are those elitist epiphone ? some say its better than the real gibsons..well maybe not the R9 but thats too much i guess.
these arent elitists. those have ugly headstocks hehehe. these are the ones that came before them before they bastardized the headstock to differentiate them from gibbies. the black one is an LQ (laquer) series custom. both are from fujigen.
ive personally tried some gibsons when i was overseas and imo, these are pretty much better, in terms of craftsmanship. and for the price, ive got 2 and i didnt even spend as much as i wouldve spent for a gibson.
if your talking R8s, then i guess i wouldve been able to buy 10 or more of these. for their quality, value for money and resale-abilty, these are really top shelf material.