One of the guitarists I play with bought a brand new LP Goldtop a couple of years ago. Had to refuse it when it arrived because the gold finish was so bad.
And this is a £1500+ instrument??? WTF?
It really is down to big-name manufacturers charging what the market will bear. It's all about the use of advertising to create an image which people will pay a lot of money to buy into. Standard marketing ploy - designer labels.
'Course, not all designer label guitars are bad either, just mostly overpriced IMO.