essentially, yes...But the neck doesnt have those beautiful block inlays, and the finishes suck (on the special), and if i don't have confidence in the guitar im playing, what confidence is going to be in the music?

Does Gibson have anything where if you want a certain part on a certain guitar, they'll make it for you (for example, i saw the neck on the SG Supreme, totally blew me away, was thinking if i wanted the SG standard, but with a Supreme neck, i could pay like $300 more and they'd do it for me...maybe...