Verified answer

I get the feeling you are thinking of buying these guitars without playing them first. The only way you will know which guitar you really like better is to go play them and listen to each of them and get a feel for which one really speaks to you. I've played Ibanez guitars and I've played the Epiphone Les Paul and I also played that Hagstrom Swede and in my opinion, the Hagstrom plays better and sounds better than either one of the others so, I bought the Hagstrom. A lot of guitar players have not even heard of the Hagstrom Swede but, it's got truly awesome sustain and it stays in tune better due to the H-expander truss rod and the way they engineered the tail piece. The Ibanez RGD series guitars are the only guitars that were actually engineered for drop tuning. That is why they have the extended range neck. In my opinion, the Hagstrom Swede is far superior as a metal guitar than an Epiphone Les Paul due to the sustain capability and the tone switch that is a unique feature to both Hagstrom and Gretsch guitars that no other guitar manufacturer uses. If drop tuning is important to you, the Ibanez would be a good choice as well.