So I actually went to GC to do a regular Peavey IPR check in, but didn't find one. I always do a quick once-through just in case they got anything that looks slightly interesting. No cool bass stuff. But my eye was caught by a Epiphone Les Paul Junior. I've been back-burner looking for one of the original runs of Juniors from the mid-90's when they did a run of P-90 Juniors for under 100 bucks. I didn't find any of those, or similar, but I did find the single humbucker versions on hand. Black/black, Sunburst, or Cherry. I picked up several of them and was pleasantly surprised at the low action, good fretwork (much better than any other Epi's I've picked up, no sharp edges, well dressed) and excellent fit and finish...none of the ol' neck joint gap, etc. They sounded good through a couple Fender Tube amps and have a really comfy neck on them. All the ones I picked up had a 'Epiphone Custom Shop Limited Edition' mark on the back along with 'made in Indonesia', inspected and set up in USA. I'm sure these really aren't so limited, but it did feel better than many entry level guitars out there. The spec is mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood board for the cherry finish, while the others listed 'hardwood' for the body. The cherry was listed for 10 bucks more than the others. A touch of a haggle and I walked out a little over 100 bucks lighter. The guitar is being given to the singer in my band, with a gig bag. He's been borrowing several other electrics for the past few years, so this will be a great thing for him. I put some 10's on it and tweaked the intonation and its good to go! We'll see how the tuners hold, but I can take care of those if needed later. Now I want to go back and get another one for me.
Tuners, even the cheap ones, are virtually never the root cause when a guitar has tuning problems. The worm gear and pinion assembly is a very robust design.
