I was debating in my mind for quite some time of whether to get this or the Gibson 339. I couldn't justify the 5x price difference, so I went with this.
First one that I ordered arrived with a damaged neck - it had a crack. It looked to be from shipment. Not Epiphones fault. Not Thomanns fault (they actually handled the claim very professionally). I lost some time, but I was not in any rush.
When I finally received the real deal, I wasn't impressed at the set-up. Strings were set too high, but that is a very quick adjustment. In all fairness, when I received my Gibson LP ~8 years ago, it had the same issue with string height. The frets are not perfectly polished. You can see that + feel that when bending the strings. There were almost no sharp edges when you slide the hand over the neck side. Body finish of the guitar is not perfect - there are some paint marks around the F holes. Binding isn't cleared evenly. Strings/frets/fretboard were very dirty - made my fingers black. Sticky neck (I'm used to sating finished/bare necks). So my suggestions would be:
1. make sure that all of electronics work/there are no damages.
2. take off the strings and clean the neck. Oil the neck - leave it for ~5-8 hours.
3. Restring with good quality strings.
4. Do the intonation and height.
Pickups are great. In all fairness, I was thinking that I would need to change them, but they sound really, really nice.
I've already light sanded the neck to make it mat (my personal preference). I have also changed the tuning pegs to Gotoh locking ones - I only did this since I already ordered them to be delivered with the guitar. No real issues with the original tuners. Seamed to hold the tuning just fine.
I would suggest this guitar to anyone. Just keep in mind that this is a cheap guitar and you need a good clean and set-up. Be aware of possible finish flaws.