Bought one used from Lark Street Music. This is before Gibson opened the Qingdao Factory and was still contracting to Samick and made in Korea. One $$$ short cut was to not have the frets glued in. With a pressed formed top, the wood never matures/opens up over time. A pretty dead guitar compared to the original U.S. made Epiphone I played in '67-72.It had a weird bout as well, getting bigger/deeper but still no tone as an acoustic. Sold it at a loss and never looked back.