ORIGINAL: jerotas

I agree with B_Nez, the guy whose response you totally ignored. But I'd get the Ibanez S470 for $600. His pickup choices were good ones. The Ibanez plays and feels better than everything else listed here, except an occasional awesome Les Paul. However Les Pauls are really heavy and kill your shoulder at gigs. Also, Gibson guitars have smaller scale length, so the higher frets are smaller and it's hard to play up there without tiny fingers. I've owned a Gibson, a Fender, an ESP (they are very good), 3 Kramers, Charvel, and 2 Ibanez.

If you want new, I would buy an Ibanez or a Raven West Guitar. look them up online, they get excellent reviews. Also old Charvels, Kramer, and Hamers play better than anything else listed here, if you'd consider a 2nd hand guitar.

I agree with B_Nez, the guy whose response you totally ignored. But I'd get the Ibanez S470 for $600

Jerotas, I responded to B_Nez (but called him by his real name, Wayne) and did not ignore his "rocket science" adjustments that he listed to for a guitar recommendations and pickup choices. Since you are +1 for his Ibanez I'll be looking out for during experimenting.
Thank you for the heads up on Les Paul being a brick at gigs ... and the Gibson scale length with its smaller higher frets.

Jessie, thank you for defending Les Paul's. I do love their command presence.

Ru suggested:

try a nylon string godin with the built-in roland pickup

OK, Ru (and all); this is where I may need clarification. I'm a mediocre guitarist wanting to 'dance' a bit, 'chime' some commanding riffs, and such ... especially for directly input-ing into S7 tracks. (I don't want to add another Roland MIDI Controller unless it is just guitar MIDIs)

If I were to consider to get a Godin, it would have to be true-'electric' (non-acoustic) ... to produce roaring 'Les-Paul'-like sounds, and with or without a 'cheating' guitar synth (i.e., Roland GR-20 MIDI Controller). (I realize 'cheating' is a relative term that non-purists like myself employ ... I've already cheated many guitar sounds a bit with my Fantom X and DimPro).

But if you (or anyone) really suggest a 'monster' (sorry CJ) guitar synth MIDI Controller to produce 'Les Paul roars' and such, please feel free to elaborate. But, I'm trying to keep it simple.

Again, I believe I specifically want it to produce 'guitar'-like sounds (say 90% of the whole gamut) with

the godin synth access guitars come with a midi pickup. like the roland add-on units, only built in. i find it tracks much better with fewer hassles. you would use this as a direct link to your synth sounds, or for recording midi to be assigned later. this will require one of the roland converters or guitar synths. i think it works with axon as well. you can get one with steel strings if you want. i prefer nylon for its expressiveness and purity of tone. if i want to dirty it up i give it some tube distortion. if you've never played nylon, you should check it out. find a classical acoustic at a music store and see how it feels. keep in mind the the godin neck won't be as wide as a traditional model's.