Sorry for the late reply, account issues. As far as sound goes, your Viper should have come with active (battery powered) EMG pickups, whereas your Epi probably came with passive ones. Tones are going to be light years different. There us a G400 EMG model, but you’d probably know. Other little intricacies will affect the sound as well, they’re made from different trees by different machines in different factories.

As far as the string “tightness” goes, my first guess would be heavier gage on the Viper as they’re both 24.75" scale, but it could also be a steeper headstock angle or something else, I can’t be certain and can’t readily find specs on that in particular.

In fairness, their “traditional” way of making necks isn’t the greatest and is wasteful, they cut the whole thing including the angled headstock from a single piece, creating a horrific weak point where the headstock meets the neck (Google “broken Gibson headstock”). Could easily be remedied by using a scarf joint instead. My SG took a spill once and luckily it was spared, but its a very real concern with an authentic Gibson.

Side note, its also an easy way to spot a fake, or a repair, assuming the neck has a transparent finish

Gonna kill his eardrums if he’s not wearing the proper ppe under that helmet

Sorry I’m late to the party. How you clean it / what you clean it with depends on the finish and what material the fretboard is and just how “gunky” it is. When I have something absolutely disgusting to clean, I’ll use an old toothbrush and Simple Green or equivalent cleaner on the fretboard, but make sure you clean all the residue after. You can also use naptha (lighter fluid) and a soft rag. Either way, make sure its dry afterwards and then if its a bare wood like rosewood or the like, treat it with a boiled linseed based oil, don’t use lemon or any other citrus based oil, it’ll dry it out and Crack it. Body of the guitar might be “good enough” with just a soft rag or microfiber cloth, but be careful, its easy to pick up debris and completely scratch it up. You can also use a guitar polish here, but don’t use furniture polish, it’ll just create a waxy buildup that will never clean off 100%. As far as metal parts go, chances are they’re played, and this plating is very thin, use caution if you use any kind of polish here. I’d avoid that and just get the chunks out with a soft bristle brush, and if the adjustment screws on the bridge or anywhere else are corroded or rusty, put a couple drops of pfte based lube (sold here as “superlube”), or if you’re in a pinch you can use 3-in-1 oil, but be prepared to have a ton of paper towel on had because it will make a mess. If your tuners are sealed "most likely they are) don’t bother trying to oil them, they’re not designed to be. Hopefully this helps!

Sorry so late. You can likely fill the “slits” with a mixture of baking soda and superglue as long as you don’t mind the color mismatch, and then file out new ones to the correct depth. Epoxy will just give you a bad day

Am I wrong for wanting to live in a world with spherical corgis?

Multiple assaination attempts on a president / John Hinckley Jr tried to kill Reagan to impress Jodie Foster. I can’t help you more than that