Agree, if someone finds an instrument they gel with, and learn to play it, irrespective of make or technique then well done to them.
1 - Nowt wrong with an Epi Les Paul, some of them are great guitars, virtually all of them are good.
2 - Plectrums, add Bruce Foxton & JJ Burnell into the mix, neither are particular slouches in bass, and using a plec doesn’t seem to have held them back.