Bought this 5 months ago to use next to my ESP FX Standard for daily practice.
It arrived playable, action was set fairly high but no problem to adjust to lower action. The finish was not prefect, there was some poly finish on the fretboard just passed the binding but this was easily fixed with some high grid sandpaper. Other than that the finish was fine.
Obviously it is not at the same level as my ESP FX Standard as it is less then a 4th of the price but so far i have almost only used the EC-256 in the past 5 months, which says alot. I love the feel of it, i like the sound of the pickups and it looks great. It has left me wanting another EC or Les Paul shaped guitar.
I would seriously recommend this as a first guitar.