I bought this guitar about a year ago now and it has become much loved by me. When I saw it in the guitar shop, I was just stunned by how beautiful it looked for the price. A little test drive was enough to confirm to me that it is what I was looking for. Back then I was not really serious as a guitar player, and thereore didn't know much about what a good guitar was etc. so I have started to appreciate its qualities over time more and more. If you have enough money, then this guitar is your best option without a doubt, here are my reasons:

The guitar is built mainly from mahogany incorporating a maple top to give it better tone. My guitar is the Heritage Cherry Sunburst version, and I think that this is the best by far, as you get to see the beatiful highly polished wood finish. The fret inlays are perloid, which is good enough, although it may look a bit arificial for some peoples tastes it is but a minor flaw. The split-diamond headstock design looks great, as do the golden tuners, pickups and bridge.

You can tell that the guitar has been carefully finished, only very few small painting errors here and there that are barely noticeable. The guitar itself is heavier than most other guitars, (if you are accustomed to Les Pauls you will know this, but it was a bit of a shock when upgrading from my Strat copy) and feels very sturdy. The neck is set perfectly, some cheaper copies fail in this reaspect and it is very important. The low action on the neck makes it a joy to play. I have gigged with this guitar and can tell you that it is one of the best non-floyd rose equipped guitars for staying in tune. This is because of the golden Grover tuners, which make a dramatic difference to the tuning stability of the guitar. I play frenzied thrash metal, with violent bends thrown in here and there and it hasn't let me down yet. The only thing that slightly annoys me is that the input jack seems to loosen about once a month or so, but this happens to all guitars and is easily fixed.

The first thing you notice about this guitar is it's similarity to a gibson les paul in apperance. Then you notice the tone. The characteristics of the mahogany body and set neck obviously give it great sustain (meaning your notes keep on goin' for longer, noobs) and also add to the clean tone of the guitar, giving it character. The pickups on this guitar are different from those on a Gibson. They are basically the same design, but using inferior materials. The sound they produce is similar, but not the same as a Gibson. The standard pickups give a lovely creamy clean sound, and a ferocious distorted snarl. The sound is good, but lacks the clarity of a genuine Gibson, although it is more than sufficient for anyone who wants a great-sounding guitar. The thing I like about this guitar is the organic feeling of the tone produced by the wood construction (maple topped). When you compare its tone to any of those cheap strat copies out there, like the one my friends got, it kicks ass.