So close to buying this guitar for Christmas

I was at Best Buy yesterday - yeah Best Buy, not Amoeba Music or anything like that. Do they even sell instruments there? That doesn't make me look bad at all, not knowing what I'm even writing about. Oh yeah, there was this guitar that more or less

looked this this:

Worst part is I was lined up to buy it. For $300. But it was a Les Paul! Not Gibson though, an Epiphone, but still a good build - except it wasn't at all. It was missing the first string, the paint was chipping off and the neck was falling apart. I'm a jazz guitarist and I've had my guitar for eight years. Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking "It's a guitar, it never goes out of date". Well maybe not out of date, but my guitar is in the same condition anyway: the pick-up switch doesn't work (probably because the pick-ups fell out), the whammy bar can't screw in and the paint bubbled and chipped somehow. So yes, I'd buy another guitar in less-than-horrible condition if it says "Les Paul" on it. I don't look at price - I'm easily a brand-name kind of girl. I can see why my mom gets my monthly bank statement.

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