Cheep Gibson or Expensive Epiphone?

I am looking to upgrade my Korean LP wanna be to a decent guitar. I like the sound of Les Pauls, and just about everybody I admire plays a Gibson Les Paul. So to me it only makes sence. I saw a Gibson in guitar center for about $800 and I'm thinking wow its a steal!! I played it and fell in love. then I went home and looked it up. It seems that model has some serious quality control issues and some people were very unhappy with it (which is true in all cases, but for me its the amount of people that complain with the same issue that speaks truth to me) and regretted buying it.

So Then I thought wait, dosen't Epiphone make a d*mn good Les paul for about $600 bucks on the high in?

So if you guys have any suggestions as for what to get, please fill me in!!

k if ther selling one, id check out the epi les paul plus top. its the version above a standard. they dont make it new anymore, it whould be about 500 or so new (ill be like 1 or 2 years old, just never used) or about 300 for a used one. they play beautifully for a epi, and if i had to buy a guitar now, tht would be the one(acctually it is the one, i have one, in a beautiful blue color, see the pics of guitars forum). about ur question, idk ive always been wonderin, i once looked at a gibson sg, the cheap 1s, and i didnt really like it, so idk.

I would go with the high end Epi. If you get a low end Gibson you're buying the name more than a quality guitar. If you buy a top end Epi you are paying for a nice guitar. I bought an Epi Les Paul Standard plus top a couple months ago and I love it. I paid around $600, the same model in a Gibson is around $2,300 or more

Totally agree with EMB! I've owned both the EPI Standard plus and a middle of the range Gibson LP Studio and there's nothing in it in terms of build quality, playability and tone. The only difference was that the EPI was £350/$700 cheaper( incidently, the EPI was also Korean).

High end Epiphone - it's most like to nail the cheaper Gibson in terms of quality.

i have the Epi LP gibson. though mine has gibson 500T/496R pup's
key features you want in an LP...a plus top & grover tuners

LP Ultra - $550
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Epiphone-Les-Paul-Ultra-Electric-Guitar-103140299-i1150180.gc