I have not owned an Epiphone however the Guitar Tricks rumor mill seems to think that they carry a lot of bang vs buck however the quality control is not brilliant (i.e. you can end up with a dog featuring cracked neck joints, warped neck etc etc). This makes it very important (especially when buying stuff from eBay that cant be returned) to try the exact same one you are going to buy before parting with any cash.

As far as tuners are concerned, I have had two Gibson LPs (a Studio and an Classic) and I have swapped out the tuners and replaced them with Sperzile each time. This is not because I think the Gibson ones are bad but because I think that the Sperzils are brilliant !