My $99 beater is also an Epiphone. PR150. I chose it cause it was cheap and I liked the tabacco-burst finish. I'll bring this one camping.
I chose the Masterbilt for a few reasons. It sounds awsome and I like the way it looks including the snowflake inlays on the fingerboard, the retro headstock which was modeled after the 1930's Epi's and the finish. What I like about this Epi is that it's not a Gibson copy. It was designed to resemble the Epi's that were built around the 1930's. Check out the tuners. It's a pretty sweet looking guitar. But most importantly, it feels sweet in my hands and sounds awsome. I also especially liked the fact that it's a $499 solid body guitar.
I played a bunch of guitars before I settled on this one. Including some solid top/laminated body models. I liked the Parkwood that GC has on sale now for $499 which is all solid and I also liked a Takamine which sounded amazingly bright, but was not all solid.
Here's some pictures of my guitars including a 23 year old Ibanez that has amazing sustain and excellent action!!
