There is definitely a considerable amount of capitalism at play when it comes to the overpricing of Gibson guitars and I do agree with you that Epiphone makes some nice stuff. With that said, I still notice a difference in terms of overall sustain and response between the Gibson and Epiphone Les Pauls. Mind you, I would not advocate buying a Les Paul for the ridiculous prices they charge these days, but there is a definite audible difference between the garden variety Gibson Les Paul Standard and the Epiphone Les Paul copy if you plug them in and play them without any effects.