A few years back, a friend of mine decided he'd been without a Les Paul for too long & went shopping; saw what Gibson was offering & what they wanted for them, said "What the hell; at $275 what can I lose?", and ordered up a Chibson. Did a light fret dress, played it - and bought another.
As he put it: "Is the real thing better? Well, yeah. Is it $3500 better? Not even close!"
While I am not really comfortable with a Chinese product that has a fake logo on the front of the headstock & "Made in USA" on the back, I have to say they are decent instruments - and I will lay the blame for any inroads they make into market share not on the overseas entrepreneurs selling them, but rather on the shameful price:quality ratio American companies (by which, of course, I mean Gibson & Fender - especially the former) are giving us.
If I were to buy one, however, i would have to get leather-working dies & stamp "FAKE" into the back of the headstock, just in case my plan to live forever falls through.......
Peter