The ESP Guitar Company

Well Gibson's lineup is quite broad. Their Les Pauls come in many different variations. Even though 95% of Les Pauls all have a mahogany body with a maple carved top not all mahogany and maple is the same. If you start comparing the different Les Paul models you'll notice that on the more affordable LesPauls they use a higher density mahogany and a lower quality maple. However this doesnt mean that Gibson uses crappy wood on some models they definetly do not! As the prices get higher on LesPauls the lower the density of the mahogany and the higher quality of the maple. For example a LesPaul Studio uses a high density mahogany for the body and a C grade maple cap and in comparison a LP Standard uses an Ultra low density mahogany body and a AA or AAA top i believe. In fact if you ever are considering an SG Standard they too use an ultra low mahogany body that Gibson uses only on their most expensive Les Pauls.   But to actually answer your question ESP is better that Gibson in my opinion. They've got stainless steel frets so they last longer, locking bridges and tuners that are standard, and now that ESPs are only coming from the custom shop so the wood quality and build quality is as good as you can possibly get from any guitar builder out there.That means AAA maple tops if not better!  Older ESPs are definetly on par with Gibson if not better in some ways so dont worry about quality.  Personally I love ESP eclipses they are awesome and even the new EII series Eclipse guitars are great. Again on par with most gibsons in a similar price range if not better.