New guitar (help)!

That’s all personal taste. Not sure what your specific interest is in a 35 year old Epiphone, but if that’s your thing, that’s your thing.

I hear you. Any artist signature guitar is going to have a price premium on it, moreso when it’s got custom inlays and paint, so the premium on the Syn models is for that, or with the new Black Moon, the limited release also adds value by virtue of scarcity or demand. Gibsons are all overpriced, but Epiphones aren’t as bad. Same with Fender (and Squier).

Well honestly, I wouldnt say that the Synyster Gates Custom S are overprice. Like at all. I work in a music store and to be honest, the synysters are pretty well priced. I just bought myself a schecter e-1 special that has a floyd rose 1500 and a sustainiac pickup. It has a lots of the same specs as the synyster and the price difference isnt that much. Schecter’s prices, regardless if its an artist series or one of their own, are pretty fairly done.
The first comparaison that comes to mind would be the ltd james hetfield. They are 1950$ (CAD) while an ltd with very similar specs are 1500$ or even less.
From what I can notice, Schecter is one of the best priced in the market in term of what youre buying. With Gibson, you pay a lot for the brands name for very okay guitar while you can have epiphones that play splendidly. Fender though are probably the best at price making. Literally, they have a guitar for almost every 100$ slate. Thats why they are in my store (at least) our best sellers.