I hate when this happens, but...

[Iggo]

...I'm starting to like my $150 dollar Cort G Series (strat-style) more than my $600 Epi Les Paul. Doesn't sound better, but it FEELS oh so much better. Smooth blond neck, rib-cut, and about a thousand pounds lighter than the Lester. Action's a little high, but that should be an easy fix. After-market PU's and a rewire would seem to be in order.

[charlie]

1. I LOVE when that happens

It's like finding a Renoir at a garage sale, an improbable and undeserved boon. Sometimes, the Finger of Fortune points at you and delivers a singular standout piece of craftsmanship from a mediocre lineage. It's great when that happens.

Then again, you may be finding out you're just not a Les Paul guy. I know I'm not. You might be digging the longer scale, the resonance of lighter wood, the roomier cutaway, and the more manageable heel of a bolt-on. And as you've said, it weighs less than a coffee table, which is no small thing if you're a performer. Drop a 'bucker into the bridge and you can still get a chewy Paul-ish tone, and you might find having single coils instead of humbuckers toward the neck yields a more interesting variety of sound combos that you'd get from an LP.

[Iggo]

2. Hate it like the crazy lady in Misery hates expensive typing paper.

"It costs the most. Why isn't it the best?"

But yeah, I'm actually glad for the opprtunity to experiment on a guitar that I bought like 8 years ago for pocket money.

[charlie]

3. Haw!

Okay, I get what you mean. Yeah, I've given my other guitars the hairy eyeball too -- why are you chumps letting this made-in-a-mattress-factory upstart make you look stupid?

[sixstrings75]

4. I had a Washburn G junior. Best guitar I've ever owned...

Miss that red jewel to this day.

Crappy electronics that eventually fried, but I could wail on that guitar. It just felt 'right'.