So I sold my 2004 Les Paul Custom a few months ago.  I'm without a Les Paul now and I'm considering another.  If I get a Gibson it will be a Standard.  However I'm considering getting a Epiphone or LTD copy.  My 13 year old son is playing guitar now and even thought of him playing my Explorer causes anxiety.  I wouldn't mind a cheaper guitar that if damaged wouldn't make me so upset.

How's the Epi/LTD stuff.  Which is the better of the two.  I do have a few extra pickups laying around if a pickup swap was needed.

I am in the same boat, I have been looking at the epiphones. They play very nice out of the box and can be tuned
and hotrodded like a LP. Great sustain.

I looked at half scale guitars too, for my smaller daughter, it's sad but it is hard to find a worthy small guitar.

My kids will get my 1996 LP custom BB when they dig my cold dead body out of the ground and rip it from my rigor tightened embrace.

I sold a Les Paul studio once.

I have an older Korean built Epiphone Les Paul Custom. It's well made and actually does have a Mahogany body & neck with a Flame Maple top & a Rosewood board. The problem with some Epiphone LPs is that the bodies are made out of mutiple blocks of Mahogany & Alder, which completely fucks up the tone. This is one reason I will never buy a painted Epi LP, at least with a finish that you can see through, you can see the wood that you're buying.





I can't speak to the newer Chinese built ones, because as soon as I found out tha they were being made there, I quit looking at Epiphone in general.





But in reality, if you look around, you can find used USA built Gibson LP Studios for around the same price as a Chinese Epi LP Custom.





As far as ESP/LTD Eclipse guitars go, they feel nothing like a Les Paul. IIRC, the scale length is the same, but the necks are shaped different, the bodies are thinner, and they don't sound the same. If you want a guitar that sounds like a Les Paul, you're either gonna have to buy a Les Paul, buy a guitar that's built like a Les Paul (Hamer, and a few others have made them over the years), or build one (such as www.precisionguitarkits.com's '59 kit).

 

You might look into a Ibanez lawsuit Les Paul. There is a goldtop on ebay for 599. and a Les Paul custom for 519. The lawsuit Les Pauls are light years beyond the Epiphone standards.

I own an Epiphone Zakk Wylde Les Paul. I went in wanting to get a Gibson but left with the Epiphone because it played better, felt better, and sounded better than every single Gibson at the store. Even the non-display pieces they kept for those who were actually interested in buying an instrument.

I have heard good things about Agile Guitars for a while.
Agile Guitars
Agile Review

Check into the PRS SE245's! This is a much better quality guitar than what Epi is putting out nowadays with great fit, finish, and electronics. I have a wide variety of electrics on hand (Gibson, Epi, PRS, PRS SE, Schecter, Ibanez, Fender, Agile.....and that's just looking over at my rack) and can honestly say that the PRS SE stuff is the best bang for the buck out there if you want a solid and dependable guitar at a decent price. I swapped pups out in all of my SE's....as well as most of the others......but you certainly don't have to.

BTW, I had an ESP LTD EC1000. Very nice guitar......but it ended up getting sent to the back of the rack and then found itself migrated to the back of the line in the closet. It just wasn't a got to guitar when I wanted an LP tone. And it wasn't even what I wanted when I wanted a modern rock tone. Even in its stock config (EMG pickups.....81/60 I seem to recall) it just didn't fit anything I heard in my head for studio or live use. It was probably just that one guitar, but it was sterile, lifeless, and had a major lack of warmth no matter what amp I played on.

Good luck in your search!!

+1. I've heard good things about them for years.

If you have some parts laying around, look on ebay for the seller gibsondependable.  They sell lots of studios and faded Gibsons with the components stripped for pretty cheap.  If you have most of the parts, getting a $300 body and an hour of labor will get you an American Gibson.  You can have the pickups you want, the setup you want and your kids can help too.

Chapman ML-2