Pauly wrote:The 25/50 was talked about by the writer as being genuine. I recall that Ginger said he was planning on retiring the old girl from live shows but that hasn't happened

Yes, I remember him saying he was going to 'retire' it from gigging, and he seemed to for a while. But now he seems to have got rid of most his other guitars I guess it has had to come out of retirement. I see he was using in New York recently.
DLoB - You're right, some 'fake' LPs are better than the real ones. Gibson quality has slipped in recent years. A mate of mine has a Gibson SG standard and I swear my Epi LP Silverburst plays and sounds better.
A friend of mine has an old Tokai Les Paul which his says plays and sounds better than his Gibson version. I think like the original (pre Fender owned) Squire guitars, Tokai ones
used to be made in Japan, but they have since shifted production to somewhere cheaper in the far east and quality has dropped considerably. I think Gibson quality has slipped since they moved production away from the Kalamazoo factory and lost most their skilled workforce. I have a '74 Gibson RD and the quality is far better than the brand new Gibson I bought last year.