There are three levels, the Pro which is around £100 has no white binding and not such a good spruce top. Then the Pro as here £150, then the Pro Ultra which has electrics and a cutaway body, £200.
They all have a mahogany body, an okoume neck and a rosewood fingerboard. I guess I'll never know if the extra 50 quid was worth it for the better spruce top, but it looks a nice thing, and the binding sets off the blue nicely.
The tuners are said to be high quality and have a good turn ratio (or whatever that is called) and work well, though possibly not as good as all that, just okay.
It's supposed to be easy to play, with a good aspect neck and jumbo frets, and thin strings, though in truth I haven't really noticed it being that easy - maybe that's just me!
I got it for a good price, and also by chance really there was an offer on that month to get a free accessory pack with the guitar, which duly arrived a month later from Epiphone. It comprised a strap, strings, tuner, polishes, plectrums and so on, worth £40 - so I am happy with what I paid.
It is loud. I'm comparing it to my Ovation, and it is a lot louder than that. And the tone is good, not as harsh as the Ovation, sounds great.
The blue finish was blemish free, but I have noticed it picks up dust really easily, and scratches too, despite my care with it. Ironically my major complaint about the guitar is to do with scratches... the scratch plate. This was billed as being impervious to scratching, which it appears to be, the only trouble is to achieve that they have made it of a plastic without a shiny finish, more matt - and that (for me) generates a scratchy noise when playing from the nail of my little finger. I am having to adopt a new technique to avoid this, which I'd rather not. If I could return to a 'shiny scratch-plate that gets scratched' some how I would...
I'm also not convinced by the light gauge strings as supplied, they feel wrong somehow. I use them on my electrics, but here there's something a bit loose about them. I'll try heavier gauges next time.
Truth be told - I bought this because I was bit bored with my Ovation... but though this Epiphone is nice, it isn't as good as the Ovation. The Ovation is class. So no disrespect to the Epi. I just haven't bonded with it yet I guess.
Ignoring that, I'd give it thumbs up - I'm happy with it and build quality and sound is great.
