I suspect the wood isn't of as high quality either (and also it's worth remembering that lots of different species of wood are known as "mahogany", so just because it's made of "mahogany", it mightn't be the "right" mahogany, as bainzy says). they're great guitars for the money, but don't be buying one expecting it to sound like a LP...
+1
The only true mahogany used in guitars is
swietenia macrophylla ('Honduran Mahogany), and that's just about commercially extinct now - Gibson only use it on their historic LP's. The only other wood considered suitable to be really labelled as mahogany is
khaya ivorensis, ie. 'West African Mahogany' since the tree is very similar to swietenia. Tonally this sounds extremely close to Honduran Mahogany, and most people can't tell the difference. I'd only accept these two woods in a guitar labelled as Mahogany.
Some guitars use Sapele, which is very similar to Mahogany and is also an African wood - but it's not real Mahogany. It's harder to work with, looks a bit different and is denser - so it sounds a bit brighter. It's relatively plentiful and worth a try, but an LP made with it won't sound like a real Les Paul.
The worst Mahogany substitutes aren't from trees structurally similar to Mahogany, and the ones that are being used by some budget manufacturers definately will not sound like real Mahogany - unfortunately they've somehow been allowed to label them as such.
At the end of the day, any guitar costing £300 or less definately will not be made with "true" South American Mahogany, and if it is made with African Mahogany, it's probably going to be made up of several pieces. If you're getting a strat type guitar, this probably isn't much of a concern, but if you want
that Les Paul sound you need to get at least real West African Mahogany.
