Congrats on the score there Kira, those are some pretty nice guitars. I worked for 2 different Gibson/Epiphone dealers and sold a lot of them, Casinos, and Joe Pass ones, but mostly the Dots(335). When you find the right one, it's really quite amazing. We had a regular Epi 335 in the store once that was shockingly close to the Gibson one. We a/bd the two and was the Gibson better? Sure it was, but it most definitely wasn't $2500 better.
A guitar player who worked at the store at nights, repaired amps during the day, and gigged both weekend nights was dying for a 335, but didn't have the cash. He played this guitar for 3 hours straight, and took it home. The rest of the time that I worked there, he frequently sung it's praises and left it 100% stock. For 400 bucks a steadily gigging musician got the sound that he wanted, and a guitar that he loves.
I hope that your story has as happy an ending
All the available colors look great on this model, natural, sunburst, cherry; do they offer a walnut burst? It was just my luck to buy another black guitar, but I would have liked any of the finishes. It's such a natural classic "canvas" for finish candy. I took the faux tortoise pickguard off because it just didn't appeal to me; it felt a bit too masculine against the black. If I see another one I like I'll probably put it on.
too much taper. But the looks of them are fantastic. I love the unmarked fretboards on some.