If I’m not mistaken, even lower cost Ibanez models have long neck tenons, which enhances the guitar’s structural stability. I personally really like the heel joint on AS series guitars, rather than that of even comparable Gibson models.
The pickups are usually built better (some Epiphone humbuckers have decorative screws that cannot actually be adjusted and will just spout waxy residue onto your pickups if you try). I prefer Ibanez hardware (compare the Ibanez slotted tailpiece to traditional tunomatic ones). In my experience, Ibanez’s will have vastly superior fretwork (properly polished frets, properly levels, properly crowned and shaped, no fret sprout) even on entry level semi hollow models, have much more intricate binding (triple ply instead of single ply, bound f-holes, bound headstock, bound heel joint), and will have substantially fewer minor finish flaws. In my opinion Ibanez will provide substantially better bang for the buck, in terms of build quality.
