Epiphone Sheraton II

Korean (2004?) made, semi-hollow with 2 humbuckers, independent volume and tone controls and a three-way selector switch. This one came with Grover tuners and hardware that appears to be exactly like the hardware on my Epi Les Paul Custom (TOM bridge and stop tailpiece). All hardware is gold colored. The pickups seem to also be the same ones that are in my LP Custom. The neck is pretty fast and I had no clue what woods were used in constructing this instrument.

This guitar suits my blues style just fine. I mostly record so I run it through a Vox ToneLab alot. Usually a fender twin simulation. The guitar is not particularly noisy. The sound covers the range from way bright to way deep. I adore the neck pickup on this thing.

The guitar can do B.B. King, Steve Howe, and even Ted Nugent with the right amp simulations. Its not exactly an ES-335 but for the money, it does great.

The setup was bordering on okay for a factory setup. I had to tweak it some after I got it home. It had some kind of custom guaged string on it. LIght on the bottom, heavy on the top. I switched those out for D'dario .009s. The neck was almost dead straight when I got it home. With a light touch, this was great but I have a medium touch which provided some occasional buzzing. After two small, counter-clockwise tweaks of the truss rod, I got about .005 relief and the guitar was much more receptive to my playing syle. The action at the 12th fret was really low (3/64") and I tend to like it at 4/64" - 5/64", so I adjusted that too. In short, the thing needed to be set up the way I like it. For a light picker, the facory job would have sufficed.

The pickups were adjust pretty well. Again my personal preference is a higher bridge pickup so I adjusted it. Now, the guiatr feels surprisingly like a Les Paul.

The guitar has no visible flaws that I can detect. The pickup selector is mechanically loud and will probably get replaced in the future.

I haven't had this instrument long enough to field test it. It seems that the strap buttons are designed to hold on to the strap rather than letting it slip off like some older button designs. The hardware and finish look like they would survive a gig.

I have been playing for many years (on and off). If this guitar was lost or stolen I would probably replace it eventually. I like everything about it sans the noisy pickup selector (CLICK!). I love the look of this thing. I compared this guitar (for hours) to Epi Dot, Dot Studio, Dot Deluxe, Casino, Joe Pass Emperor, Several Ibanez Artcores, and a mexican telecaster (strange right?). I was looking for something to play the blues on. I chose this one for the look, the feel, and the sound.

2004 fairly standard from Korea from Guitar Center. Two humbucker pickups with a three-way switch and individual volume/tone controls.

It has a very long sustain, and very little microphoning or internal noise. The pickups do pickup electrical noise. I primarily play a mixture spanning from classical style (which works surprisingly well on this instrument) through jazz/blues and the guitar is really nice for these. The long sustain is important to me when playing in a combo with a piano and acoustic guitarist because it lets me play with them rather than 'against' them. With light strings (9 gauge supplied by factory) the only problem is that the tones tend to bend if your fingering technique is sub-optimal. You also have to be careful placing a capo so you don't detune it. On the other hand the light strings make a lot of neat effects possible and other than the (relatively) close spaceing between the strings it feels like my rather nice classical. The range of sounds is quite broad, from nearly acoustic to very funky (body pickup only, max amplitude, min tone). If you have a long electrical path to the sound board, you may need a preammp (in the church combo I can just get by with max amplitude). The tuning is also a little bit finicky, but once set it tends to stay in tune (hint - don't try to retune until the guitar is at room temperature because the tuning is temperature sensitive).

The setup was almost perfect. The action was how I like it, low and fast, but the bridge was miss-set for the g-string which took a little while to fix (and new strings). No buzzing. The finish is fine except for a few very minor flaws in the staining on the fret board.

The guitar has withstood 6 months of fairly constant practicing and weekly performances without problems. I think it will last. By this time I was wearing grooves in the frets of an ovation and I don't see them on this one. It is worth getting a guitar polish as the high gloss finish will look crappy if it isn't cleaned.

No basis for comparison. I haven't needed to get it serviced and the instrument has worked fine.

I've been playing about 30 years. Started with classical and have moved to more modern styles in the last 4. I tried 5 different makes in the store and this was clearly the one I like best. Much fuller tone than the Ibanez artcore. I also liked having a fixed rather than floating bridge. The Epiphone dot wasn't quite as bright in tone. I also tried a fully hollow guitar (forgotten which one), which had a better location for the switches, but microphoned very easily and didn't sound much better than my ovation balladeer. I would definitely replace this one. It is a very flexible and fun instrument.

Same as other reviews. Nothing different except for pickups and electronics. Replaced stock with Burstbucker pros, and tapered american pots, as well as big orange caps. Replaced all the cast parts with Schaller and Grover chrome parts. Looks and works better.
One thing, I paid $400 for this and it came with an SKB case. It took me another $400 in work and parts to get this the way I like it. Chunky neck.

The pickup replacement made all the difference in the world. Some people say the stock pickups are dark. Maybe. Whatever they are they sound dead when you roll them back a little. Dull and lifeless. Burstbuckers got bite. No two ways about it. They roll back nicely and are very useable. Full volume is gritty, but not too harsh. I keep them a decent distance from the strings, and they work well. With the volume rolled back, I would say these have a rich sound. Especially the neck pickup. The bridge is loud and honkin' full volume and sounds nice and fenderish when rolled back. Lots of spank and sparkle with a little tele bite. It never really gets dark, but hey, it's a bridge.
The neck is much more versatile. Everything (except for 10's or 1's on tone or vol) is useable. In fact, the mid (vol, tone) is downright fantastic. Clean, driven or distorted it sounds great. Complex. Bell-like in places. These may be the best Gibson pickups made. Good for rock or jazz, just like a good paf should.
When I close my eyes, I like it better than a 355. When I open my eyes and see all the cash left in my wallet, I weep.

Same as any other Sheraton. Pretty. Solid. Korean. Neck needs a little help. Nothing that a good luthier can't make exactly the way you want (action-wise). Intonation is fine. With about two hours of my tech's time, this baby stands up to a 335. Same complaints as everyone else, I just had everything fixed. Pulled off all the gold Korean crap and replaced it with Schaller Chrome. Much nicer. Added a bone nut.

Seems like a brick shithouse.

Who knows?

Great value for the $$, but be prepared to spend more on electronics improvements and tech work. I paid 400 for it, and put another 400 in it.

Made in Korea.22 frets.laminate.3-way pick-up selector, 2 volumes and 2 tones
Gibson designed Alnico's. 3pc maple fingerboard with nice abalone and mother of pearl inlays (block shaped). Vintage Sunburst. epiphone hard case included.

This axe suits my style of playing perfectly, which is indie rock. eg: strokes
I use with it a Marshall 30DFX amp and just a boss super overdrive pedal.
It makes a great clean sound, sounds amazing when used with overdrive effects.
it makes a great guitar when not plugged in as an acoustic guitar. It's really like a les paul without the solid body. I have nothing wrong with the sound, it's great, but i've heard that it can be improved with Gibson pickups.

the guitar was fine, strings didnt break for over a month or so, everything was in the right place. although the input socket came off twice while i was playing, but was easily fixed by putting it back together, and hasnt done it at all since, and ive been the only case where it has happened.

This guitar without doubt will last me my whole life. everything now is solid, i can rely on it in a gig 101%

No need to deal with them

The only other guitar I have is a yamaha pacifica, which was great for a start.
I have tried les pauls, SGs, telecasters, even Gibson archtops like the ES-335 block, and I feel more comfortable with this than any of those. It will be for me even better when I apply gibson pickups. I *heart* my Epiphone Sheraton II

This korean-built 335-style guitar features a traditional laminate maple acoustic body (non-bookmatched top with f-holes) and central block, angled back peghead, two full-sized humbucker, two volume and two tone controls and a three way selector. Not gibson-like is the three piece maple neck (mine features also an extra piece of wood on the neck-body joint). Arched top and back plus lots of inlays and the natural finish on my guitar wraps it up. A classic guitar.

I play mostly blues and jazz plus some eventual classic rock. This guitar runs through a Vox wah, Barber LTD and Direct Drive, and a cheap danelectro tremolo (which sounds surprisingly good - I've bought it as a temporary but hey, it's staying indefinetly), feeding a Marshall AVT amp.
The secret to this guitar is to learn how to work with it's tone and volume controls. I personally dislke the two hb combined sound. I think it is dull for most adjustments, lacking punch and personality.
Other than that, you can get anything you want. Hell, I even play SRV-like tones with the bridge pickup. This pu is very harsh and rough on the edges. With clean sound it does not sound very good. It's a bit too thin and slim. Kick in a mildly saturated, crunch sound and you'll hear it burn like a strat. Adds up to wonderful high voltage tones. Go hard on distortion and you'll get lots of an annoying out-of-control feedback. Huge downside.
Neck pickup is great. Clean-wise, it has a very distinctive tone. Bass frequencies pop up like hell, but the highs are never far apart. You can even play those swinged pop-funk guitars, without loosing your bass tones. Move volume and tone down and you'll hear jazz tones up and down. Want to keep that punch on treble? Work on the tone pot alone. Want that muffled jazz tone? You'll get. Use any type of saturation from mildly crunch to smooth, creamy distortion and there's wonderful guitar tone all along. Try a George Benson sound, try Mark Knopfler's Brother's In Arms, try Larry Carlton, try Robben Ford. Any way you want, this guitar will get there.
Incredibly versatile, this guitar will help you through any kind of vintage tones and even some modern ones. I guess it could benefit a lot from a change of pickups, specially the bridge one. Try a more balanced and less prone to feedback pickup on the bridge. I'm certainly considering this mod. There's tons of pickup suggestions on the web.

I bought it used, but I tested a new one at the store some time ago. It had a playability much like mine. Relatively low action, but a little hard to play when compared to a smooth-real-low-action 70's Gibson ES-345 w/ .011 strings. But nothing you can't get used to. I use .011 in mine, the store probably .010.
All hardware works fine, tuning machines keep the guitar in tune, intonation is easily set up with the solid bridge and is quite good (some would say that's an Epiphone commom flaw - not on that guitar, frets are well fit on their positions), nut is plastic but okay although treble gauges are a little wider than should (that does not mean too much trouble, 'cause the peghead design tension the strings on the side of the nut holes). Frets are very confortable (but that's personal), a little wide. It has very smooth edges. Here's why: frets are flat cut at the point they meet the binding, so its edges are shaped from the plastic binding (by the way, a few of these "artificial" edges fell out, with no harm done to playability).
This guitar does not have a "modern" and "fast" neck. But is very confortable, with a relatively thin neck (than one would expect to find) and a almost flat fingerboard. Although nut width are the same, it feels wider than a Epiphone Les Paul Standard and a couple Gibson Les Pauls I've played.
This guitar is very fancy. The top and back is binded with a 5-ply cream and black plastic binding, extending 1/32" through the sides. The neck and peghead also features this kind of binding. Inlays as already mentioned may not be the best quality, but they sure are fancy and beautiful and except for a little glue around some inlays at the fingerboard (I've seen Martin guitars much worse, with glue all over the place) they are all nicely installed.
This guitar is beautiful and classy in it's natural finish and features excellent feel and playability.

This guitar ain't no Gibson top-of-the-line custom guitar. It is a cheap Korean-made one, although a real quality one. Don't expect to find class A woods, finish, hardware or electronics.
Hardware is extremely solid. Tailpiece, strap buttons, bridge and tuning machines are all solid, and never had problems, working perfectly and in place. I owned it for three years, but this guitar was probably built in the early nineties (more than ten years old, so). They're gold and all fading their color away (which gives the guitar that vintage look, I guess). Apart from absolutely all the screws being moderatly rusty, hardware does not appear to have serious signs of oxidation, and I hope and believe they could easily last another ten years.
Finish does not seem to be a problem at all, except for those plastic fret edges falling apart.
Neck seems to be solidly built. My guitar came with a crack in the neck-body joint area, and even though it fell a couple of times it never expanded nor affected guitar structure (professionally atested).
I believe the problem is electronics. I'm thinking of rewiring the whole guitar. It appears that the previous owner let this guitar sit in his closet for a long time. You can imagine what dust and lack of use does to the pots. To sum up: the 4 pots were noisy when turning them, and would only work set all the way up (sound would cut off at other volume levels, and tone were not working properly), the output jack was very noisy, with lots of bumps and strokes and pickup selector same thing. With just a nice and fast cleaning, using proper alcohol and other chemicals, I was able to solve almost everything. Now all pots work fine, but problems are: jack is always loose and neck pickup volume pot is noisy when in turn (but no cutting off sound though). Pickups are nice and silent.
Rewiring and replacing pots, jack and selector with better quality ones will certainly make this guitar much more confortable and enjoyable. People talk about changing pickups all the time. They'll probably spend U$150-200 in new pickups. What's an extra U$30 expense?
Overall it is solidly built, and solved electronics problem, it certainly is a very reliable guitar. trivia: Plastic nut very smooth and rounded helps preventing string breaking (although a questionable choice). I'll give a seven not for my bad experience, but because electronics really lack quality and the gold finish in the hardware is quite poor. All the rest is trustyworth.

Never dealt with the company.

I've been playing for almost 10 years now. I play mostly blues and jazz plus some eventual classic rock. This guitar runs through a Vox wah, Barber LTD and Direct Drive, and a cheap danelectro tremolo (which sounds surprisingly good - I've bought it as a temporary but hey, it's staying indefinetly), feeding a Marshall AVT amp. Right now that's my only electric guitar (sold them all 'cause I needed too and this guitar could do everything I need a guitar to do).
I love this guitar. It is very versatile and has a very good tone and playability. Recommended. Also it's confortable and looks great (even a little too fancy). For the price, it's hard to find a better semi-hollow bodied guitar.
Now that I'm hooked in semi-hollow guitars I'm not sure that if it were stolen I'd buy it again. I would probably try to spend more and get me a nicer one (maybe even a vintage Gibson - who knows?). But that'll do the job just fine and can only give you joy.

2003 extremely well made in Korea. Center block hollow body. I'm sure the woods are laminate city but so are the Gibson hollow and semi-hollows. The inlays are beautiful and appear to be abalony.

Features excellent sounding humbuckers specially designed by Gibson. Yeah, you'll see a lotta folks who like to make their guitar "better" by putting in after market pick-ups. Emperors new clothes, I say. I will say that I use mine for strictly clean channel thumb-pick fingerstyle. I don't wanna mess up the beautifully full clean sound with distortion.

Excellent action right outta the box. I see no flaws in binding, neck setting, fret work, finish or inlays.

I haven't had the opportunity to use the guitar in performance but it appears strong aond sound.

I've been playing 35 years or so and have owned several solid body and hollow bodies guitars. I think the Sheraton II is the best buy on the market today.

Stamped made in Korea. Think it was made in 93. Vintage sunburt colour which I don't really like but the guitar was cheap second hand so can't complain.

No coil tap or anything fancy as standard, just 2 HBs, 1 switch and 4 knobs.

Within a couple of weeks of having this guitar I'd wipped the pickups out. They sounded good but not great and I would have left them in except for an urge to try the Jimmy Page multi option wiring.

Ever since 1st comming across a Jimmy Page wiring diagram years ago I've wanted to try it. (See guitarelectronics.com for a diagram) I had a Gibson Les Paul but didn't want to rip that appart. The Sheraton was brought partly to have a guitar I could tinker with. The Jimmy Page wiring requires both pick ups to be coil tapped. Volume knobs pull for coil tap. Neck tone pulls for parallel. Bridge tone pulls for put of phase. Combine these with the pickup switch and there's a stupid number of combinations.

Before I took the original pickups out I searched for details on how to rewire a 335 but couldn't find much so to help others here's what I did...

1) As you take each knob off the original wiring tie string around the pot. For the jack socket tie string around its screw thread.
2) Unscrew the existing pickups
3) Poke the knobs and jack into the body
4) There'll be a wire off the bridge connecting to ground on one of the pickups. Unsolder it.
5) Pickups should now come away from the guitar with knbos and string following behind
6) Wire up the new pickups (I used new pots, switch and jack). ie you wire up the pickups outside the guitar. Be sure to leave enough wire between everything baring in mind that while it's being passed back into the guitar and connected the wire needs to be longer then when it's finally in place.
7) If you go for a crazy wiring like me wrap electrical tape around the wires that pass next to each other. This will give you a 1 set of wires between each of the pots
8) Test the pickup wiring by holding the pickups against another guitar and plugging the jack in. By doing this you can check the pickups, switch, pots are all wired up OK
9) Now the tricky bit where you need someone to help. Tie the strings onto the new knobs and jack. Push the pots and jack into the body cavity via the pickup hole. Pull the jack socket into place 1st then the tone knobs. Use the fingers through the F holes where possible.
10) Solder the bridge ground to the pickup ground and job done.

Watchouts/what went wrong for me...
On the 1st attempt I didn't bind the wires together into groups so ended up with spaghetti and had to take it all out and start again.
After finally getting everything in place I found one of the wires had falled off - check your solding is strong before you start. I fixed it by soldering if back on through the F hole as it was easier then taking it all out.
Final thing...I should have put a couple of washer on the underside of the pots. The knobs stick up off the surface of the body. Having washers underneath would have pulled them down.

So was it worth all the effort and cost? Hard to say but the wiring was something I'd always wanted to try so I'm happy now but it would have been much easier to do in a Les Paul.

As for the sound of the guitar. It sounds and plays great. Each of the many setting sounds different and all sound good. Clean sounding blues and Jazz, cranked up rock and over the top distortion all sound good with this guitar and the Seth Lovers.

Very nicely made guitar. Nice action on the neck. Binding well fitted. Can't fault it really.

When I brought it one of the pots kept cutting out. Problem's now gone since I replaced all the electronics but a 11 years old guitar shouldn't have bad pots.

I also replaced the tuners as the originals felt a bit loose.

Never tried to talk to them

I've been playing for 25 years in various bands over that time. I've never played a Gibson 335 so can't compare them. I have a Gibson Les Paul and the Sheraton doesn't feel or sound as good as that. Nor does it sound or feel as good as a Gibson SG Special. A nice guitar but don't believe the people who say "replace the pickups in an Epiphone and it's as good as a Gibson".

I play mostly at home these days through a 6W Cornford. The Les Paul might sound and feel better but I tend to pick up the Sheraton for its great clean sound both pickups selected.

I've also tried the Sheraton in a Northcourt 30 and Fender Bassman 135. It's a great guitar. Lots of sustain. Nice tone. Even without the electronics upgrade it was good.

It if were lost I don't think I'd buy another one. Nice guitar but there's lots of other nice guitars I've never owned so I'd try something else.

Everyone below has laid it out. Mine is an Alpine White model, from 1994 I think, Korean like the rest. It looks lovely, especially the binding. I couldn?t afford an ES335 (still can?t), so this will do just fine. As I bought the Sheraton from my local clueless git-ar centre (run by gits), I had to buy a case separately.

The sound? Bloody awful, with the stock p/u?s, unless you set the amp completely clean. I don?t: I like a little bit of grit. So I've rated it here for the new p/u's. The stock neck p/u was muddy and the bridge p/u was harsh. I endured them for years before, during and after I played it in a blues band. As I bought more guitars, with better p/u?s, it became increasingly obvious how cheap and nasty these were, and I hardly played the Sheraton for the last couple of years, as the tone depressed me. I researched a variety of replacement humbuckers on the Internet and finally bought a pair of Kent Armstrong vintage p/u?s, a couple of months ago. The difference in tone is considerable. The only things I miss about the stock p/u?s are their power and presence. Otherwise, good riddance to their rubbish tones. The Kents are a bit soft for my tastes (but then I did ask for ?vintage? beasties), so I raised the neck p/u (they were installed and blended for me by a very capable fellow named Allen Lane, in West Covina, CA), and now it has a lot more guts and warmth. I pretty much left the bridge p/u alone, as it?s bright and powerful enough, and I don?t use bridge p/u?s much in any of my guitars, except in conjunction with the neighbouring p/u.
I am a bluesman, and this guitar is good for blues. If you happen to enjoy Son Seals?s playing (and I don?t!) you can turn the gain up on your amp and the Sheraton II will give you his choked humbucker tone. I prefer it a bit less gritty than that, more like Freddie King or B B King, so I?m more careful how I tweak my amp tone with the Sheraton (especially with these new p/u?s) than I need to be with my Teles, etc. Searching for that sweet spot really does pay off, though, as the Kents are classy and warm.
I play it through the following:
?79 MusicMan 65-212
mid-?90s Fender Twin.
It?s not noisy at all, rich, full and (reasonably) bright with these new p/u?s, and I?m looking forward to hearing how versatile it might be when I play it with the worship team at my church every Sunday morning (my regular gig). At the moment, I play my 2 Teles on the team, as they are ALWAYS the right guitars at the right time: beautifully versatile.
Likes: the looks and the action.
Dislikes: I?m still a bit iffy about the p/u?s, wish I?d got some brighter, more powerful ones, but I can live with ?em. Also, the Sheraton now needs a re-fret! Lordy, the glass is always half empty?

A few other reviewers here say how fast the neck is. I agree. It almost plays itself. For me, along with the classy looks of the guitar, this is its best feature. The neck profile is good too, at least for me; fits in my hand very comfortably. I?m not keen on chunky necks, like most people, and the Sheraton?s is just right.
I don?t remember much about the factory set-up. It?s always been very playable and the binding is just great. In Alpine White, it?s an eye-catching guitar.

I remember another guitarist saying years ago that he?s always worried that semi-hollow guitars will fall apart in his hands (maybe because they often look a bit more *crafted* & delicate than solid-bodies?). This won?t happen, unless you?re clumsy and uncaring with yours, but on one occasion, at an outdoor gig in a tent, my Sheraton II was off to one side of the stage on a guitar stand. The wind blew the tent wall flapping against the guitar, and the poor thing fell flat on its face onto the stage. When I picked it up, it wasn?t even out of tune. Howzat!
Never had trouble with the p/u selector switch (unlike a lot of people below) so maybe I lucked out. I installed straplocks, though, always a good idea. I gigged with this instrument fairly regularly in a blues band for a couple of years, and it never let me down. The gold finish wears off quickly, but that?s okay, and I ALWAYS use a back-up guitar (or more accurately, a 2nd guitar for those songs on which humbuckers are inappropriate).

Never called Epiphone, but they are administered by Gibson, one of whose employees was most helpful when I asked about my bashed-up old SG. He patiently answered numerous half-brained e-mails from me. I don?t remember a warranty for the Epiphone, but I always get my guitars repaired by a friend, so I don?t have to ship them to service centres or manufacturers, and wait weeks or even months. I drive a few miles down the freeway and deliver/retrieve them myself.

What a shame about the horrible p/u?s installed in these otherwise tasty guitars. I think I paid between $500 and $600 in about 1994, so what can you expect for such a decent price, especially when almost every other feature is so good? Epiphone could install much better pickups, but they would boost the price, and some reviewers below actually like the stock p/u?s.
I?ve played for over 30 years and own a couple of Teles, a Strat, a Les Paul DeLuxe, an SG, a DeArmond Starfire Special (what a completely delicious guitar THAT is!). I wish I?d researched more before buying the Kent Armstrong p/u?s, but they?ll do for now, but I?ve never regretted buying the Sheraton II, and I look forward to getting to know it all over again with these new p/u?s.
If it was stolen, I don?t know if I?d replace it. I prefer single-coil pickups and I?m always drooling over widely different guitars depending on my tastes this month and the next.
If you want an ES335-type guitar but don?t want to pay Gibson the criminally high prices they demand, I would recommend the Epiphone Sheraton II, particularly after replacing the pickups.

Made: Korea, June of 2004
Frets: 22
The body is laminated maple, and the neck is three piece maple.
There are four controls: two volumes (one for each pickup) and two tone nobs (one for each pickup). There is a three-way selector switch much like that you find on a Les Paul.
Pickups: Two Epiphone Humbuckers, passive
This Sheraton II features a vintage sunburst that's quite a bit brighter than the one you'll see at Epiphone.com.
The body is a Gibson 335 copy, a classic cutaway.
Bridge Style: Tune-O-Matic
Tuners: Grover
Neck/Scale: Fairly thin neck, maple.
This guitar did not include a case, but they gave me a warantee.

This guitar really fits my playing style, which is pretty much everything except hip/hop. My influences include Cake, Wilco, Pavement, that whole shebang. I play a lot of blues solos with it, and I'm satisfied. Though keep in mind I was previously using a 2003 Fender American Stratocaster, so I'm probably not an authority on what good mid-tones are. This is a fairly random jump for me.
I use a Crybaby Wah with it, nothing else, and a variety of computer driven amp sounds using Apple's Garageband. I use a Fender Princeton 110 amp, the absolute poster-amp for low quality. It's OK, but it "buzzes like a frig."
The sound on this guitar is remarkably mellow, and the mid range is very good. I'd like to tell you just how good the bottom range is, but I have yet to plug it in through an exceptional amp. I've never owned a humbucking guitar, much less a semi-hollow, so I don't really know how much crunch I should expect.
However, I do like the sound. Even with the crappy strings that came with it, the first bluesy bold tones that fell out of the amp wound me up.
The guitar can do a wide-variety of sounds. I can almost make it sound like a Telecaster, however this might be the worst possible guitar for super hard rock: y'know, like Slayer or Metallica or Alice Cooper or whatever. If you play that kind of stuff, stay away. But if you aren't into that, this guitar delivers the versatility I've heard about being associated with semi-hollows. Unless I turn the gain up to something unholy, there's no feedback, and that surprised me. This guitar will distort the sound with less gain anyway.
It wouldn't surprise me if a good electronics switcharound (new PUPs!) wouldn't make this thing a lot better.

The action was superb when I got it, and it continues to be. The fretboard is easier to access than my Fender American Stratocaster's ever was. The pickups were set up OK, but honestly I wouldn't know.
This is one magnificent looking guitar, and I think even Mr. I-Sold-My-Son-For-A-Guitar would admit that. I really like the inlay work on the head.
There is, however, some sloppy finishing work on the fretboard. Tiny little marks of infinished neck surface are visible from frets 6-22 on the bottom E string. Kind if disappointing, but you'd have to look for it, and it's not like it affects your dexterity or your sound.

I don't know if this guitar will withstand live playing. I'll write a review after I do a show someday. The hardware will last, but it will continue to be mediocre. The finish seems to be holding up. The strap buttons are solid. I would use this guitar for a show. In fact, I'd go without a backup, but I'd definitely use a case. Jesus H., this thing is fragile. I guess I'm just used to solid bodies.

I haven't had to deal with the company directly yet.
Seventeen days after I got the thing, I tried to establish myself in a warrantee that said I had to contact them within the first 15 days of purchase. No word back whether I'll be able to mildly con them. If I get the warrantee, it will be lifetime.
At this point, I have no reason to believe this guitar will fail.

I've been playing guitar for three years. I played violin for 10. I owned a 2003 Fender American Stratocaster, which I sold to buy a semi-hollow. There's nothing I would rather have bought in the price range, but obviously I would've rather had the Gibson 335 or 336, if I had the dough. I love how this guitar performs without gain, when its sound is unaltered. I love the neck, and how easy it is to access notes. I hate how bloody subpar these pickups sound. Also, I haven't quite reconciled myself to this gold hardware. It bothers me.
I compared this guitar to an Epiphone Les Paul, probably mostly out of mindless brand favoritism. I thought this sounded better, just because I like the mellow tones. Truth be known, it sounds a decent bit like it. I wish this guitar had better pickups, and I wish the back were made out of a single piece of mahogany like the 336.
I have nothing else I'd like to share. Have a goodnight.

Everything I wanted. 2004 (new) Korean made 335 knock-off. 22 fret, semi hollow with all standard offerings (epi humbuckers, 500k pots etc). Nicely figured maple with rosewood fretboard and v(mop+abalone)inlays. Three piece neck. Grover non-locking tuners. I'm not sure if these are Korean Grovers or something, but standard Gibsons with Grovers seem higher quality. May be my imagination, but this baby hates to be in tune. Finish is nice and seemingly very durable (really thick poly). All hardware is low-rent gold. Came with a nice SKB hsc for $500. Mediocre nut, cheap gold, crappy pickguard. Many complaints, but this was a sweet deal at $500.

I play predominantly classic rock, to modern rock, to blues and jazz. I was looking at a Joe Pass, but I just really liked this a little better. It does ok for jazz, but is so much more versatile than the Joe Pass, and a little easier on the eyes. I play this on a lightly modified Peavey Classic 30. Occasionally I'll play it with a little chorus or phaser. Takes a little getting used to playing it with a wah. A little different than my strat, but sounds nice. Quiet pickups, greasy tone. These dirty pickups sound nice with distortion. Cranked up it has a nice Les Paul sound. Rolled back it's a little more complex, if not as much as I'd hoped for. The woody tone is a little nasally for my taste. Nice sound in the neck. The dark sound is nice, but a little dull. I was hoping for something more complex. Both pickups are too hot. Not much jangle to this beast. The guitar is glued together with urethane. Feels strong as an ox, but it has a brighter sound than Gibsons I've played (335, 347, 336, 356). It's no 336, but hey...
The stock pots are a little gritty for my taste. Not too sure about the electronics. I've had it for two months. It goes into the shop for an overhaul this week. Burstbuckers, tapered pots, a little tweaking on the caps, new switch, and new tune-o-matic + stop piece. All gold is being replaced with nickel. Rotomatics don't seem to stay in tune. Pickguard looks cheap. Sure is pretty though.

Well... Need's to have some fretwork done. Minor dead spots and mediocre intonation. Nut is awful! Worst nut I've seen. It's getting replaced next week. Pickups need replacement, for sure.
Great finish. Center block looks a little rough, but whatever. Electronics are loose. Pickups vibrate. Three piece neck is not quite symmetric, but close. Everything on this baby is bound. F-holes, pickguard, and all. Body bindings are finished, neck bindings are not. Neck bindings do not line up exactly on the corners. Bummer. Rosewood is oiled, which I don't care for. Neck is almost as nice as a Gibson. That's quite a compliment. Very dressy. Did I mention that this cost $500? Wow!

Brand new, so who knows. Gold is crappy. Otherwise it seems like a tank. I'll keep my eye on the neck joint. Epiphones are prone there. I will gig with it as soon as I get the electronics replaced. Seems strong as an ox. $500. Awesome!

Good question. I'll take it to my luthier if there are problems. If so, I'll remind myself that I only spent $500 for this little cadillac.

I've been playing 10 years. I also own a strat and an sg. I've played dozens of Gibsons and some G&L's. Most guitars I've played have a nicer sparkle to the pickups. These are a little too dirty. I wish they charged $150 more and put better electronics and gold on it. I wish it had a more lively acoustic sound (like a Casino). It's a looker. I have not had it long enough to say whether or not I would replace it if it ran away. I probably would.