Hi Lee,
As far as weight goes, your idea is not neccessarily true.
The weight of a LP has to do with the density of the woods used in the construction - not the number of pieces used. All wood that has not been cured properly will have a heavier density than wood that does, plus maple can vary immensly in weight depending on whether it is hard or soft maple, then blah, blah ,blah.. this could take all night.
Sorry. My point is that the average weight of a good LP is between 8 and 8.5 lbs. This seems a comfortable weight with the right blend of cured woods and body pieces.
The extra weight of your LP could be nothing more than pieces of hard rock maple used on the top. It can be that simple.
Going around and weighing guitars for the 8.5lb body weight is stupidity though. When I have chosen LP's over the decades, I go for neck shape, feel, weight and I always play it WITHOUT an amp FIRST - you need to feel the resonance. If it passes these criteria, I buy it - regardless of brand.
Your LS-50 sounds great. Forget the sunshine and just play it
regards
Peter