Both guitar have mahogany bodies, set mahogany necks, rosewood fretboards and a maple top.
Keeping in mind the differences between the made in USA Gibson and the made in China manufacturing. In addition, I could order the Epiphone play it for weeks and keep it if I think it is good enough for me, if not I send it back and look for something “better”. In that case I could order online and if I do not like it, claim them “30-day money-back guaranteed” policy. The shops could order either guitar for me, but if I not buy it, I would have to pay a fee for the order anyway. Am I being carried away by “just a brand”? I have heard many demos for the Epiphone, they all sound great, and more important if FELT great in my hands. To be honest I want a Gibson because it is a “Gibson” and now I could afford one, but while I was playing the Epiphone, really enjoying the sound of it and having a great time, I could not have cared less about the “Made in XXXX” or the name on the headstock. However, I cannot compare them side by side with the Epiphone. Is it true that humbucker in parallel gives a sound similar to a P90? The best store here has a lot of Gibsons but not that specific model I’ve tried many other models (Classic, Studio, Studio Custom, Special, Standard) and even models with the same pickup combo (490R & 498T) and I do like the sound. I have tried the Epiphone at one shop and I really liked it, big chunky neck, matt back with porous neck, nice sound I did not care much for the coil splitting so I may not use it at all or change it to series/parallel. No store here has both models on stock, so I can not play them side by side and compare. I say this because I was thinking about trying locally and buying online to save money, but if the aforementioned is true (and if I notice) I may not get the guitar that I played and liked. To be honest, I do not know if I would notice.
I have heard/read that the difference between two “identical” Gibsons is more noticeable than among two “identical” Epiphones. The Epiphone above looks exactly like the Classic I tried back then. I do not gig nor go to a studio for band practice. I play classic rock and hard rock at home through a 15W Marshall Combo just for fun, I play 1-2 hours a days and maybe more on the weekends.