Vintage VSA-555

This is a double cutaway semi-hollowbody guitar, more specificly a Gibson ES-335 clone made by Vintage, as the sticker on the back of the neck says made in China. Ebony, gold hardware.

Gotoh-style tuners designed by Wilkinson, 2 alnico humbuckers also designed by Wilkinson, tune-o-matic bridge. 3-way pickup selector, a volume and a tone knob for each pickup. Laminated maple top, maple bottom, mahagony set neck, rosewood fingerboard with gorgeous square inlays. The neck itself feels very much like a Gibson neck, rounded and comfortable. 23 frets that play smoothly and without any buzz all the way to the top.

No accessories were included but a cable.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. I first tried it through a Behringer tube preamp and a Line 6 Spider 15 combo amp, just to see what it's like.

I was truly amazed. Without even touching the amp, just messing around with the pickup selector and the knobs, I managed to get tons of different sounds out of it. Since it's a semi-hollow, the jazz and blues tones are natural. However, I mainly play indie rock, so I tried a few brit riffs and it sounded AWESOME. Very rich tone with a lot of low-end due to the large body. No feedback at all. Pickups are responsive and almost entirely noiseless.

This is not a guitar for anything heavy though. Although I suck at anything that is heavier than Led Zep, I doubt that you can get any metal tones out of it.

That's the other part where this baby amazed me. It worked almost right out of the box. Pickups were adjusted very well in position, the action was near-perfect and every piece of hardware was fitted firmly. I had to tune it in, of course.

Some dust of wood on the fretboard though, which I have managed to wipe off with a single move.

The guitar feels very well built and solid. The strap buttons are firm and reliable. However, since semi-hollows always feel more fragile than solid body guitars, I wouldn't say it's unbreakable. Very good for its price though.

Never needed any support. One year of warranty offered, which you can only register via post. That's not too good, I believe.

I was hesitating to get this or a Fender Mexican Strat, but since I have a fetish for semi-hollows, I decided to get this. I didn't regret it at all.

I love this guitar. It's worth way more than it costs. If it had "Epiphone" written on the headstock, I'm sure it would cost at least 500 quid. A really respectable guitar and for the price, you can't get anything like it.