I'm not on here much, but thought I'd give a bit of an outsider's opinion.
I picked up guitar playing back in January after doing almost nothing on one for 20 years. I found Youtube which makes it almost "cheating" to pick up songs. I've bought a bunch of guitars in the 4 months with the intent of figuring out what I really want and selling off the rest (all have been used).
I go into my local Guitar Center where they have one EB MM Axis. They pull it off the wall when I come in because I always try different stuff and end up with the Axis. It is easier to play and how that came across to me is that with the Axis, I can play stuff without mistakes that I can't on a LP, Strat or anything else. They want $1500, which is really more than I want to pay for a guitar and I missed the one local Axis that was on Craigslist for $700 (I posted about it), so......
I've picked up other, cheaper guitars. A couple Ovation acoustics, a Schecter (wow....now I don't like Korean guitars), a Godin Exit 22.....
Yesterday, I was at a Daddy's Junky Music, looking for something cheap with a whammy bar and a front cord like maybe a squier strat ..... so I can sit on the couch plugged in and not dig my cord into the cushions (I'm a practical guy...). Well, next to the Hondo, POS in the front of the store was an OLP EB....looks like a silo copy. $100. I picked it up and played it. I kept playing it. I bought it. Why? (since it doesn't have the front cord or whammy). The neck is the only one I've played that feels remotely like that EB. Looking at the guitar, little things like the pick guard isn't really on flat and the hardware is a bit off really don't effect the playability. It's flat black. But it plays very well. This will replace my cheap, 18 year old "work" ovation that I keep here and won't worry if someone steals it at night. I could never do that with a real EB.
This is the only OLP I've ever seen. I suspect from the quality comments.....that perhaps they are like Squiers. I've been looking at them (strat...whammy bar....cheap) and find that 1 out of 10 is playable and 1 out of maybe 50 or 100 is really very nicely setup and worth buying. It takes a lot of work and time to find a good one....but it's cheap if you find one. I tend to spend a lot of my spare time in guitar stores, so am picking up everything and playing to find something I like.
Ok....so there's my 25cent's worth.
jack