As usual, I am an advocate against Epiphones. Personally, I have never had a good experience with one. I used to own a LP standard, and my friend recently bought one and they both could not hold their tune worth a crap. Overall, the craftsmenship was shoddy on both instruments. My recommendation is Schecter. I think they build the best quality guitars in that price range. Guitar Center usually has a ton of them in stock to play. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with the search.