You should see some of the outragous wood he's got for the 20th Anniversary models... F**K me. :o
Hmmm, I must see this!
Oooo! Is this the house-warming present that you and Gwem are getting me? :D Guys, you really don't have to push the boat out that far... I thought it was just going to be a baked maple SG... :lol:

On the thread itself though... yeah, I have some Gibsons now, and don't expect to get more at present, so price rises don't bother me too much.
I always thought I'd get a Les Paul, but I have a Tokai that does the job well, and I don't think I have a massive all-consuming need for a Les Paul type anyway.
My Gibsons are all at the cheaper end (or the cheap end of expensive in the case of the 335) - a couple of Faded SGs (one of them a bass) and an Explorer that I refinished. Every single one has some idiosynchrasies in their build/finishing that, if I was being picky, would probably p1ss me off. But I love them all. With the relevant tweaking and getting to know them, they all make the sounds I want to hear.
I wouldn't say, on my experience, that Gibson is still automatically up there in the "class guitar maker" category like I assume they used to be (were they ever really, though?). But, like Gwem says, there is something about them. When you get one that does it for you, they do seem to have hit the spot somehow.
As far as I'm concerned, they can up their prices if they want, as can anyone else, but whether I'll be saving up and paying those prices is another matter... if they get it wrong, and they can't make it pay, they'll have to rethink.
Although I am one of the folks hung-up on the old rock and roll names, I do think we (internet guitaring folks) get a little carried away with piling expectations/traditions/etc on the current owners of the names. They're just making guitars, if we don't like what they're making, at the prices they're asking, then we don't have to buy them. :lol: