Open Box Epiphone 1959 ES-355 Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar Level 2 Cherry Red 197881433017

I was sent an open box guitar for full retail for starters. The guitar wouldn't stay in tune for a single song, the nut was filed too shallow making strings go sharp when fretting chords. There was overspray in at least 10 spots of the guitar. The pluses are the pickups tuners and case are nice The minuses, you WILL have to immediately put the guitar in the shop to be repaired by a qualified luthier right off the bat. And you will have overspray of paint all over the binding.

I've been looking at them so when I saw the cherry red I decided to try it out and fell in love with the feel and sound of it and I knew Christmas was coming and my wife and family are always asking what I would like so I decided to make it easy on them and asked for one. It was a win win for them and me. Goes great with my collection. It's not only beautiful but handles and plays great.

So I ordered a new one and paid full price for it and got a customer return, or open box item. On top of that the nut wasn't cut properly and I will have to take it in to my luthier and have them file the nut to the proper depth so that playing the guitar doesnt cause notes to go wayyyyy too sharp. And on top of that there are MANY spots where theres overspray of the baint on the binding. I expected way more for this price point, and it's just not there. The sheraton Pro 2 is a much better made guitar.

I had some extra time and the GC in Louisville had one in stock so I went to check it out. I was about half way to getting a Gibson ES and expected to be left wanting trying this one out. It amazingly checked all the boxes. There are no problems a good set up and cleaning wont solve. I was wrong and happy for it, got about 95% of what I had in my Gibson ES-339 I had to sell (the feel is just slightly off, barely noticeable things) at around 1/3 the price. The value is honestly unreal.

First, this is a great playing guitar with minimal work and Gibson USA hardware is icing on the cake. The action was a mile high, but the truss rod was perfect. The fret ends are abysmal at best and worse than anything I've ever seen at this price with dangerously sharp ends. The paint is rough as well with overspray on almost every piece of binding and the headstock is definitely a 20 footer. Minor details in the end because it sounds and feels FANTASTIC to play after 30 minutes of work cleaning up the frets. Fat pickups, zero fret buzz with a super low action, tuners are smooth. Who cares about paint?

PROS- wonderful and consistent tone and sustain. Level frets right out of the nice case. CONS- fret ends were dangerously sharp. This guitar does NOT have CTS pots. It also has the larger PU rings /PU routing typical of Asian guitars, not interchangeable with American PUs and rings.