A few players you might recognize, lol.
List of Epiphone players - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Throughout the years, a lot of pros have used Epiphones.
I didn't say "Epiphones", I said "Budget". And FYI a Epiphone Custom is hardly a budget guitar.
Spending 10 seconds just looking at that list, it's apparent that those players are not using budget Epiphones and also many of them used those back when there really was nothing else readily available (1960's). So in that respect, since the ESP LTD (Budget) line makes factory assembled $200 models up to $1500 models too.... The mentality is that these are all equal to a handcrafted ESP E-II ($2000) ESP E-III ($3500) and ESP-USA ($5000)?
... :roll
I own both High and Low end from several brands and just like everything else in this world, a polished turd is still a turd.
PS, a G-string not staying in tune is either from binding in the nut, or a bad tuning peg, not from the selection of wood, the Neck, the fretboard, the binding, the fretwork, the finish, or the electronics. 9 times out of 10 it's because the end user put a different gauge of strings than what the nut was cut for at the factory.... the other one time is because the tuning peg took a hit and it's broken just because of it's position on the headstock.......so instead of calling a $4000 guitar "garbage" because of a $10 nut or a $25 tuning peg issue, get off your soapbox, smarten up, and replace it.
PSS... Gibsons are also not really shredder, prog, djent, industrial, screamo metal guitars so it's not really surprising that many here don't like them. While there have been a few guys that do use them, it's been my experience that it's mostly for rhythm stuff, but since the rise of 7 and 8 strings this is far and few between these days. Right tool for the job people...., sadly so many pick the wrong tool and then call it a piece of garbage...
PSSS...Another major part of owning a Gibson is breaking it in to oneself by playing it. Just ask any of the Pro's like Doug Aldrich for example...
PSSSS... I'm not really even a fan of Gibson's so that's not why I am "defending" them. I just know from first hand experience that many of the assumptions being made in this thread are complete hogwash, and it's not just about Gibson, it's about quality across all guitar companies.
At the end of the day. You get what you Paid for.