I don't really know what to say that hasn't been said already. I have 6 guitars and each one sounds and feels different from the others. I'm still learning on guitar technician type stuff so I can only really confidentally talk out of my ass when I talk about what makes a guitar good vs bad. I know that a lot goes into making a guitar good and when I bought my SG I almost bought an Epiphone for the sake of money but decided that I wanted something I wouldn't feel ripped off for getting. In turn I basically shelled out over twice as much and got a Gibson. This doesn't mean to say that all Epiphones are crap. A friend of mine as well as my father both have Epiphone Les Pauls and both felt and played great. I've yet to actually play on a Gibson Les Paul though. Another friend of mine has an Epiphone Explorer and it plays very well too. The neck wasn't quite as fast on the Explorer as say some other instruments I'd played on but that was pretty much expected. There will be noticeable differences between a Gibson and an Epiphone. Of course you'll be saving money longer to buy one. Just look at it like this. Are you good enough to holster a Gibson or do you have some more work ahead of you before you are good enough to use it to its full potential?