Yep, it's a wicked old resurrected thread. But what the hell? It's been 10 years, and sometimes it's worth revisiting. That Samick/
Epiphone Les Paul I've got, with
the Classic 57 pickups still rocks! Damned perfect intonation! I think a prior owner had a "gnat's ass" fret job done on it.
Nice rounded ones, for chords, not the flattened ones that lead guys like for sustain. Mine sounds great playing fingerstyle acoustic music. If you're looking for
a solid body that can impersonate an acoustic, it's hard to beat. In the end, guitars are made, mostly, by human hands, out of mostly wood. It isn't uniform, so there are guitars of all brands that suck, and ones that rock, and everything in between. The pricey guys make more rock, and less suck, that's all. Samick has built some pretty good guitars over the years, and some that suck. I've met several of the Samicks at archery trade shows. They build some of the finest
Olympic recurve bows in
the world, including many used by the almost unbeatable South Korean men's and women's archery teams. Just like Yamaha, the tech part is wood and/or metal under stress by strings. Pianos, bows, and guitars.