Quote Originally Posted by stingx View Post
A carved topped/set neck instrument such as a Les Paul is more expensive to produce than a bold on type of guitar. You can buy the higher priced models of Agile, for instance, and get the better components but the price goes up. Some Agiles LP style guitars are over $500. Epi's with better components and aesthetics are more than that. It's hard to get a custom build for cheap with these models. This still doesn't rule out a great used market. Also, my intent wasn't to knock any of these guitars.

You ultimately get exactly what you pay for.
I think I'm in near complete agreement here. I'd add that with such brands as Agile and Epiphone, they are well-known quantities and you can set your expectations for quality/price accordingly. With Trade Tang, they don't have a very documented quality record which makes it much more difficult to define your expectations.

I can't think of anyone doing a custom build for this style of guitar for cheap, probably for good reason.

The used market is indeed a great place to save some $$ on an LP.