SC-550 II PAF : Very nice guitar, but maybe change the fugly nut.

The Looks

- The guitar looks nice overall. The flamed maple looks a bit photo-veneered on close inspection but overall, the guitar looks much more expensive than it is.

The Playability

- Despite supposedly being chambered, my guitar is HEAVY. I don't mind this, as it's what I expect and even like, from a Les Paul type guitar.

- The stainless steel frets are great, very smooth, especially at this price.

- the neck is glossed, which I don't really like, but a fairly slim profile, which I like.

- The "vintaged" tuners are too green and cheap looking as you can see the "seams" on the mould, but function well. The guitar stays in tune very well.

The Sound

- Pickups sound great and very LP-esque, to my ears. No point changing them.

The Horror

The nut looks horrid.

It's white, whereas the binding, pickup mounts, 3 way switch tip etc are vintaged cream. It looks incongruous.

It's too narrow for the fretboard width, which means that I can feel the sharp edges of the binding where it meets the nut.

Visually, it seems to be mounted on a slant, higher on the bass strings' side than the treble.

Nonetheless, it seems to be cut ok and the guitar holds tune, and intonates well at the first and second frets. It's for this reason that I didn't bother changing it. The nut is fugly, but it works ok.