is warm and full. Solid sound.

The guitar needed a set-up when I purchased it, but once that was done, I was good to go. Fit and finish was great (I purchased the Walnut Sunburst finish - very fine!). No visible flaws and no noticible electronic glitches - the guitar looked and sounded great - it just needed a set-up.

Since I've only had the guitar for a month, it's hard to know what will happen down the road...However, it certainly feels like a solid instrument, well-made with outstanding cosmetics (particularly the vine-inlay head stock and the diamond-block inlays). While I don't think it maks sense to play a gig without a back-up, I would have no problems using it without one if I had to.

I've been playing, off and on, with varying degrees of intensity, for over 20 years. This is the first time that I have bought a guitar not because I needed it but because I wanted it. I wanted a 335esque guitar without spending two grand, and I chose the Epi Sheraton. For someone looking for a 335-type guitar, and you have realistic price constraints, I think it is virtually impossible to beat the price/value combination that this guitar provides. Look around, and make sure that you find a good one (as with any guitar you buy). I coud not be happier with my decision.

This is an ES-335 copy -- semi-hollow thin body made of laminated maple with a maple center block. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets. Two humbuckers. 3-way switch, volume and tone controls for each pickup. Tune-o-matic bridge. This was made some time in the mid- 90s in Korea. It came with a hard case.

It did a reasonably good job of blues growl and it made some nice jazz tones, too. When I had it, I played it mostly tThrough a Fender Blues Deluxe. The sound was full, as you might expect with a semi-hollow body, but somewhat mushy and indistinct. I fixed that by replacing the stock pickups with Seymour Duncan '59s. It had a lot more bite after that. The rating is for the stock pickups.

This guitar played quite well. Nice low action, good frets, everything where it should have been. There was some glue slop around some of the inlays on the neck, and the binding wasn't so neat. Also, the stop tailpiece wasn't installed perfectly straight, although it played just fine. Everything else that counted -- tuners, bridge, controls -- were all well made and installed well.

I never had a problem or any concern about this breaking. It was solid.

No idea.

I got this because I was infatuated with the idea of having a 335-style guitar. And I still wouldn't mind having one, but not this one. It's not that there was anything wrong with it -- there wasn't -- but it wasn't so great that I could overlook the cumbersome size and the too-thin (for me) neck. It sounded fine, but didn't have a whole lot of character. For the money, though, it was a good deal. I eventually traded it and another guitar toward a Pro Reverb.