1994 - Epiphone Les Paul Standard - First time around.

The memory is a bit hazy, but I think maybe I was 15 when this guitar came along.
I bought it for $500 from the brother of a girl I'd been hanging out with for a while.
He was moving onto a tobacco burst reissue of the real deal. Unfortunately that guitar was just for keeping under the bed. I was terrified of damaging it, so I only played it once.

But my Les Paul copy on the other hand was built to be played!
It was the classic sunburst with the rippled carve top. My guitar teacher was a snob and ridiculed me for buying a copy. I didn't care. This guitar was ace. It had a great feeling neck, and when I pulled the Paf Pro from the Samick 335, the guitar had a real rock n' roll bite to it.

Other than that it was stock.
I'd graduated to heavier strings and really got to appreciate the sustain and feel of the guitar.
Ever since then I've not used anything lighter than 11 gauge and went through a period of using 13-56 gauge.
The neck was flatter than the more recent Epiphone's I've played and the top was very nice, the light rippled on the wood in the light. I had removed the scratch plate and the pickups were uncovered cream coloured.

My original Epiphone Les Paul copy was very close in appearance to this one.

If you want a nice mahogany bodied guitar and have the time to test a lot of them, go track down an Epiphone. Mine was from 1992, but I've played recent versions that are quite good too.