Epiphone Sheraton II

2001 Sheraton II, made in Korea, etc, etc, same stats as already mentioned by the others. Fit and finish is great.

After many years without an electric guitar I decided to buy another one. For the last few years, I would check music stores to see what was available at a reasonable price but nothing really moved me enough to buy. A friend let me play his PRS SE ( he set it up beautifully) and I liked it enough to consider buying one. However, when I played PRS SE?s in stores, the action and sound were not so great so I had my doubts. I subsequently went on to try a lot of other guitars in a very disciplined, methodical way. Since I always liked the Gibson 335, I looked at Epiphone DOTS. Although the price was good, they just didn?t knock me out. Then, by chance, I spotted a black Sheraton II and tried it. My reaction to the guitar was immediate. I loved the way the guitar played. The action was truly remarkable. The sound was great. Incredible range between the two pick ups. Super sustain. Rather than respond to the initial euphoria, I put it down and came back to it a few days later. It was still a terrific playing and sounding guitar. And, just to make sure the first Sheraton wasn?t a fluke, I tried them at several places and every one of them played great, right off the floor. I also went on the net and read a lot of reviews on the Sheraton and noted their shortcomings (primarily switches). Within a week, I found a used one in mint condition for $450 with the case. As per the reviews I read, the volume and tone controls on the used Sheraton were indeed ?scratchy? and the pick up switch made a lot of nosie. As part of the purchase price deal, I had all the wiring, switches and input jack taken out and replaced with Gibson parts. Of note, the tech who worked on it showed me the original switches, wiring and jack; they were all coated with what seemed to be polish that was probably sprayed on as the last part of the manufacturing process. While this wouldn?t be a problem with a solid body guitar, the ?F? holes in the Sheraton allowed the polish to enter the body of the guitar and coated the switches and wiring, etc, which probably caused the problems everyone was noting. The other problem I noticed (and which was noted by others), is that the guitar went out of tune after some hard playing. However, some research in to the problem consistently produced the same answer: the most common problem with strings going out of tune lies with the nut, so, before you go to the expense and hassle of changing the tuners, check the nut. I was skeptical but the truth of this became very clear to me after I had a bone nut made for my acoustic guitar. Being very new, the strings would bind in the newly cut nut slots. So, it was hard to keep the guitar in tune and the tuners that worked very easily with the old nut, suddenly worked very hard. So, I bought some nut lube (?Big Bends Nut Sauce?) and the problem disappeared. I applied this fix to the Sheraton and I can now bend the living daylights out of my strings and they don?t go out of tune. It seems almost too simple to be true, but it is. After these pretty inexpensive ?fixes?, the Sheraton is, in my opinion, a terrific guitar and a genuine bargain. I am extremely happy with this guitar. Friends who have played it, love it. I like the stock pick ups. Super for blues and rock and very, very credible for jazz. I?ve toyed with putting in Seymour Duncan?s but, honestly, I think the sound is fine. I think this is a great all around guitar at a great price. I'm rating the guitar after the inexpensive "fixes".

As noted above, this guitar was beautifully set up - - as were all the Sheratons that I played . Pick up adjustment was fine. The finish on the guitar is terrific. The fret board and head stock are really nice (inlaid Abalone shell). This used, 4 year old guitar shows some wear on the bridge pick up (the gold coating is worn away where your hand rests on it while you play) but I think that just goes with any gold coating. The wiring issue is covered above and is cheap to fix. I'm rating this after the fix.

I?ve been playing this guitar a lot and it?s great. I think the basic structure of this guitar is very, very solid and of good quality. The only weak link was the polish coated wiring and switches, etc, and, again, it was a cheap fix.

The Epiphone web site is pretty good. Since it's a used guitar, there's no warranty issue. And, I've had no reason to call them, etc..

Many of the final rating questions have been addressed above. If it were lost or stolen, I would probably replace it. It?s a great guitar for the money. A few months after getting the Sheraton, I bought a used, mint U S A Strat which I also love. I think they?re each very good examples of their particular guitar type (single pole vs humbucker, etc). These are two very different guitars - - a real apples and oranges thing - - but each broadens my appreciation for the other.

Left Handed Korean, was vintage sunburst (more in a moment....), laminated maple top, usual frets, pickups etc blah blah blah.....

Play in 2 bands - covers band and blues band - play through Fender Custom Vibrolux, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Fender Bassman 10 and Fender Champ (did I say I like Fender Amps?)

I took out the stock pickups because, well, they were shite! I have an old Ibanez twin neck from around 1972 with the original Super 70 pickups - these are Jap ripoffs of Gibson Humbuckers. Thought I'd give them a try before buying some others - what a difference - this now sound exactly how I thought it should - it nails BB King, Cream-era Clapton, Freddy King, Alvin Lee et al - loud, honky, full - fabulous with both pickups flat out together - wow! If you can get hold of a pair of these old pickups - bang them in and stand well back! Lovely clean tone which breaks up nicely as it's cranked - put through a Digitech Bad Monkey and Dod OD 250 - this is a sound of some beauty.

Action is superb - i use Rotosound Reds - 13 - 56 gauge. Had to recut the nut but plays like a dream now. Now - the finish..... Superb, flawless but I always disliked the Tobacco Burst - so I got to work with some sandpaper and wire wool and stripped It back to it's natural honey coloured maple. I wanted an old appearance so It's been french polished - beautiful satin dark honey colour which is now wearing beautifull where i sweat on it. Back and sides are still the lovely dark mahogany colour which complement the front nicely. I replaced the horrible knobs with a set of old Gibson black top-hat style and replaced the really shitty tuners with Grovers - now it stays in tune for a whole gig! Like all Sheratons the inlays are lovely and the neck is a dream.

I usually play my old strat and pick this up for a different sound where needed - however, at a recent blues gig I played with another strat player, I used this for the whole 2 sets - clean tones, dirty tones, heavy, the lot - i was delighted!
Gold plated finish shouldn't be allowed on guitars anyway - even the vastly inflated-priced Gibsons wear and fade with use - adds character in my opinion.... Replace strap buttons for locking ones - this is a HEAVY guitar. I never play without a backup - i'm heavy on strings - but I would use it for a full gig again.

Yeah, right......

Been playing in bands semi pro for 27 years. Other guitars are a custom bodied Strat w/right handed neck, Tokai USG30 (Jap Lawsuit model), Custom Telecaster, Tanglewood acoustic. Amps are all Fender (see above), Pedal board - Dunlop Cry Baby (70's model)- Dod OD 250 (clean signal boost)- Cheap Aria Distortion (turn the tone down - awesome)- Digitech Bad Monkey Overdrive - Boss Chorus - Boss DD5 delay. I also have a Boss GT6 programmed like the pedal board for backup - not too keen on digital reverb however).
This is the second time I've owned this guitar I'm sure - i sold it cos it wasn't great but regretted it cos I liked the way it looked (apart from sunburst front). Since the mods it's the guitar i leave out of the case around the house - and It's getting used more and more in gigs.

This guitar just arrived at my door from Mus. Fiend..., er, I mean friend. So, I assume it's relatively new. Now, this is not a John Lee Hooker Sheraton II. But only, as far as I can tell, because of a few things. It has two Gibson mini-buckers; Gold stop-tail and all real Gibson parts (ABR-1 bridge, etc.). But (interestingly), it does NOT have a 3-laminate Spruce-Maple-Spruce top. Instead, it has a 5-ply maple-birch-maple-birch-maple laminate on the whole thing, just like they are using on the Elites. Now, I should point out, that a guy I know has an "official" JLH, and his ALSO has a 5-ply throughout (ahh, Gibson...what a tangled web...) Also, mine came with a (cheapo) Gold-Plated import toggle switch like they use on their regular production stuff (unlike the Elites!), and a plastic nut (ditto).Rosewood fingerboard, Abalone inlays, etc. More on this below...

Aside from the above rant, this thing sounds phenomenal...sustains for days. Put it through a TopHat Club Royale, and a new Vox AC30 CC1 and, try as i might, couldn't get anything less than stellar tones from it!

Action, Fit & Finish (on mine, at least...) is a 10 , with some figure in the Top. Much better than a Historic 335 I saw recently(the Japs probably ARE making it, with is really fine with me; after all, we're paying 3,4, and 5 grand for new Japanese made Gretsches, aren,t we?

Who knows, should be fine; After all, Korean-made stuff is pretty damn durable now, too (DeArmond Starfire Special, anyone...?)!

Never hold your breath with these guys, ya know?

I did a bit of digging, and it seems the story is thus: Gibson's (Epiphone) arrangement with the JLH Estate was up and they were left with a bunch of guitars; (some completed/others not)so they decided to get rid of the stock on hand and blow them out to Musicians Friend (their # one connection, since Gibson has alienated everyone else in this quadrant of the Universe) The parts were sent to Gibson and...well, I don't know Anyone who has any more backstory on this (for sure) please let us know! But gang, c'mon: For $999., this thing is truly a bargain.

This is a 2005 model, made in Korea. Ebony finish, rosewood fingerboard with block inlays. Two humbuckers, two volume controls and two tone controls. Three way switch. All gold-tone hardware. Grover tuners. I gave the features a 9 because the epiphone "E" symbol kept peeling off the pickguard. I eventually quit sticking it back on and got rid of it.

My musical style is blues-based with Sabbath-like, heavy edges, and this axe does it right. I run this guitar (and all my others) through a Vox ToneLab and into a Samson Expedition 300 compact PA system. All kinds of amp sims from Soldano SLO-100 to Marshall Plexis. I do not have any noise issues with this guitar. In fact I have more noise problems with both of the real Gibson guitars that I own. This guitar produces the whole range from sweet seduction to searing agony.

I love the looks, sound, and quality of the this guitar. Since it was designed for jazz players, the neck is very stable and very straight. Once I got the relief where I like it, it has stayed right on the money ever since (if you have this situation, put a set of .012 guage on it and let it sit for a few days). Plays like a dream.

The factory setup was excellent. It was medium height and setup for a very straight neck. Good for jazz-style flatpicking. The pickups were adjusted properly and have not been adjusted. You can see a length of wire through one of the f-holes.

This guitar can gig. The hardware is gold-tone, so will eventually get ratty looking and be replaced. I dunno what the finish is gonna do over time. The strap buttons, like those on every guitar I own were suspect by default and propmptly replaced with locking replacements by Dunlop. This guitar has yet to let me down or freak me out. I would use it on a gig without backup if the material allowed it. In reality it does not.

I have been playing for 30+ years. I own two les pauls, an epi les paul, the Sheraton II, an Ibanex EX dedicated to synth work, Vox Tonelab, and a few amps. If this guiatr were lost of stolen I would replace it unless I had the cash for a an ES-335 laying around. I love pretty much everything. I hate the output jack being on the front.

According to an online serial number decrypter, my guitar was made at the Samick Plant, Korea, in October 1996. So its a good nine years old.
335 style sem-hollow body with solid centre block.
Laminated maple top and body, 3-piece set-in laminated maple neck, ebony finish.
Multi-ply cream binding on body, headstock, neck and pickguard, single-ply cream binding on f-holes.
22-fret rosewood fingerboard with block/triangle mother-of-pearl inlays up to the 15th fret.
2 stock epiphone humbucker pickups, 2 volume controls, 2 tone controls, 3-way selector switch.
Tune-o-matic bridge, stopbar tailpiece.
Non-locking no-name tuners.
Gold harware.
Mother-of-pearl Epiphone logo on headstock with M-o-P vine inlay.
Nut: 1.68"
Scale: 24.75"

This is my dream guitar! As I will explain, I replaced the stock humbuckers with p90s, making it just what I want.

My music style is blues/rock. Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers Band, etc. The sheraton suits this style perfectly. You can get some really mellow blues sounds from it, yet you can still rock out with it.
Im using it with a Fender Champion 300 solid-state amp, a Marshall Compressor, a Marshall Bluesbreaker, a 7-band EQ and a Boss SuperOverdrive. I keep the amp on clean with a little reverb and chorus, use the Bluesbreaker for all my overdrive, the EQ for a mid-boost, and the SuperOverdrive as a solo boost. My overdrive tone is that warm, smooth, creamy mid-heavy tone.
The stock humbuckers give pretty much no hum (just as the name implies!). You do get quite alot of feedback from this guitar (especially using overdrive and compressor pedals) as it is semi-hollow... but I like this. It is not screechy ear-splitting feedback, but sweet feedback which can be easily manipulated by vibrato and positioning of the guitar/amp. But if you are going for a clean jazz sound of something, feedback aint a problem, its just when you 'rock out'.
Unplugged, it sounds great! The stock humbuckers are a little muddy... but they are usuable. But you will probably want to replace them after a while. After I got this guitar, I fell in love with single-coils, so bought some Seymour Duncan Phat Cat p-90s to go in it. Now it sounds truly amazing... almost like a strat, unmistakeably single-coil with all the cut and twang. The stock humbuckers are a bit flat and bland, get some new pickups to improve the sound. Get some single-coils to really bring the guitar to life!
With the p-90s, clean and using the fender with a little reverb/chorus it sounds really beautiful. Sparkling, balanced cleans. STUNNING. Overdriven it sounds raw but smooth, nice and punchy. Very full and rich-sounding. Mellow but bright (is that possible?).
The guitar can make loads of different sounds - through manipulating the selector switch and tone/volume controls you can easily find what you are looking for unless its high-gain metal. But still I can get some good distorted hard rock, and even some heavy Black Sabbath sounds out of this.
It is wonderful for blues. I don't play jazz, but can tell it would be great for that, once you have upgraded the pickups to something clearer.
The volume and tone pots are not perfect, but they are predictable enough to use. One day I might replace them, but there is no hurry.
The Sheraton has loads of sustain - further improved by a compressor pedal!
You can get loads of attack, twang and cut from the bridge, and smooth, rounded leads from the neck.
I give it a 7 for the stock pickups, but I will up it to 8 as it can really be improved with good pickups (I give it a 9 with the phat cats!).

Ok, I got this second-hand, so I don't know what the factory set-up is like. During the 9 years this guitar has been played, the set-up could have been vastly improved or ruined. I don't know what it was like originally. I got it set-up myself by a tech.
You can get a really good low action from this... it plays really smooth and easy. It DOES have a bit of fret buzz... but looking closely the frets seem a little worn and could do with a good seeing-to. But when I play at loud volumes, fret buzz does not bother me!
The finish is excellent! Beautiful gloss black, with real nice multi-ply cream binding. It looks really classy. I found one small flaw in the binding... but this is hardly noticeable.
The pickguard is a cheap flimsy thing.... its translucent tortoise-shell, quite nice as it looks very dark against the black finish, with cream binding. Looks good anyway. I tightened the screws and it seems secure. It had that hideous epiphone E on it... but I found that can be pulled off real easily, and it looks much better without!
I thought the amber knobs did not look too great against the black, so I replaced them with black ones. Looks SO much bette now, much more classy.
The plastic nut seems fine, but one day I may replace it with a bone one.
The pickup selector is fine - not noisy. (But perhaps the previous owner replaced the original?)
I don't know what make the tuners are, but they are real good, really easy to tune and they stay like that for ages. I really don't think I need to replace them with grovers like I thought I did! (But again, maybe these aren't the stock ones)
The mother-of-pearl inlays are really nice! The work on the headstock, with the epiphone logo and the vine design, are really beautiful. Wow.

I don't go smashing my guitars against walls. Yes this guitar will withstand live playing unless your really abuse your instrument.
The gold hardware, as people have said, wears off real easily. It hasn't on the tuners, but has noticeable on the bridge and tailpiece. But not that much - it gives it a nice vintage look. Remember this guitar is 9 years old, so if you don't mind a little vintage wearing it is good! The pickups were pretty seriously worn though, but they got replaced.
The finish has lasted fine for 9 years so far! The cream binding is a little worn on the edges in places, but this isn't really noticeable and adds a little vintage class.
Strap buttons seem solid.
Hell yeah I can depend on this, and would gig without a backup!

Never dealt with Epiphone.

Fantastic guitar. Mine is 9 years old and used, so I don't know if they come like this from the factory.
You might want to do a little work on it, get a good proffesional set-up, replace the pickups, replace tuners and pots... but the end result is a fantastic guitar.
If it was lost or stolen, I really don't know what I'd do as I couldn't afford another good guitar. But if I did buy another, yes it would be the same black sheraton II with phat cat pickups. As I said, this is my dream guitar.
What I LOVE is the appearance... black body, cream binding, gold hardware, block inlays... a real classy guitar, the sort I love. The mother-of-pearl work on the headstock is BEAUTIFUL!
Probably the only thing I wish it had was inlays on the 17th, 19th and 21st frets. But I've got used to playing without them now, so no worries.
I give it a 10 overall... this is with the new pickups. If you are a gear snob who plays loads of gibsons.. this won't interest you except maybe for the unique appearance. But if you are a guitarist on a budget, interested by the ES series, a lover of gold hardware and all that class, and not worried what it says on the headstock... GET THIS GUITAR.
I love it.

By now you all know the deal. This is my second Sheraton as I mistakenly sold my first - duh - the Grovers are a welcome addition although even the tuners on my first Sheraton worked well. This guitar can do anything really - a Freddie Green chunk-chunk sound, to BB King, to jazz, to straight up rock and high gain with gobs of sustain. In regards to the latter, some have had problems with feedback but i have not. I cannot honestly fault the intrument in regard to features.

I give it a nine because only that imaginary sound in my head gets a 10. Of course, the amp makes a huge difference too. Run it through Mesa LoneStar and you will have to change your britches.... I have about 7 or 8 gigable guitars and acoustically this is he best sounding by far. Even acoustically the sustain is remarkable and the sound is natural and even. That translats to electirc also. Through an amp it captures somewhat of the acoustic - hollow - sould and it still has cojones..... The pickups are voiced a little bit darker than some but they are very musical. Guys - you can turn up the treble a notch and scoop the mids a bit on the amp - that is why you have all those dials!

Set up was very good but I know a fellow at the shop (Lauzon Music - Ottawa) does a good job with everything coming through the place. Nothing hits the floor with buzzes or rattles - nothing. i was impressed that the nut was cut so that 12 to 54s could go on and not choke at the nut. Bravo!

The gold will wear - who cares - and the pickguard is cheap and maybe the jack is loose at times but overall it is solid. the switches are fine and the pots are not even making noise unlike most of my other gutiars.

I have been playing 31 years (yikes) - gone through jazz, pop, alternative, classical, south american you name it. Back to jazz and blues mostly and trying to go deep in that regard. i had a Sheraton before - sold it - and regretted that so bought another. I am stilled married though. This guitar just feels right... although.. of course,,, I find myself looking at others (sound familiar?).

bottom line - a very good - working instrument - that can do practically everything one could need - and besides - it is the performance that counts not the "tone" necessarily... although having "tone" is nice.

199? Model, made in Ko-rea, junk hardware, junk electronics,two junk humbuckers, superb inlays and binding, great case, ok finish, it's a K-mart ES-335 copy. REALIZE: You will have to spend at least another 400 rocks to replace the crap parts, THIS IS MANDATORY! Unless you play in a church band.

Calling the stock sound of this guitar whimpy would be cutting it a break. It totally sucked. I said sucked, as in past tense, because I have since replaced the PU's with Gibson 57' Classics. What a difference a day makes. Now, I have a beautiful ass kicking machine claimed for a nominal price. The stock PU's aren't fit to be used as fishing weights. I am going to rate it by the stock sound, although now it is a monster. My band Aintry plays a hybrid mix of pop/alt-country/jangle, I play this through a Boss MX-80 processor into a mesa Boogie Mark IV combo, and it really does kick ass. I normally play a Ric 620, but now I am wavering.

I could have bought a Gibson, but i really like the inlay and binding job on the Epi. It plays great as well. Giant cool inlay in the headstock. The "gold" hardware finish is eroding at a break-neck pace. Will replace the hardware as soon as I can squirrel some dough away from my wife. It is a unique looking axe.

Haven't gigged with it yet, but that time is coming. At practice, I have set aside my Ric 620 in favor of the Sheraton. The new PU's have made a world of difference. I never gig without a backup, that would INVITE disaster. Once the hardware has been swapped, I can't see any issue with this guitar.

Dunno

This is the tricky part. In it's stock state, it is a borderline cricket bat. But once the electronics (and soon, hardware) are replaced it is a really great axe at half the cost of a Gibson. I will give it a six, because of the factory sound, but now it is a nine. I own a literal army of guitars, Gibsons, Rics, Fenders, et al, but this Ko-rean refugee has cracked my top five and is still climbing (with the Gibson PU's!).

Bought it in 1997. Blonde twin-humbucker 335 copy....but personally I think of better quality.
I've made a lot of changes to it, but I'll review it as I bought it.....no use giving it a 10 for sound & then saying "I changed the pickups, bridge & controls"!!!
It came to me blonde now it has a leopasrdskin finish courtesy of MP designs. The P/Us are now Kent Armstrong vintage & the controls have been changed for US pots & switches. It's unique!!

The sound is really good. I changed the P/Us but to be honest I can't tell much difference.
I had a Gibson 335 & compared it with this one but I REALLY couldn't tell any difference......& that was before I changed the P/Us!!
I sold the Gibson & kept this one.

Reasonably well set up.
Much better than my Gibson 335 & had no glue-runs inside which the Gibson had lots of.

Big, solid & durable. I guess the gold finish will wear off.....but then that's gold hardware for you!!
I ALWAYS have another guitar for a backup......have you never broken a string?

Never contacted them

Lots of guitars & amps.
This is a good 335-type guitar. As good as the Gibson equivalent (especially after a P/U & control change) for 20% of the price. I owned a Gibson 335 but sold it & kept this one. Don't be fooled by the "made in the USA" snobbery......your guitar will be made by minimum wage workers, not "craftsmen" in whichever country!!

Typical 335 type guitar features. Korean Made 2005 model. 2 Epiphone USA Humbucker Pickups with Alnico Magnets, Enamel Wiring and doubly dipped in wax. 2 Volume controls, 2 Tone controls. Spectacular Vintage Sunburst finish, rosewood fretboard with triangle on block inlays. Tune-O-Matic Bridge. Grover Tuners. Included Epiphone Hard Case. If this had a bigsby I'd give it a 10

I've read many mixed reviews on the sound of the stock pickups. I've had this guitar for a while and I am overwhelmed at just how crisp and defined the tone from the Epiphone pickups really are. The Clean Tones are so rich and lucid you could melt butter with it. With the bridge pickup on distortion, if I close my eyes I can almost hear the bite and mid range umph of my Seymour Duncan SH-5 I have fitted on my Squier '51, which i suppose is a slight turn off since its not quite a traditional 335 tone...but luckily for me it suits my music style (Brit-Pop, Classic Rock n Roll....check out www.krish-online.co.uk to see what kind of music I mean). The neck pickup has a beutiful mellow clean tone and creamy yet defined distortion. It could well be even more crisp if you put in a duncan '59, but for the price of the guitar you get a lot more than you paid for with stock pickups.

The overall setup out of the box was immaculate. The action was set at the same height as my squier '51 making switching between the guitars effortless. Strings were all gleaming and actually very close to being perfectly in tune. The reason it loses 2 points is down to slight finish flaws. There is a small brown mark next to the bridge which in fairness is hardly noticeable but still not something you should have to put up with.

REPLACE THOSE STRAP BUTTONS WITH SCHALLER STRAP LOCKS IMMEDIATELY. My guitar very nearly came to a crushing end within a week of me buying it because the strap came off from the button on the underside of the neck joint. Luckily I just caught it before it hit the ground, but never again will I take the risk of not fitting strap locks. On the bright side, the guitar does feel very well built with solid construction throughout. I've played a #2000 John Lennon Casino that creaked when i just rested my elbow on the side whilst playing...didn't fill me with a great deal of confidence.

I've been playing for just over 3 years, and I own a Modified Squier '51 (with a Seymour Duncan SH-5 in the bridge and Seymour Duncan SSL1 in the neck), an ovation shallow bowl copy, a Custom made Telecaster, Marshall MG30DFX amp, Line 6 Pod XT Live, Boss DD6 Delay pedal, Marshall Supervibe + Jackhammer pedals, Digtech Screamin' Blues pedal and a Cry Baby Wah pedal.

The guitar is sensational value for money, I simply havn't played any 335 copy that quite measures up to how brilliant this is, and I've tried a VERY large number. 2 things I would change...put in a bigsby tremolo (which I may well do at a later date) and put the selector switch in a slightly more accessible position. If this were stolen I doubt I'd be able to afford another one, but if I could I certainly would give it serious consideration. The only thing holding me back would be the fact that I've had my eye on a Japanese made Tokai Les Paul copy for a while that quite takes my fancy, might save up for that one. I compared this directly to an epi dot, which was so so, an epi riviera which didn't really suit my music at all and a supernova...which I was very tempted by since Noel Gallagher is my all time hero, but I couldnt justify spending #100 more than the sheratons price for it when they were incredibly similar.

2002 model

you can get the specs via other reviews/websites/etc.

i play rock, progressive metal, jazz, blues, and mainly jam band (which is a combo of every genre) and this guitar molds to the occasion. i can't tell you enough how well this guitar can scream, cry, sulk, thrash, and whisper. every comment on the sheraton i've ever received has been absolutley positive and enthusiastic. EVERYONE loves the tone, and the tone is out of this world.

i ordered mine from elderly instruments (elderly.com--great dealer!) in '02, but they set-up every guitar you buy to there 'favorite feel,' and i have to say it was great. there was absolutley NOTHING wrong with this guitar when i first got it out of the box. it played just perfect. the only thing that fell off within a week was the cheap epiphone 'E' on the pickguard--but i was happier when it came off. looks much better now.

i've gigged it for three years as my main axe--it hands down beats any guitar i've ever played. perfect feel, weight. i can totally depend on it, the only problem i've ever had was a wire came out of the input, but with a little soldering it was just fine.

haven't had any problems to have to deal with epi

It's a great guitar, and it rises to the occasion. i'd go so far as to say it will satisfy any genre.

a grade-A perfection of a guitar--plus it's less than $600

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.

Mine is a late nineties, left-handed, sunburst, made in Korea. Great guitar. I bought it used out of ebay, and it came with a beaultiful Gibson brown tolex case. Nice block inlays with multiple binding all over the body and neck. The pickguard I replaced for a custom crafted in the shape of the 335 guard (the original guard with that big "Euro" sign is just too ugly). The vine inlays in the headstock are too fancy in my opinion. Anyway, that's how the guitar was in late sixties, and it is supposed to be a recreation of that instrument. I also have a heritage H535 and a Gibson ES335. The hardware and craftsmanship of the Epi is clearly inferior as compared to these guitars. Bindings are not as tightly matches as in the american counterparts. But it costs 2 to 3 times less. Soundwise, however, the difference is not that big.

Veeerrrry sweet sound. Beaultiful. Pick-ups have the right amount of output (perhaps close to the classic gibson pafs). The action and intonation came just perfect (I don't know if the previous owner did it, or if it is a factory thing). Guitar has the traditional thin-hollow-body sound. I play the guitar through a Mesa Boogie 50 caliber and a fender blues Deville. The guitar sounds awesome with both.

Very good action, no fret buzz whatsoever. Crafstmanship is a little sloppy in some parts (bindings, nut). Also, every once in a while the pick-up selector key troubleshoots when I turn to the bridge pick up. I also have the same problem with an Epi Les Paul a long time ago. So I think the guys at Epi should improve the quality of their pickup keys.

Hollow bodies are more vulnerable to road hazards than solid body guitars. So the Epi would certainly not stand the amount of punishment that strats and teles are used to bear in the hands of less careful players.

This is my second Sheraton as I liked the other one so much. I had this one customised and will rate it accordingly. Please compare this review with the review of my other Sheraton (2 or three reviews back).

This Sheraton came with Grover tuners fitted, which I?m pleased about as I planned to fit these myself any way. The electrics (pots ? 2 volume, 2 tone) have all been upgraded to Gibson parts as they are more reliable and are of better quality than stock Epiphone electrics. The pickups have been replaced with Seymour Duncan Antiquities. I have had a Bigsby (B7) tremolo unit fitted and to accompany this I have changed the tunomatic bridge to be a Schaller roller type bridge. All metal parts are gold on a black/ebony finish.

All features work perfectly ? hence the rating of 10.

OK this where I start waxing lyrical! My other Sheraton had Seymour Duncan SH1?s fitted which, I thought couldn?t be improved. The Antiquities are the most amazing pickups ever made (and I?ve heard a few!). They do exactly what it says on the tin ? er ? box. They really do sound just like (actually even better than) original pickups found in an ES335 from 1960 or 61. All the things you dream about happen, hairs go up on the back of your neck, other guitarists look and take note and start asking the questions like ?whassatt!? etc.

The output is not as much as modern day Gibson pickups but then their magnetism has been reduced due to the ?aging process? but they sing, preach, howl, moan, cry and wail without ever getting stressed and merging notes ? bloody superb!
With Epiphone pickups this is a very good guitar indeed ? with the Antiquities this is the best guitar I have ever played by a long, long way and I?ve played more classic 335s, 345s, 355s strats, teles etc etc. than you can shake a stick at. This is my main guitar in preference to a ?78 strat, ?79s strat, ?52 Tele, classic 335, Les Paul and various others.

Simply the best sounding guitar I?ve ever heard and played ? played through a Twin Reverb, Pro Reverb(1971) or a Blues Deluxe (depending on venue). It is most suitable for blues, jazz, melodic rock but you could use this for almost any style ? except monster metal.

Please read my previous Sheraton Review as the same thing applies here.

This Epi is new but I have three others and they?ve never let me down yet!

I?ve emailed Epiphone with a few queries in the past and they?ve always been prompt in getting back to me and have always been very informative ? thanks guys! I?ve never needed to complain though.

If I could go to 11 I would. Some people might ask ? why spend so much money (#1300) on customising an Epiphone when you could buy a new Gibson 335 or Heritage for a similar price. The answer is quite simply that the Epiphone is better! Really!! ? with the upgraded electrics and pickups that is. Now, I confine these comments to Epiphone archtops as all my Epis are archtops (two Sheratons, a Casino and a Zephyr Blues Deluxe). Maybe it?s me? But Epi necks feel and play better than Gibsons, the workmanship is easily as good as Gibsons and Heritage (in fact I?ve heard some dealers say they are better) and the materials are the same (except the electrics of course).

To put my money where my mouth is ? again ! I?ve just ordered two Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90s to fit to my Casino. Same as before ? great guitar let down by the pickups. I?ve actually asked Seymour Duncan to wax pot these P90s to reduce microphonics especially as the Casino is completely hollow. I?m assured that this won?t affect the tone.

If I lost a ?61 Gibson 335 it might be irreplaceable. If I lost this Sheraton I could get my guitar guru (Bob at Kingfishers) to get and customise me a new one. Would I replace the guitar if it was lost? What d?you think?

Just to quickly answer Harmony's questions:
- Been playing for almost 30 years
- I love everything about this guitar - EVERYTHING!
- Favourite feature is THE SOUND
- I compared it a dozen or more classic 335s, 345s and 355s,
Heritage 535, Yamaha SA2200. Chose this one because, with the
Antiquities, its better than anything I've ever played.
- From what I've been hearing (both in the UK and in the USA) there
is a growing trend for buying and upgrading Epis.

Mine is a '98, finished in sunburst. Stock everything. Features have been covered in depth previously. Bought it with a Gibson hard shell case.

I use this guitar primarily in a 60's / 70's rock and blues band. Run it through an RP2000 into either a Fender Stage 100 or a Marshall vs65. I've found the bridge pup to have a nice, clean tone that sounds nicely transparent. The neck pup tends to sound a bit muddy with no effects, but can get a really fat, Santana-like tone with some tweaking and the proper effects added. Played clean with both pups engaged, the tone is well balanced and picks up fingering, hammer ons and pull offs within chords nicely. If I didn't run this through the pedal, I would probably switch the pups as have others. With the pedal, it's extremely versatile and requires no modification for the stuff I do. Others have mentioned feedback. I find this only to be an issue with heavy drive, which I don't use it for, nor what it is intended for. It is pretty much the only guitar I use practicing with the band. Occasionally at gigs I'll switch to my Les Paul Studio (P-90's) for any heavy drive stuff we do. In those situations, the pup output difference between the two is very noticable. The P-90's are way hotter, and noisier. Volume adjustments at the pedal or the amp are required. All in all this is a very good sounding guitar, with a lot of range.

Don't know about the factory set up, as mine was purchased used. It was set up perfectly when I received it. I love the neck on this guitar, low, fast, and thin. My Les Paul feels chunky by comparison. I totally agree with the guy who said it practically plays itself. As has been mentioned many times, the finish on this guitar is virtually flawless, and beautiful. It is a classy looking piece, one that looks great on stage. No noise switching pups. A few minor complaints: the pick guard is thin and cheesy feeling, and the toggle cover broke. And yes, the gold plating is subject to ruboff, but that's the case with most of the gold hardware out there. The bridge needed a bit of filing, and I still seem to break more strings at the bridge than I'd like. I guess some folks feel a little ashamed of the Epi logo on the headstock. Not I, I think it's gorgeous. Even with the minor flaws mentioned above, I have to give it a 9. It is one of the prettiest, most nicely finished guitars I have seen.

I've gigged over 100 times with this guitar, with no problems (other than the string thing I mentioned). The gold is wearing off, but that was expected. The finish is bullet proof. I need a back up for broken strings, I average probably one broken string a night playing out. It stays in tune well, no noise, very durable. What more could you ask for?

N/A.

I really like this guitar a lot, particularly for gigs. I've been playing almost 40 years, and haven't found a neck I like better than this. In addition to the Les Paul mentioned earlier, I currently own an Epi DelRay and 4 acoustics (two Guilds, a Martin, and Takamine 12). I've owned or played l00's of others. The Sheraton has less personality than say a strat or a les paul, and consequently is far more versatile. For stage work, the combination of great looks, versatility, and low price make it ideal for my purposes. I'd replace it in a heartbeat.

I bought my one in 2003, or should I say my wife bought it for my birthday!As with many budget guitars mine was made in Korea. It's vintage sunburst with gold hardware, it has Gibson plastered all over the pickups and Gibson logo on the truss rod cover.
I don't usually buy without playing the guitar first but on this occasion did.It was supplied by Aire guitars via Ebay at a cost of #350.On opening the box I was surprised at the overall condition being perfect, when I played it I was very pleased to find it needed NO adjustments at all.I have played many guitars over the years including Gibson versions of this guitar and it stacks up well.

The pickups may have a slightly lower tone than the Gibson's but really for the money this is a superb instrument.I play mainly rock/blues style now and with just a little reverb it sounds great.I personally dislike the pick guards so I remove them as I've done with my Les Paul. The only problem I've encountered so far is the jack socket coming loose but other than that nothing!I'd expect the gold of the hardware to come off in time, but this can happen to a much more expensive instrument.
All in all I'd give this 9 because of that plug.

As I said before this guitar was set up well, it has a low action no buzzing and no need for tinkering.
Close your eyes and run your fingers over it and you'd think it was a Gibson.

I don't gig much these days but I play at home a lot, composing and recording my own songs, would this guitar survive live? I don't see why not. The finish is superb but I've found gold hardware does tend to come off (maybe it's my sweaty hands), time will tell how it stands up but as I said before it stands up well against it's big brother.

Can't comment on this as I've not had to contact them yet.

I've been playing for nearly 30 yrs now, although in the beginning I played bass (see my Rick 4001 anon review)I played guitar as well and even taught others!I play through JD cry baby & Digitech GNX1 FX into my recorder. This guitar has a sound of it's own and I find great pleasure playing lead of chords on it, and yes I'd get another.

Mine is a mid 1990?s vintage sunburst model Sheraton II made in Korea. It has laminted maple top, back and sides and laminated neck (making it very strong and reliable). Controls are 335 standard ? 2xtone, 2xvolume and pickup selector. In short ? it?s a 335 style guitar.

I give a rating of 8 here as all features are functional but 2 points dropped as the hardware is not as good as, say, a Gibson and the pickups leave something to be desired.

I play pretty much all styles but mainly blues and jazz nowadays and use Fender amps (a 70s silver face Pro Reverb and a new-ish Twin)

The stock pickups are a bit dull and lack character ? certainly wouldn?t turn any heads (or rather ears), They?re also microphonic. However, after fitting a pair of Seymore Duncan 59s everything I ever hoped for was there. Sounds a bit dramatic doesn?t it, but the improvement is really that significant ? The killer tone has arrived!
Played clean the sound is perfectly balanced (you can here all the strings equally) and full. When cranked up these symores make the guitar wail, cry, sing - whatever your desire without breaking up or sounding harsh. Judging from other reviews on this site it seems obvious that Sheratons are crying out for Seymore Duncans or Gibson 57s to be fitted. If you?re looking for a classic, crystal-dripping tone from a 335 style guitar and you?re not a Gibson elitist/purist this IS the way to go.

I?ve owned a new Gibson 335 on approval and gave it back to the shop (much to their surprise) as it just didn?t feel right. I?ve also made a point of trying out as many classic 335s, 345s, 355s (60?s & 70s models) as I can because I can still hardly believe that my Epi is better ? but it is! 0- for both feel and sound (maybe it?s just a personal thing).

So I?d like to have given two ratings here ? one with stock pickups and hardware (I give 8) and one with replacement Seymore Duncans and Grover tuners (definitely 10!).

These Epis might not be handmade by craftsmen but they are put together to perfection. I can find no signs of poor workmanship at all. All the joints are perfect and if you touch them with your eyes closed you just can?t tell where the joints are! All the binding is excellent. Every fret is finished to perfection ? really! I also have an Epiphone Zephyr Blues Deluxe and a Casino and the quality is just the same. All my Epis have a marvellous set up and feel like old friends. I feel I must point out that Sheratons do actually look classier than Gibsons as well (if you can get over the name on the headstock that is!). No doubt about it 10 out of 10 here!

I gig with this Sheraton regularly ? it?s never let me down yet!

Don't know. Havn't had any contact or need to.

I feel it only fair to review this guitar as stock rather than after what's becoming a defacto upgrade. So, all in all, I feel this Epi warrants a 9. The stock pickups aren't bad - just not brilliant and the hardware could be better. But the feel and playability of the guitar is better than any Gibson, PRS, Fender etc I have ever played.

I?ve been playing semi-pro and pro for about 28 years now and played so many guitars I can?t remember! I?ve had to play all different styles but I?m now mainly a blues and jazz musician/teacher. My main electric workhorses now are this Sheraton, a USA Reissue Tele, a 70?s Strat and the Zephyr. The Sheraton is my favourite by far! (Taylors and Martins used for acoustic work). I always play through Fender valve combos (new-ish Twin and early 70?s Pro Reverb). No effects used ? well maybe a tubescreamer where necessary.

As for the question - would I replace the Sheraton if it were stolen ? ? of course I would ? and make the necessary upgrades (Seymores and Grovers). In fact I?m about to pre-empt this potentiality and will be buying another Sheraton quite soon (a black one I think) and will again fit Seymore Duncans, Grovers and for the next one I?ll put a Bigsby on it too ? just for variety! All brand new this will cost me about #800-#1000 ? just over half the cost of a new 335 ? but much superior. Why isn?t everyone switched on to this?

2003 Sheraton II Maple Laminated body and neck, rosewood fingerboard with decorative box and triangle inlays pretty. Head stock has decorative vine design - also very pretty. Body, neck, head, and F-holes are very nicely bound. Two Gibson Humbuckers. Gold Hardware. Gloss urethane Vintage Sunburst Finish. Tune-o-matic bridge, stop tail piece. Epiphone Tuners (grover style.) This is a 335 style and size semi-hollowbody. No trem, no coil splitting.

Wonderful sound. I play jazz. Great depth and tone. Fairly bright but with full low-end. Bridge pickup can be a little bitey but it can easily be tamed with the tone control. Neck pickup is noce and mellow sounding. I find I play quite a bit with both pickups selected (especially for lead or it there is an emphasis on melody) -full on the neck PU and backed off about 50% on the bridge PU. The pickups are very quiet. They also seem to be fairly high output. The sustain on this guitar is..FOREVER! For the type of music I play - pretty traditional jazz and some blues - the sound of this guitar is great. Perosnal taste, I would like to have seen coil splitting capability -would have been neat but not essential. There is absolutely nothing that I dislike about his guitar...well I did remove the metal "E" from the pickguard becuase I liked the unadorned look better. With a good amp, this guitar realy shines. I play this though an Ultrasound - no feedback issues, the amp has notch fiter and shape controls.

The fit and finish on this guitar is nothing less than incredible. There are absolutely no flaws anywhere. The setup was nearly perfect. The finish is a deep Vintage Sunburst the shine on which looks about a foot deep! The neck inlays were prefectly aligned, tasteful and pretty. Nice cream and black binding. I'm always a little squeemish about gold hardware (given a choice I'd probably avoid it), but I also treat my guitars gently and clean right them after playing - so I don't expect to have problems. The pickup selecter feels a bit light and I'm not sure how trustworthy it will be, based on reviews I've read, but it works fine now - so I can't complain about it. The action on this guitar is absolutely amazing for an archtop - very low! and playing is effortless. The neck is straight as an arrow and has a nice shape that inspires 'proper playing position' - very comfortable fingerboard seems to be about 1 11/16". It has medium frets - very comfortable and well finished with no rough edges and nicely polished. Great intonation on my guitar. I bought this guitar at my local Guitar Center - love at first sight.. from across the foom... The week before I had purchased a Gretsch Country Classic Jr. for $1,000 more than this EPI was selling for (!!!!) - after playing the Sheraton II, I took the Gretsch back exchanged it for the Sheraton II! It blows me away that this guitar could actually have cost me $1,000 less - and I like the Sheraton II much better. The guitar did not come with a case - bought the Epiphone hard shell case for another $70 ...$549 for the Guitar and $70 for the case (plus tax of course) WOW! If this gutar cost more, I'd still love it.

It feels solid and substantial. I expect that it will last. I'm also pretty easy on my guitars.

Don't know. Havn't had any contact or need to.

I've been playing for about 30 years with off time. My current setup is the Sheraton II, and Ultrasound amp, Boss Loop Station, Monster Jazz Cables. For Jazz, this combination is perfect and the guitar sounds fantastic. I usually play with just a little reverb or chorus. Over the years, I have owned Schecter, Godin, Fender, Cordoba, Ovation, Ibanez, and I even had a Kalamazoo made Epiphone Casino that I bought in 1966 and sold in 1970 (boy do I wish I still owned that one!) I recently sold an Ibanez semi-hollowbody that I thought was very nice but not equal to this EPI. At this time I just have the Sheraton II and an Ovation that my daughter plays (I don't like the Ovations skinny neck.) I Have used Fender and Tubeworks amps - I love the Ultrasound for the stuff I'm playing now. I can't believe the quality of this guitar for the price. If this guitar were lost of stolen, I definitely replace it.

2001, semi hollow, korean, natural finish - looks amazing! (so much better than the sunburst) very fancy with the body, fretboard and headstock binding as well as the inlays and design on the headstock...looks great! fancier than any 335

Great sound, very versatile, being semihollow. Great for blues, jazz, rock and anything inbetween. the pickups aren't amazing but they do the job, being epiphones. i intend to upgade them eventually.

This guitar plays really well the fretboard and neck are amazing, just the right size. Does not stay in tune very well however. Needs some grover tuners. The toggle switch tends to cut in and out from time to time but when all is working well it is a great guitar for shows. if hardware and tuners were upgraded, there would be no need for a backup. The gold on the hardware tends to wear of however, because it is not real gold but for an epiphone you can't complain!

i love this guitar it is very versatile for several styles of music. it also has a good weight to it so it feels like a good solid, well made guitar. It looks amazing! with upgrades to PU's, hardware and tuners, this guitar will stay with me for life!

Mine is a 1994 or 95 Sheraton 2 with vintage sunburst finish. the rest has been well covered in the other reviews. Bought used on E-bay for $430.00 w/Epi hard case and Gibson 57 classic pu and a 57 classic plus pu.

Sounds very warm and jazzy. As it came used with 57's pups already in it ( along with receipt for pups and installation) i cant comment on the stock pups sound.

This guitar came perfectly set up for me. fast and low with no fret buzzing using .010 strings The quality of the finish is superb and still looks brand new. It has stock tuners that work quite well and stays in tune for ages. The gold plating has held up very good and actually still looks new, contrary to some of the other reviewers. The only problem I've had is the nut came off of the cable jack, and was a real bear to get back on because the jack fell back inside and the only way to put it back in place is through the f-hole.

This guitar is very reliable and can be used as your main axe. The strap buttons are solid but straplocks are always a smart addition.

Overall I love this guitar and would definitly buy one again if lost or pinched. I also own a 1969 Epi Riviera made in the USA. It has a bigsby trem and Demarzio pups with cherry color finish. Says Kalamazoo, Mich. inside below the f-hole. I would put the Sheraton up as an equal to the Rivierra although the Sheri is prettier

Korean built in 1994 and bought in 1995
Came with a plush hardshell case
High gloss poly natural (blond) finish on laminated Maple body
Fancy 3-layered binding on body and neck,
22 fret fat, U-shaped maple neck with double skunk-strip
25 1/2" scale neck with fat frets on rosewood board
'Gibson' engraved on truss rod cover on headstock
Fancy vine-style inlays on headstock
mother-of-pearl (?) triange-in-square fret markers
Original gold hardware throughout, sealed tuners
2 tone, 2 volume, 3-way toggle sw, 2 (cheap) HBs
red-tortose pickguard with 'e' logo
Essentially cheap hardware but good looks are the key here

Original cheap PUs, neck was muddy and bridge harsh and piercing. However they are relatively quiet like humbuckers and are more or less useful as is. I liked the neck PU the most for jazzy mellow tunes. The bridge PU was really nasal and harsh but could be tamed by rolling off the highs with the tone knob. For a clean sound with the HBs you will want an amp that can handle the low end. My Fender Deluxe with a 12" Jensen does well. My practice amps don't fair as well. The stock PUs are LOUD.

Last year, I replaced the PUs (see overall rating comments below for full descritption). With original PUs a 7, with new PUs a 9. I have developed a taste for single coils so I don't play this guitar out much and it stays in the case. I might sell it.

Factory setup was great. Neck and Bridge PUs were balanced. Intonation was good. The poly finish is indestructable. Workmanship is near perfect- the Koreans really have the 'finish department' covered. The tuners are okay but I replaced them with grovers.

The maple body is HEAVY and also sturdy. It can really take a lot of punishment. The poly finish is rock-hard and looks everybit as good as it did about 8 years ago. I have left the guitar out on a stand during all seasons and the action stays about the same. I have never played it out much but it appears to be a very solid instrument.

I have never contacted Ephiphone.

I play my guitars straight into the amp with just a hint of reverb and overdrive. I am not a cruncher and/or effects freak. For me this guitar is good for Larry Carlton-style easy listening jazz, standards, Robbin Ford-style blues and perhaps 50s-60s R'n'R. Aferall, if you want serious overdriven distortion and crunch why not go for a LP or Jackson?

Essentially, this guitar is a Gibson ES-335 knock-off. It is a lot cheaper than the real thing. Note that Epiphone is now offering the Elite series with better hardware but you don't have to go that route. With about $200 you can upgrade your Epi Sheraton II to the 'Gibson ES-335 class'. I made such changes as follows:

1 - changed out the PUs to Seymour Duncan Seth Lover PUs neck and bridge. They were about $75 each ($150 for the pair). They are about a good as you can get for that vintage PAF HB sound. The neck PU is lush but with definition for great jazz tone. The brige is bight but not as harsh as the stock PU and you can even emulate the Tele sound to some degree.

2 - changed out tuners to Govers. Took all of 10 minutes to switch out with no extra holes to drill. The guitar tunes and stays in tune. The Grovers cost $50.

Note: The new PUs and Grovers are nickel and chrome respectively.

Cosmetic change:

3 - sanded the 'e' logo off the pickguard and used a little acetate to smooth the finish back to a semi-gloss. Changed the bracket to chrome.

As you can see, I am trying to move away from the gold hardware to chrome/nickel. Unfortunately, the Gibson tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece do not fit the mounts on my Epi. I may try to get some chrome replacements from Epiphone someday.

One more personal fix. This is not for the faint of heart and there is no going back. I added a master volume knob to the lower treble bout. Being a Fender-guy, I like having just one volume knob. This mod is not easy, but I can send you instructions. You will have to tap the signal with a 500K pot just before the output jack.

If anyone wants to try any of these mods, especially the PU mod, contact me at weblazer@cs.com. It is tricky, but I learned from StewartMac on how to deal with the pots with only the F-holes to work with.

Overall rating for guitar as is, is 8. (With mods it gets a 9 because the guitar is now essentially as good as the Elite or maybe even the real Gibson ES-335.) It will never be a Gibson ES-335 so no 10 here.

1994 model in vintage sunburst which I bought new. Made in Korea.You know the rest.

I play mainly blues and classic rock and found this guitar to be great for both. Many reviewers complain about, and change, the pickups- but I've never had a problem with the stock ones.

Guitar came with a great factory set up- probably the best I've ever experienced. Much better than on any Gibson I've played since. More on that later. Pickups were well adjusted for balanced sound. The finish was perfect and the neck straight as an arrow with low action and absolutely no buzzing or fretting out anywhere on the board. Very Impressive. No for the down side. The saddle for the high E string had a burr on it which kept causing string breakage whenever the string was bent. A small file took care of that. The toggle switch is garbage. Started crackling out about 6 or 8 months after I bought it. Other than that no problems. All in all, very impressive for a guitar in this price range.

With a better toggle switch- rock solid. Played literally hundreds of gigs with this guitar with no problems whatsoever.

N/A.

I loved this guitar and like an idiot I sold it to buy a Gibson ES 333 which is without a doubt THE worst single piece of total crap I have EVER wasted my money on. After almost $300 worth of fret work it still buzzes all over the neck. I've played many new Gibsons since and they were mostly the same. Poor finish work, necks with humps at the neck joint, loose bridges, too low nuts, you name it. So much for American workmanship. Gibson stinks.

I'm now looking to find another Sheraton, but I hear there have been some production cutbacks during the last year or two- for example I understand they are no longer using the beautiful triple neck binding, and now using single binding. And they are no longer printing the E on the pickguard, but using those cheap plastic or tin E's that fall off immediately after purchasing (like they did on my Dot model). I may just have to try to find another '94 model.

I have been playing for 38 years, and also (among others), have a '96 American Standard Strat (great guitar), a Jorge Montalvo Cypress Sr. Hauser Flamenco guitar with cutaway (amazing guitar), a Dreadnaught, Fender Hot Rod Deville 410 amp, and a plethora of pedals.

The only other thing I'd like to share is that there are some very nice instruments coming out of Korea these days- don't write them off. And don't buy Gibson!They are overpriced junk from a company purely living off of it's name! They may own Epiphone, but the workmanship on the Gibson's is definately sub par!

I'm delighted to write a positive review of the Epi Sheraton 2! This is a 2003 model with a natural finish, 2 humbuckers, 3 way toggle, volume & tone controls, nice headstock and rosewood fretboard. Other features are described below. Overall, this is a "looker".

Played it for the first time through a Line6 PodPro last night, recorded a little & put it back to back against my Gibby 335. Sounded wonderful. All of the tones were terrific.

Set up nicely, pickups will need to be adjusted. No observable finish problems.

We will see. That's why I give it a 5.

Don't know.

I've been playing longer than I like to admit! I own several high end instruments and wanted the Sheraton primarily for the looks. And it does fit in well with my collection. I own a studio with plenty of outboard equipment, as well as samples and software and like to experiment with tones from keys/synths and guitars.

All in all, I really like this instrument. If you are looking for a real nice hollowbody to go along with other instruments, the Sheraton 2 is an excellent buy. I'd absolutely buy another - it won't beak the bank and looks/sounds nice!

BTW, price really wasn't an object with respect to this review.

I'm not sure what year mine is. I believe it's mid 90's. I've owned it for 2 yrs. It's basically Epiphones better more dressed up Dot, or an inexpensive variation of a Gibson ES-355. This one has a natural finsih. I had to get rid of the stock pickups, they sounded thin, lifeless and had to many feedback problems. I replaced them with a Dimarzio tone zone in the bridge and a Rio Grande Genuine Texax humbucker in the neck. Both pickups have exposed zebra coils, and are splitable via push/pull volume knobs. It has become my main axe because of the versitilty factor. This one has a nice fast maple neck. My only gripe is the Sheraton II's headstock is out of balance causing it to drop. This can be fixed by using a leather strap w/suade on one side.

Because I changed the pickups and split the coils, it's super versatile and can be used for almost any style. I use it for surf, garage rock, country rock, blues and some swing. I guess it probably won't work for metal styles, but I don't play any. I play it through a early 90's white Fender deluxe reverb w/ a TS-9 and sometimes some tape echo. It can be dark, bright, or anything in between.

As for factory set-up I don't know, I purchased it used. Most import factory set-up's suck from what I've seen. I set it up for my style and it works great. Who ever Epiphone had make these did a killer job. Probably contracted in Korea. Very nice inlays and 5 ply binding. The finish is starting to wear of the neck of this one increasing the playability. I have to use graphite on the factory nut, but plan to get a bone nut installed. The factory tuners are crap, I replaced mine with Gotohs.

This one has fallen off a stand at a gig right onto a tile floor. Because of the maple construction it survived. A mahogony neck probably would have broke. I've never had any problems besides the pick-ups and tuners which I replaced. I gig it all the time without a backup. I replaced the strap buttons w/strap locks.

Never had a problem to deal with.

A fabulous guitar, every bit as good as a real 335 or 355. Save yourself thousand's of dollars by buying a used Epi Dot or Sheraton instead of a pricey 335 (unless money is no object.) Make sure it's a set neck model, this is crucial for the sound and sustain of a semi-hollow ES style guitar. Replace the pickups with something better and your set all for around $600-$700 instead of $2,500 for the over priced Gibson. Believe me I know I've had gibson semi-hollow's in the past. In fact I also currently own a very nice sunburst ES-135 with a Bigsby. A very nice insturment in it's own right. But the Epi's versitility and vibe make it my #1. Fantastic value.

I just picked up a used 1994(Korean)with a hard shell case and am already in love. The guitar is stock, no mods. The binding on the neck was done very quickly at the factory but I know a great luthier who can clean it up. A black to tobacco finish that is in reasonably great shape and I love. Have had some sunbursts and such but really like the subdued look of the tobacco finish.

Great blues/jazz guitar but easily transforms into a rock monster. I am running a Mesa Boogie clean (no effects) and am extremely impressed with how bright this guitar is. I typically use a US Strat Plus with Dimarzio VV pickups and thought there was no way a semi-acoustic could touch it..... I am presently surprised. The sustain is amazing.

Action is nice. I actually tweaked the neck in the store as it had such a monsterous bow that arrows should have come with the guitar. The neck pulled straight and after raising the action a hair and putting some 11 ga. on it plays awsome. Several very experienced players (buddies) have picked it up already and have told me that if I sell it I need to call them first.

It is a shame that gibson Chinced on the gold hardware. The tuners stay in tune, the bridge intonates and adjusts etc but the gold plating on the instrument is garbage. I am not a 'gold' kind of guy but it does suit this guitar. I will at some stage replace the pick-up covers etc but this is only visual. The finish seems to have held up very well. Some typical flaws around the binding but nothing that is hard to live with.

I have been playing for about twenty years and untill about 2 years ago I thought the only way to buy a decent guitar was to go brand name and spend mucho bucks. This is not the case. I love my US Stat but it now has a Warmoth neck and Dimarzio pickups. The $1,500.00 Cdn I spent on it originally was a waste of money. About a month ago I picked up a Korean made Tele for $300.00 Cdn. (Rosewood neck/ash body) After a fret job and a set of decent pick-ups the guitar plays and sounds like a (better I think) US model. This Epiphone is an awsome bang for your buck and a guitar I will keep in my collection. I would replace it if it were to go missing.. absolutely.

I'm not sure what year it was made. The serial begins with 'I03..' followed by about 6 other numbers (don't have it front of me), so I'm guessing that it is a 2003 model. The sticker inside one of the F-holes says Sheraton II VS (vintage sunburst?), and I purchased this as a factory second (stamped 'used' on the back of the headstock). After inspecting it, I believe the possible reasons it was stamped a 2nd are 1. the sunburst is more orange than the Sheraton II I see in pictures, which looks more brown; 2. some of the wiring and an adhesive patch is visible through the bottom F-hole, and 3. it is missing the 'E' logo on the pickguard. However, everything else appeared new (including the plastic still on the pickguard/pickups) and I saved a couple hundred dollars to boot.

Apologies for not knowing the specs, but some reviews below have all the helpful information. I was a little concerned after reading reviews of poor tuners and pickup selectors on the Sherry II, but it appears that these problems were fixed by the time this guitar was made (it has Grover tuners and no pops or crackles coming from the pup selector). It did not come with any case, and a hard case is definitely necessary (all my other guitars, including my Taylor Big Baby, are in gig bags). Unfortunately, the generic 335 case supplied by the dealer is a bit too small and I have to ease it in after playing. I recommend going with the Epiphone brand case designed for this model.

For the price, this is definitely one of the more ornate-looking guitars and very stylish, especially the tree-branch inlay on the headstock and the block inlays in the fingerboard. I've wanted this guitar for a long time based on its looks alone. Over time I began to appreciate the 335 sound so I put my Fender Toronado up on sale to pay for this one. It looks like a more expensive guitar so I give it a 10 for features.

I play mostly modern rock and this fits it well. I've been playing guitar for about 6 years, and mostly through Fenders. Currently the only 'amp' I have is a J-Station, since I can play through headphones and not annoy everyone around me. As soon as I plugged the Epi in I got rich, warm tones. I was so used to the 'nasally' sound of Fender single-coils (which aren't necessarily inferior) that it was quite a welcome change for me. I also found it easier to sound 'good' (subjectively, of course) through the Sherry than through Strats and Teles, possibly because of the thicker tone and sustain. When I started learning guitar, one of the bands' songs I used to practice on was Oasis, and this guitar is capable of hitting those tones (I believe Noel Gallagher's custom Epi is based on the Sherry).

I think this guitar is suitable for all types of music, except maybe for metal, punk, or some types of country. No complaints about the stock pickups, yet. I may change them in the future but at the moment they sound good to me.

It came strung with 9's (I prefer 10's), but other than that it played fine. The action was low and uniform to play along the entire neck. The finish was fine, except for the color issue listed above, but that didn't bother me. I find that Korean-made guitars generally have very good playability, even if other issues arise. This one was no exception.

I feel a little more cautious about this one than my solid-body guitars, but it feels solid overall. I heard it is a PITA to re-solder the pots for these 335 copies (unlike Fenders where everything is under the pickguard) so hopefully none of them will short out or anything. From reading other reviews though, I think it should last for quite a while.

I believe since I bought it as a 2nd, I am not eligible for any warranty. I haven't dealt with Epi otherwise.

Great guitar. Looks and sounds fantastic. It makes you look like a good player just hanging off your shoulder (which helps me compensate for lack of skill ;-) ). Someday when I'm out of school and earning enough money, I may go for a real Gibson 335, but still keep this one around, or maybe hang it on a wall as a piece of artwork.

Mine is the standard 2003 model. Vintage Sunburst, gold hardware, two humbuckers, two volume and tone controls, 3-way switch, etc. It is a beautiful instrument. Flawless finish. Awesome feel. The binding is exquisite.

This guitar has that sweet, full, round sound that I crave. It's that chunky jazz tone that can be played straight or bent into whatever sound you desire.

I tuned it and it played like a champ right out of the box. As far as I can tell, this guitar is flawless.

The guitar doesn't seem fragile, but I baby it. I play for myself, so this really isn't an issue. I think musical instruments are not meant to be indestructible. I suppose a working musician would be better equipped to answer this.

Got the warranty. Haven't had to use it.

I'm a novice (<1 year) player. I own a Godin SD that I also love! I chose the Seraton II for the looks (sunburst finish, gold hardware)and the sound (warm, full, sophisticated, jazzy). I can't imagine how much better a Gibson ES-335 would have to be to justify the 4x price differential. I know I'm not enough of a player to even worry about it. I don't need a Rolls-Royce. I love my Cadillac!!!

I recommend that anyone shopping for a particular piece of hardware calls Musician's Friend once a week and ask if the object of your desire is on sale. They run phone-only sales! I saved $80 off an already good price. I was calling to order a Guitarport and as I was half-listening to the specials, I asked about my dream-guitar and lo and behold they had it on sale!!!!! Why pay more?!?!?

Back to the guitar, I have only just received it, but it is a dream. And the comments from some Epi semi-hollow players about iffy switches and controls may be due to them not understanding how the controls are wired (in series for center switch position). Mine are terrific! I love the sound those two hummers give me. Rock on!

I bought mine back in 1994, and It was amde in Korea. It has 22 frets and It has a sunburst finish

I play alot of Spacey rock kinda stuff. I use a Fender Pro 185 mostly with this guitar. I use a Vox Ac30 also. The guitar sounds great through both. If you're looking for a strat or tele sound do not buy this guitar. It's a much richer tone and not as harsh a sound. Although I do find it quite versatile.

I play this guitar exactly the way it came from the factory and it still sounds great. Except for some of the switches and knobs which crackle if you turn them.

I played in a band and strictly used this guitar for more than three years and never had a problem. You can definitely depend on this guitar. I put it through some abuse and it still looks and sounds great.

I've been playing since 1990 and this was my third guitar. I've owned Les Pauls and other long forgotten guitars and I can truly say that this is a solid guitar.

This is a new 2003 Epiphone Shereton II left handed vesion made in Korea. It has 22 frets on a set 3 piece maple neck which is thicker than i expected but surprisingly feels great. The two gold plated stock epiphone humbuckers are controlled by a three way toggle (which feels quite cheap) and a volume and topne for each p/u wich aren't bad. The body is laminated maple as well as the top and seems to be really nice wood. The vintage sunburst finish is amazing, i don't like it on alot of other guitars but it really fits this, it goes perfectly with the gold plated hardware and i couldn't find a flaw in the finish (it's soo shiny!). It's a double cutaway archtop es-355 style which feels great compared to my old strat style guitar. It has a tunomatic bridge with a stopbar tailpiece which doesn't give as good sustain as the trapieze or other styles but is still out of this world. I was worried about the tuners on this guitar because i heard alot of bad things about the epi tuners, HOWEVER, epiphone has listened to the complaints and grover tuners are now standard. The neck is great, i thought i wouldn't like a thicker neck but it fits the palm of my hand perfect. It's 3 piece maple with two mahogany stripes (which i think are a great touch) running down the back. It has a nice rosewood finger board with block and triangle inlays (i dunno what they are made of) the frets seem to be the same as my old guitar, other than that i have no idea what they are. Also i noticed i can play alot faster and for alot longer without getting sore fingures. I had to pay extra for a case, im going to assume that the accesories (crappy little skinney cable and alan key for truss rod) came with the guitar and not the case. I give this guitar a 7 for 3 reasons. First is that left handed only comes in one colour. Second is that i really miss my tremelo and u can't get an archtop (that i have found anyway) with a left handed trem. And third is that u would think that for any guitar u would put a better switch on. Other than that it is an awesome guitar.

This guitar suits my styles almost perfectly (would be perfect if it had a tremelo). I like to play alot of blues and am getting into jazz. Also i play alot of hendrix/zepplin sort of stuff but i can play almost anything except heavey metal (metalica and stuff like that, ozzy acdc and the like are great) thisguitar will play anything and sound great. I am playing it through a peavy blazer (i know i know, im lookin for a nice 30 watt tube amp or something now) with the reverb and overdrive from the amp and it works great. The neck pickup has a muddy blues sound to it with great low end but not alot of high end. The bridge p/u had a great high end, almost a little twangy. a mix of both is great.

This guitar fits me perfect. With my old strat i would find myself slouching alot and picking around the twelf fret but this guitar is built for me. The action is so low it barely feels like playing and there is no fretbuzz. The pickups are also great. Im not sure what to think about intonation, it looks as though it was set by a formula or something, but it sounds ok. everything except the switch feels precision on this guitar. I have a feeling that sooner or later im going to get the switch changed, doesn't feel very good. I gave it a 9 because of the switch.

It seems like a solid guitar, if the who played it and tried to trash it at the end i think he would have a hard time. It is a very solid guitar, most other guitars i tried are less solid than this and they feel like playing a 2 by 4. The hardware is going to last a long time, u can tell (except for that damn switch). I heard the gold plating has a tendancy to wear off but i dunno yet. The strap buttons are very solid, although ive been thinking of getting straplocks just in case. I dunno how well i can depend on the switch, i think ill wait a year or so and then put in a better switch. I wouldn't want to gig without a backup just in case something crazy happened, if a string or somethin broke what would i play? But considdereing the next time i try to do a gig my old guitar will hopefuly be sold and my acoustic doesn't really fit with what i play i will probably go without a backup

the warenty is one year. i haven't had to deal with the company except for ordering it(which was good, it came a day early if that counts for anything) but im not sure how to get a waranty, it didn't come with a card and you can only fill out a waranty online if u live in the states. I gave it a 3 because im sure it's a good waranty but i dunno how to set it up.

Ive been playing for 4 years now, i started with my mom's old fender acoustic then "moved up" to my own sammick strat stytle electric with a 15 watt peavy amp. If this guitar were stolen or lost i would definatly buy it again, if i had the money to pay for one twice. I love just about everything about it, i wish that they would put a better switch in it and it came with a tremelo. I compared it to the other two epiphone archtops that comein left handed and chose this because it was more versatile than the joe pass emperor II and i didn't want a single coil pickup. I looked at other brands but epiphone has a great reputation so i went with that. I wish this guitar had a tremelo on it but it isn't a big loss. THis is a great guitar, it was a little expensive for what i do but i plan on keeping it for a long long time and im sure it will be able to stand up to anything.

I purchased this 2001 Sheraton through ebay. I wasn't sure about the guitar, but for the price I paid I thought I would give it a shot.
The guitar is "built" by Gibson guitars, althought the guitar has a sticker on the back of the neck saying "Made in Korea". The guitar is a 335 copy, and I must say it is better than most 335's I've seen and played, for less than 1/3 of the price. The stock pickups aren't very good, so I replaced them with Gibson 490's. This made an incredible difference. The hardware is pretty cheezy with the gold plate that is wearing off fairly quickly. Most of the other components are cheap - the pickup selector occationally does not engage the bridge pickup - the pots are cheap and crackle when turned. These all can be replaced with better quality parts. I also replaced the saddles on the bridge as I was breaking strings quite often. I replaced them with graph-tech saddles. It made a difference on string life.

The sound this guitar produces is awesome (after the pickup change). I have owned an original 335 as well as a Heritage 535 which is apparently made by the old dudes that once owned Gibson. This cheap, Korean copy is years ahead of the Heritage and is equal if not better than the 335 I owned. I can play any music style with this guitar - jazz, blues, rock, country - it can handle all styles.

I don't know how the setup was from the factory as I was the second owner, but I can say the setup I received it in was great. The action is perfect, with no string buzzing on any frets. The neck is smooth and fits the hand all the way up. The hardware however, isn't holding up as well as the rest of the guitar. I suppose one can change all those items and have a better instruement.The finish is flawless. I can't find any blemishes on the finish whatsover. It is finished in a vintage sunburst finish that is very classy looking. The entire guitar is bound including the f holes - nice touch. The one piece neck is true and straight. Other than the hardware, I would have rated the finish with a 10.

I don't gig any more, so I don't know how it will hold up. I can only say that this guitar is very, very solidly built. A bit heavier than most other 335's and the Heritage I own. I guess this gives the guitar that solid feel. I think you can truly depend on this one.

no idea - never needed to call them.

I have been playing for over 35 years. I have played pro and have worked in the studio as a player and producer. This guitar is truly amazing. I currently own 6 guitars - 2 custom built Fury guitars (the most awesome guitars I have played www.furyguitar.com), a hot rod strat, a Heritage 535, a Les Paul Custom, and now this Epi.I was shocked that this Epi would be as good as it is. The boys from Heritage didn't even finish their 535 any where close to the Epi. What happened to the pride of manufacturing? These guys are getting too old - need the cash more than taking time to build a decent product. They should buy an Epi and see what quality looks like.I will be selling my Heritage, and keeping this Sheraton. I hope anyone looking for a 335 style guitar, gives this guitar a try. You won't be disappointed.

The bridge is standard tune-O-matic, Bound Ebony finish with bound pickguard Tuners are, Grover tuners, pick ups are the new Gibson designed Alnico wax potted humbuckers, nut is plastic, Rosewood fingerboard. three way toggle switch, two volume, two tone controls. The control knobs are the same as fitted to gibsons, I know cos I bought some Gibsons knobs for an amp I'm building.

I play mainly delta blues, some chicago blues and english folk rock, but I've been getting into the blues style of john lee hooker and BB King (son plays sax so Blues brothers material is a good source for us)I play it through an old Orange Amp, given to me back in the seventies by the bloke who designed it (friend of me dads) I think it was the test amp he built, all valves and wopping great transformers that keep the room warm.

The sound from the pick-ups is truly amazing, the neck pu gives a lovely warm jazzy sound whilst on the centre setting of the toggle I get an outstanding blusey sound. sustain is lonnnnnnnnnnggggg

Factory set up is just fine but after 6 months of bedding in the epi all but plays itself so I'l probably regret it and spend the next six months getting it back to where it was.

The gold finish is holding up very well indeed, no rubbing of or oxidising and the guitar is getting an awfull lot of playing.

Other reviews seem to single out the tuners and pickups as areas of concern but the tuners are grovers and appear identical to those on the e355 and are as sweet as a nut, leastways I've had no trouble from them, The pick up problem seems to have been addressed by the new pickups (perhaps they do listen at Gibson) The pickguard on mine is Black perspex bound as for the main guitar with a metal E on it, it seems neither cheap nor tacky as some people say, again all I can think is that there is someone outhere reading these reviews and making changes. It plays better than a mates Gibson Les Paul custom who's action I find very heavy. The finish is without exageration flawless, the Koreans are making some serious instruments. The abalone and M.O.P inserts in the fret board? plastic or not? I can't tell, neither can any of my freinds so what does it matter? it looks good, the quality of the fretboard is excellent, up to that of my Ibanez and that cost #350.00 in 1976. the finish to this guitar is absolutely fabulous

The guitar seems bomb proof to date but summer beckons with a lot of outside playng at rowdy camp site parties so judgment is reserved. Use it without backup? got to mate, it's me only electric, and the wired accoustic I used to use is well past it string by date, but the omens are good.

Lifetime warranty, easy to register and it comes direct from Gibson, e mail support seems good given the time difference between US and GB, even when asked inane questions.

Bought my first electric after 30 yrs of accoustic playing classical, 6 and 12 string,(if you exclude my original 60's Burns Bass) So after many years of scrounging friends guitars and thereby sampling a few very good ones, lots of mediocre ones and even a few outright dogs (but their owners loved em)I chose the Sheraton II (2002 model, Korean manufacture) after playing both a Gibson blueshawk and Ibanez AS series for direct comparison. Put simply it was better than both put together by a big margin, not something I say lightly having an Ibanez 12 string for which I'd lay down my life rather than see go.

I love the finger board the action is so fast.

If it were stolen would I buy another of course, it is simply the best guitar I have ever played, there may be better but I havent seen one and for the price why would anyone want anything else, granted it may not suit everyone and no doubt a strat can do things it can't but it does what I want, beautifully.

Watch out, with this latest guitar it seems the Koreans have woken up and are kickin butt, I can seen this guitar becoming sought after as are the 80's Japanese offerings, it reeks quality. I just cannot see the justification for the price difference between a Gibson and this Epiphone

-98 Vintage sunburst

I had the bridge pickup changed to a Gibson '57. The difference wasn't so dramatic, the Gibson just clears out better. Currently I'm not using neck pickup that much, but it seems adequate.

I won't be changing the tuners since mine work good and I'm not planning to fit it with a Bigsby, that would change things. The tuners hold pitch better than the factory ones on my Epi Riviera.

The sound is mellowish, very good for my use. I play it through Fender Blues Deluxe with some fx pedals such as Sparkle Drive, Voodoo 1, Fuzz Face, Cool Cat etc.

Bought it used. Changing the bridge pickup would be wise.

Stands good for performances. I'd never gig without a backup, that would be naive-anything could happen that is NOT dependant on your guitar. Plus knowing that you have a backup you can play withot holding back.

I've been playing 10 years wit different equipment. This and Riviera will do so long that I'll get es345 (curious about the varitone) and Vox AC30, all 60s stock, naturally. That wouldn't mean that I'd play better, just cosmetics... The Epi's are great value for the money altough you have to ugrade the hardware.

Korean made, laminated maple Sheraton II. Vintage Sunburst, Albalone/Pearloid Block/Triangle inlays with flower and vine on headstock. Three piece maple neck,lengthwise. There are Mahogany strips between the maple. The whole guitar is bound. Gold hardware and stock Epihone humbucker pickups. Rosewood neck. 3 way selector switch.

This guitar is great all-round for any style. Very warm, pickups are good. Very similar to a Les Paul sound. Pickup selector sometimes cuts out when switching between pickups. This guitar sounds great with a solid-state amp, but this baby will knock your socks off with a tube amp. I am impressed more and more with this guitar everytime I play it. I have had it for a year now and can count the number of times I have played it. I mostly use my Les Paul for that BALLS TO THE WALL growl.

This guitar was setup perfectly right out of the box. The neck is fast and sleek with wide frets to accomodate 10 to 12 guage strings. Upper fret access is a snap, i just wish I could play better after the 15th. The finish is very close to perfect.

This guitar is good enough for anyone to play live or record. Lenny Kravitz has one, John Lee Hooker used it. Many rock stars use Epihone: George Harrison, Noel Gallagher, Tom Petty, Pete Yorn just to name a few. This quitar is totally dependable. The tuners on mine work perfectly, no tuning problems at all. I don't understand why people complain about them unless older ones had different tuners. The gold on the harware starts to wear quickly but I've been told that higher end guitars have the same problem. Gold looks nice but it wears! I will have this guitar my whole life. I might eventually get a Gibson picup selector though.

I haven't had to deal with them.

If this were stolen I would replace it again. It the best bang for the buck. You could easily put the Gibson name on this guitar.

1997 Korean-made semi-hollow ES-335 copy. Purchased new with a Hiscox hard case. Laminate maple top, back, sides and neck with rosewood fingerboard. Natural finish. 2 stock Samsung humbuckers. Two volume and two tone pots and a 3-way pickup selector. Tune-o-matic bridge. Gold-plated hardware.

All fine really, although the stock pickups and tuners are not up to much and the gold finish either rubs off or oxidizes. Other than that, fairly decent but nothing revelatory.

Very warm, if a little muddy (though I'm sure this could be cured by changing the pickups) and it will squeal if you crank it, particularly on the neck pick-up. Fine at what it does - although if your model has the Samsungs and you're seriously looking at committing to this guitar, you'll want those pickups changed. If you want a Tele / Strat style sound, you'd best go elsewhere - this just plain won't do it.

A bit of a mixed bag. Really great action, nice fast neck. Tuners suck, though - like the pickups, they're really gonna need changing. Seriously let down by the gold finish that either rubs off (tail-piece, bridge) or oxidizes (tuners) - I would have much preferred a chrome finish. Pots and pickup selector feel a tad flimsy, but have proved solid so far. Finish is the best thing about this guitar - it looks great and has stood up to all manner of knocks over the years.

It's a solidly built guitar that'll hold up to most knocks, if a bit heavy. The hardware will probably last, despite the oxidization I mentioned earlier. I have gigged with it and would do so again, although it is a bit on the heavy side. Have had some grounding problems (buzzing noises that go away when you touch the hardware) but these were fairly easily fixed - take note though that this guitar is a bugger to work on (as are all ES-335 style guitars).

Dunno if I would gig without a backup - I'm forever breaking strings with those tuners (and yes, it has been set up properly!). It's not the most versatile guitar in the world, so I'd probably have another guitar around anyway.

Never had anything serious go wrong.

When I bought this several years ago, it suited my style perfectly - I was mostly into Beatles and British indie rock (I can see how this guitar would be suited to jazz and blues, too). Now I'm a little older and wiser, I prefer the slightly harsher, more treble-heavy Tele sound. For that reason, I don't play this guitar as much as I used to.

It looks good but is seriously let down by average pickups and barely adequate tuners. I wasn't too fussed about the gold hardware but the grounding problem was pretty frustrating.

Even though it doesn't really suit my style anymore - Telecaster Custom is my electric of choice which kinda shows where I am right now - I'll still hold on to it because I'm hard pressed to think of another decent ES-335 copy for the price. OK, it's not particularly versatile (it won't "dirty" up as well as a Tele or a Les Paul) and I complain about the pickups, etc. but this is a perfectly playable, solidly-constructed, very nice looking guitar with a decent sound at a fraction of the cost of an ES-335. No doubt the Epiphone badge will appeal to Beatles / Oasis fans (as I was when I bought it).

I can't wholeheartedly recommend it, but you could do worse. For the money, it's fine. If you need that warm sound and see this used at a good price, it's certainly worth serious consideration.

Korean Epi SherII Black
heavy modified, Sperzel tuners, Duncan Pickups, MannMade bridge, Schaller Fine Tuning Stop tail piece.
Epi Hard Case

- Low rating, since had to replace everything to get it up to par.

Very pleasantly surprised at this guitar. i have been using it more & more and will probably be my main guitar. I like it better than my U.S. Gibson's i've owned (Les Paul Studio both 1992 models). Surprising sound, not hollow sounding at all, just warm tones and good sustain

Again, surprised at the quality and finish of the guitar, considering it is 'cheap' made in korea. this rating is based on price for performance. it ain't a $3800 gibson by any stretch but for what you pay for, it is definately decent.

since this isn't an expensive gibson you feel safer banging it around, but it really keeps up and seems solid. I did put strap-lox on it however, just in case ;-)

no idea, but it is backed by Gibson, i would figure that is fine.

I've been playing for 17 years semi-pro.
Own/Owned American strats, teles, gibson les pauls, ESP, Carvin, yamaha, takamene, Ibanez, Kramer/spector..

very pleasantly surprised. i wanted a semi-hollow for a long time, but didn't want to spend $2000+ on a gibson, but didn't want to buy a piece of crap either, when i found this on on HC with all the mods (i did install the fine-tuning bridge), i made an offer and i am really glad i did. knowing now what i do about it, and if i lost it, i would buy a new one or maybe upgrade to a gibson, but i have to say i like this one alot. don't think i'd like one straight from the box, but it is a good guitar to Modify. looks great, and plays great. with the fine tuning shaller bridge and sperliz trim-loc tuners thing stays in tune for weeks.

335 copy, left-handed, build by Samik in Korea I think.
with case, etc, etc, like all the other

WHAAAAAAAAAA !!!!
I had a friend whom played for me 10 years ago with a gibson 335, and I have to say that since this, I was looking for a left-handed gibson, but never found one. This sound was so expresive, so warm.
So, when I saw this guitar at 500 euro, new, I said, lets have a try...
I'm in love with this guitar... really nice sound for Blues, Jazz, Funk, etc...
I have to say that I never could compare this with a real gibson or gretch, but this guitar sounds superb
Yes, a bit muddy on the neck, but mixed with the bridge, it sounds full, warm, jazzy, bluesy, groovy....
I maybe will change the stock pick up in a while, but they are really acceptable.

I really fly on this guitar...., I fell good with this guitar.
It's really well made.
except for the pickup selector and the button, that look and fell a bit cheap.

It seems to be reliable.
Except once again for the Button and the selector

No idea

I have been playing guitar for 13 years now, and this is the guitar I was looking for all this time !
If you are looking into buying a jazz blues guitar, this baby is for you ! It sing what ever you play...just have to touch it!
Sure, if you have the money to buy a Gibson...but remember, the Gibson will NEVER sounds as a real Epiphone ! ;-)
If you change the pickup, you can get your own sound.
Go and take one !

2002 model. Korean Model. Gibson pickups. Gold hardware. Ivory inlays, blah blah blah. The case is about $85 Canadian funny money. Not bad features for the price. The main thing is...do they work? They look sweet. Everything on the Epi I tried worked tip-top.
Nice Guitar, I've seen less amounts of features for that amount of cash. And let's face it you'd have to sell your first born to buy a Gibson ES anything these days.

Suits my style perfectly, Blues, Jazz, Rock, pretty much does it all. Probably not too good for heavy drop tuning or punk though. I use a little Fender 112 Hot Rod Deluxe, sounds fantastic. Full, bright and not muddy like other reviews i've read about this guitar, of course those might be older models, they've made quite a few improvements on this years model, switch,pickups....
I love the sound and the feel,I'd have to make a few minor adjustments for heavier strings though. The stock 09's that come on it are razor sharp and very tight. Feels like paper-cuts. With the new strings on it, I may even get deeper tone. Don't let people tell you this guitar or Epiphones are cheap, they've come a long way and let's face it..who can really afford a Gibson or Gretsch these days? $3000 c'mon, i want my kids to go to college some day. $1000 Canadian is the price up here, so no, this guitar is not cheap. Sweet sounds for the cash and you don't have to worry the whole night about your $3,500 investment when gigging, isn't $1000 enough.

Guitar is a little stiff out of the factory as most are. I like heavier strings than 9's but that's no big deal to change. The pick-ups on the the new model sound pretty warm and soothing. No Flaws at all. Nothing noisy at all, although i would probably upgrade the pots, considering the switch was obviously upgraded as well as the pick-ups, i'll bring it to a tech for that so he can fish those babies outta there. Kind of a pain in the ass to do that. Other than that, very comfortable sitting or standing.

Everything seems in good shape, i'll let you know. I always gig with a backup so that doesn't apply to me i suppose. Seems dependable enough.

never dealt

Been playing for 10 years, own a fender usa strat, and a Gibson standard SG. this guitar fills the jazzy,blues void for me. Solid. Buy a new one or at least try the new Sheriton 2 before writing a review on an old one. The New one is very nice.

Made in Korea, it's set like a Gibson ES-335; no difference, other than the block (I believe it's made of wood on the Gibson). The Gibson's are laminated just like the epi's. This one came with hardshell case. Tuners are good; not spectacular. When I got it I had the switch, the pots and p/u's replaced. Love the looks. Natural finish. First hollow body. I liked it a lot then; I love it now. Got it 'cause I needed a back up but it's now my main stage guitar. It was a 7 before; it's a 10 now. Also love "triangle in rectangle" inlays on fretboard. I guess when they started making them in the 70's (I think), whatever parts were left over from the Gibson's got shipped to Korea, or Japan and used on these.

For blues and country rock this guitar is just right. I'm still learning it and looking for the "sweet" spot, if you know what I mean. Love that natural feedback. Had original humbuckers replaced with Gibson PAF on neck and a half PAF, half Seymour-Duncan Jeff Beck on bridge (I'm a freak; don't ask) which turned it from a $600 or so guitar to $1000 plus. Sounds incredible: Classic, if you will. Playing it mostly through a Fender London 185 solid state and an old Sovtek tube head, and it sounds so warm. I give it a 9 because, like I said, I'm still learning it.

When I got it, s/u was okay, considering that I got it used, not from a dealer. Gold hardware's faded (which I don't mind) and could not tune the top 2 strings (high B and E) for the life of me. A trip to the local luthier did the trick. Replaced pots, switch (original was a little screwy) and humbuckers. Plays like "butta'" now. After adjusting rod found out tuners work just fine, but could still be improved. There were no dings or scratches. The guitar looks amazing, especially after I removed the cheesy Epiphone pick-guard. I'm getting a 335 pickguard for it. It is now a 9 (maybe about a 6 when I got it).

So far so good, but I'm getting strap locks, 'cause this guitar is not one to be dropped. I haven't dropped it yet, and don't want to try it. Always have a b/u. Been doing this too long not to.

Have not needed. Hopefully never will.

Somehow I turn most of my guitars into Frankestein's, with all the replacement parts I put in them, but that's just me. I think this is a great guitar, but if you're willing to spend just a little bit more $$ there will be no difference between this guitar and it's american daddy. Improvements are not always needed. In my case they were, but even then, it doesn't take much to make it turn heads when you play it. There is definitely something about this guitar that makes it stand above all the others (an American Strat, Jazzmaster w/ DiMarzio Humbuckers (told you I was a freak)). This one will be with me for as long as I can help it, and with God's help hopefully.

Made in China or Korea anyways I forget .22 frets semi hollow body (Natural color )with F holes and 3 layers 0f bound maple neck. Pickups are Gibson new york mini humbuckers. 3-way selectors with volume and tone for each selection. Came with a hardshell case.

I play some jazz ,blues but mainly 50s, and 60s,rockin roll, thru a fender princeton dsp, this amp changes the whole sound of this guitar.I had been playing thru a Traynor amp and it sounded dull. Now it sounds complete on any setting

Factory setup was good, fit and finish were also good no glue marks on fret board but the pick guard was noisy, it was rubbing up against the pickup so I took it off myself and passed a small dremel sander along the edge of the pickguard to take abit off and now its perfect.Whats up with the plastic stickys that they glue on to the pickups that say Gibson, that glue is next to impossible to take off.

I've never played live but for basement use this thing will last forever.

Never had to deal with them yet !!

Been playing 30 years. I also own a fender Lead 2 ,which had a bit of a brighter sound but the sheraton is a bit smoother with a deeper tone. What I like about this Guitar is that its big and easy to hold on to.

es-335 copy.
sustain block, 2 humbuckers, 2vol., 2 tone controls;
nice inlays, good mechanics
looks great, especially in sunburst

great sounding!
from funk to jazz - nearly everyhting is possible and sounds quite original.
when playing with heavy distortion it tends to feedback soon, but that's normal for a semiacoustic

properly set-up, no faults discovered

the pickguard-screw was lost. but no problem to replace

Never needed a backup, never had any problems in live situations or at home.

never needed

i play the sher. over a 72 Fender ProReverb or with a hughes&kettner attax 100. i also use a boss od-3 for a fat blues sound. great!!!
the fender is 1st choice of course.

i'd never change for another guitar more expensive, as the epi sounds and feels great. it never broke down since 6 years of permanent use, so i'd buy the same one again in cause of loss/or if it was stolen.

The blues guitarplayer Keb'Mo also used a sheraton on a live gig in Germany. And so do some other profs i met on concerts or in a pub.

low price, great gear. buy one.

First off, I am a jazz-blues player. I play bebop, rhythm changes and jazz-blues exclusively. I did not evaluate this guitar through a distorted amp as I never play that way. This guitar was tested through a Fender tube amp and a Polytone Megabrain into a Rich Raezer Stealth 12 speaker cabinet.

This topic has pretty much been covered. I will add that the pickups are quite decent for the price, especially the neck pickup. It is a little muddy, but easy to brighten up by changing your amp tone settings.
The bridge pickup is a little bright for my liking but quite acceptable. The pickup are called Epiphone 57CH (G). There is a specific rear and front pickup.

The pickup switch has Epiphone written on it and failed the second day I had the guitar. I could not select the bridge pickup without
5 or 6 trys, if at all. I replaced it with an expensive Switchcraft
gold colored switch and it makes have incurred no further pops or problems.

The woodwork is actually very good for a under $1000 guitar. Mine has a natural finish. The neck/body joint has a very tiny amount of filler. The binding job on the headstock and neck is flawless. The F-hole binding has a couple of filler spots. The pickguard is flimsy and I simply removed it.

The tuners are okay. I have a Korg DT-3 and was surprised how accurate
it tunes up under the scrutiny of this digital tuner set in the "Cent" mode.

The frets on my axe were filed by the store's guitar tech, so I am not how sure good they were out of the box. They are great now though! The bridge allowed me to intonate the guitar perfectly.
I understand the gold plating wears off with use.

Note: For me, the sticky residue from the decals on the pickups came off the best with a cotton rag and water. Over 2 days, I had them shiny and clean.

This guitar has great sustain and you can hear and feel the vibration on the maple top unamplified. It is a good looking guitar.

Overall the guitar is great and the hardware is fair. You can always upgrade hardware though and this is my intention.

The acoustic tone of this guitar is very good. It has well balanced
tone and as a jazz box, it is a serious contender. It has a good balance of warmth and wood tones. The sustain is incredible!
Chords sound crisp and full. Single note runs are big and musical. I tested this guitar against a bunch of Guilds (2 - 3X the price), Ibanez and other Korean made archtops and I kept coming back to this guitar and then bought it.

The guitar was set up for some light guage round wound strings and was well intonated. I play heavy guage with low action and always with flat wound E A D and an unwound G string. .052 - .012.

After straightening the truss rod (To allow lower action) I put on a set of flatwound strings and was really impressed with the playability.
The neck is fast and effortless. This guitar has a nice flat fretboard and works well with low action, unlike many of the other Korean archtops I tried. The finish is good. I noticed my natural finished Sheraton 2 had better looking woodgrain and quality than the sunburst model that was also there.
I bought the natural as it had the fret job and because it looked cool.

I put on gold-colored strap locks. It feels solid. Not quite as solid as a 335, but I carry it in a gig bag and bang it around and no harm has come.
I could not stand the feel of the pickguard as it was very flexible and if I would have kept the pickguard on, I would have braced it.

I do not have a backup. I carry tools, strings, solderering iron and
it would have to be a major disaster before I gave up on this guitar when gigging.

I would get another. It is my main guitar and other players are impressed with its tone and playability.

A final note: I am a big Seymour Duncan pickup fan. I went an purchased some gold-plated Seth Lover model pickups and my my....
This guitar has serious tone now. These pickups have the perfect balance of warmth and brightness. They took the Sheraton 2 over the top. It was a good sounding guitar with the stock pickups, but now is
simply wonderful. It turns heads now. I am sure the Gibson 57s and other Seymour Duncan pickups would also be good choices, but the Seth Lovers in the Sheraton 2 has ideal my tone pretty much nailed.

I may replace the bridge and tailpiece eventually, but not in the near future. This is a great guitar for adding better hardware to as
overall it is a great guitar with fair hardware out of the box.
Many reviewers have said the tuners are poor. I disagree, they are okay and certainly adding some Grovers or the like would be nicer, but is not critical.

My review ratings are lower than others i have noticed. I am quite critical about guitars and also realize that guitars and amp reviews are very subjective and also there are lemons and keepers in every
production run.

Try the Sheraton 2 against other comparible Korean-built guitars and you may buy it. I am glad I did. The quality of under $1000 guitars is
getting better and better. We are so lucky to be playing today. There is so much great new, old and re-issued gear for us to enjoy.

KOREAN MADE 1995, BEST LOOKING GUITAR MADE IN THE ES335 STYLE eg; thinline-double cutaway semi hollow body two Humbucking 2 vol/ 2 tone control with a price tag under $700.00 that feels right and sounds right. The pickups are original Samsung and don't have that much vibe for real power lead playing, but they have enough for any easy listening and most rythym work. The finish and fit are extraordinary.I brought this guitar after trying it out against a vintage ES335(used). I got it with a gig-bag, but I have since gotten the hardshell case for it.

I play many different styles and I do a bit of studio work, having recorded TV jingles and a couple of albums. I use this axe for almost all my electric rythym work and any electric jazz (Larry Carlton, Eric Gale,etc). I play it through a Peavey Truimph 60 (tube),a Roland JC120, and a Roland Cube60. It sounds good through any of them, especially the Cube60 (w/Celestion V1260 spkr) which seems to let the voice of the instrument happen. The treble(bridge) pickup leaves a little to be desired by itself, but the the middle (2PU) setting anthe neck pickup are satisfying to me most of the time. I use a Dunlop CryBaby Wah Wah and Chorus/Delay/Tremolo pedals from Danelectro or ZOOM 2020 and 4040 Effects processors. I( plan to put either Gibson 57's or Seymour Duncans on it judging by all the feedback that the other reviewers have given.

The action was perfect for my style, but my dealer set the instrument up to my specs (.010-.046, low action with the stop tailpiece down on the body). I'm always trying something new with my guitar settups, so I have tried a hybrid string mix of .010,.012,.016,.026,.036,.047 which fits me a little better for all the styles I play and allows me to bend to my heart's content. The Gold plating on the pickup covers has all but faded away, but I'm a working player not a guitar runway model or collector, so I don't care as long as I sound good and the axe feels comfortable.

I've had this guitar for more than six years gigging regularly (ask the IRS)and this guitar has been one of my most called upon to get the job done. Who cares if the finish wears away some, How much does a Gibson Dot335 (chrome) cost today? Does it look this good? And if I spend the extra money on a set of new pickups, Won't I have to spend at least 3 times as much for something that sounds and looks as good? the strap buttons have held it in place so far, but one of these days I'll get some, too. I have depended on this axe and it has not let me down except for string breakage which I carry an extra second guitar (Parker P-38)for and that's only on live stage shows.

I've been playing since 1964 and I own a'77Strat w/Vintage-Noiseless Pickups, a Parker P-38, A Jackson Fusion Std. Pro(Floyd Rose/S/S/H Hot-rails),an Ibanez 1974 Double-Neck 6/12, an Ibanez "Artist" 70's, an Aria Pro Elecord(MOdel#p-90)acoustic/electric roundhole/archtop. If this guitar were stolen I would either buy another or an Ibanez Artstar which is the only axe in this class that sounds better. The only slight problem I have with it is that my D,and G strings have a tendency at times to go a little flat after some hard bending, but I correct that easily by just pressing down slightly on the string in question between the bridge and tailpiece causing the string to go back in tune(I can live with that).