I'm ordering off Long and McQuade. It works out because they include a setup when you buy a guitar. I've also bought Epiphones off them before that had a few high frets, and they fixed them because it falls within warranty.
I'm also not too worried about what's underneath the pickguard. I may even stick to the stock single H pickguard and just drop a JB in there or something.
And honestly, many of these new colors are really nice. The red does look cool.