I have to agree with Simon 100% Although I don't have the years of experience he has, the words of wisdom speak the same from anyone - it's cool that you are on the track of the style of guitar you want but you need to sit down and just play them.

Here's an example - I own a Tex mex fat strat and luckily I LOVE it. I just walked in, saw it, bought it.. that simple (for this guitar and story anyway) I paid $320 for it USD. A very good friend of mine bought a strat and paid $1500 for it.. has the noiseless pickups in it, sperzel locking tuners - whole nine on it.. (sorry, can't remember the model) between his guitar and mine, I'd take mine any day of the week and twice on sunday! I'm totally of the mind that if it plays right and sounds right to you - then you have what you wanted. If you're looking to emulate someone, go get yerself a guitar mag that shows the artists' rig, then copy it as closely as you can, remember, what you see them slignin on stage may not be what they're usin in the studio.

Lastly - if it's just the differences in the guitars that your looking for, go get a Gibson catalogue. should be more helpful so you can pick and choose what you want.