Gibson puts out crappy epi's because it can. They are built to a fault not just a price point. So that some schmuck will buy an epi thinking it's the next best thing. Then when they realize how bad it is they decide to upgrade to the real deal. It's all marketing and it always has been. A few epi's have been made worthwhile but when they are Gibson shuts down production of it's models at that factory.
What's more if the factory is making something better than an epi under a different brand name Gibson will tell them to stop producing. Such as when Epi's were made by Samick and Samick was making better LP copies for less. (I know I have one)
I've also had a 78 Gibson LP Custom a 72 Deluxe and a 57 Goldtop. Later after Gibson left Samick to produce Epi's in China Samick went back to building LP copies in a more "traditional shape"Gibson could demand better quality from it's offshore manufacturers but instead chooses to have them build crap. It's Gibson's specs and Gibsons money paying for epi production. Not the failure of the workers. No didn't always be that way. Prolly since the mid / late 70's
I'm not raging on Gibson workers or guitar workers anywhere and what they are capable of producing given the proper tools / time / skills. I still drool over ES-175's Super 400's L5's and Les Pauls. Not to mention countless other Gibson guitars that bare the name Gibson proudly on the headstock.
I'm a cook. I've cooked at Embassy Suites, Ritz Carlton, Tween Waters Inn and other fine 4 star establishments. I've also cooked at Tavern's, Diners and chains. Cooking doesn't pay that well but it does have one thing. Pride. If I'm not proud of what I'm putting out it doesn't go in the window for a server to take to the table. When you work in this industry there are factors you can't control. The recipe, the ingredients, the amount of time you have to make a given item when you have ten, twenty or even thirty or more items before it and even more after it that needs to be cooked within a given frame.
If you aren't quick you are gone.
I just had an incident yesterday having to deal with Easter Buffet leftovers. The owners wanted me to serve the left overs in place of other stock. I refused. It wasn't that the food was a health risk. It was just that it had turned to crap. Over cooked saute's chicken that had been cooked and cooked again then left out under a heat lamp in front of the general public then refrigerated and he wanted me to resell. It may as well have been chicken jerky that I wouldn't feed to my cat. The owner had made his money on the buffet. That chicken was paid for even if no one ate it. He was more concerned with picking up a little more change by reselling it then the reputation of the restaurant, it's servers and it's cooks. I mean come on someone is telling a server that they have to sell shit with a smile. I almost lost my job. Which is fine a job like that really wouldn't be worth keeping. In the guitar making biz where jobs are scarce and people have to raise a family on crap wages they might not have the option to walk away.
Some people need to be reminded about the values of quality and pride from time to time and others. Others will never comprehend the pride of a job well done and the value it holds to the recipient who also respects the efforts.
Really heavy. Very fluid. 
Needed a MUCH heavier set! That's a weird thing about standard or long scale schecters, they are more slinky. Maybe the hipshot? 
