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Being a,guitarist for many years and having owned many top of the line guitars. Any kind from Gibson Les Paul's (starting with my first les paul which I bought new in 1977). Sg's, 335's custom shop Strats, telecaster, etc...I've even own 2 Epihones in my lifetime.I was hesitant on purchasing the Emily Wolfe 335 Epiphone, but after doing a bit of research I decided to give it a try. My number 1 guitar (for the last 12 plus years) is a 1989 Gibson 347, (think hot rodded 335 from the factory).My 347 is the perfect guitar for me. The neck shape, the size, perfect. I've searched for a long time for a less expensive 335 type guitar that I wouldn't be worried about everytime somebody walks by it while it's on a guitar stand... enter the Emily Wolfe 335 .When I received the guitar I immediately noticed how well it looked. The craftsmanship is very good. No noticeable flaws. The case, while not a true hard shell is a "hard gig bag.Looked just like a hard shell but is padded soft on top and bottom with thick (rigid) sides. Not too bad for protecting the guitar. Much better than a Gibson gig bag. After strumming it a few minutes and playing a few riffs i took it to my guitar bench and did a quick set up. I put on new strings, adjusted the tuners, oiled the fretboard. Polished the frets and lowered the action a bit. I must say - "This guitar Really plays well"Very impressive. I even did a side by side with my Gibson 347 and while the 347 obiously played a bit better the Epiphone really did a great job. Best epiphone and best 335 style and even better than most 335s will play. I'm honestly not exaggerating in the least.My 347 is truly to me, that one in a lifetime guitar that I'll never replace. It fits me perfectly and plays itself but this Epiphone is very close. The neck really shines on this guitar. It's a thin profile and plays fast. The only draw backs to the Epiphone Emily Wolfe are:#1- the tuners, while they say Grover on them are not real smooth. They hold tune so they seem to work fine but they do not have that American Grovers smoothness. #2- the cutout where the upper and lower horns meet the neck are not quite as big as the Gibson 347 (or 335 ), making access to the highest frets a little tougher to get to but not by much. #3 while the satin gold treatment on the hardware is pretty cool, replacing the tuners on mine might be hard to match the satin or brushed gold hardware currently on the market. #4- this guitar has 2 volumes and 1 master tone. This doesn't provide the versatility of the 2 volume , 2 tone style does but I always run my tone all the way up anyways so it shouldn't be a problem.In conclusion,While I don't usually buy offshore made guitars this one really hit a home run with me. For the price is an unbelievable value and I would definitely replace it in a heartbeat if something were to happen to it. I bought mine the same day I realized that Epiphone offered this guitar. Once the word gets out they'll probably be hard to keep in stock. zZounds is naturally the best. Always best deals and service.

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