I think it’s a good added measure to stop a print, in this case something caused the spaghetti, it would have kept causing spaghetti but the cover popping off stopped the print. I’ve got about 400 hrs on my p1s (upgraded from p1p), and I’ve never had the faceplate pop off. I would guess this is an isolated incident.
I would agree on Yamaha, just make sure you play it 1st and get a good setup or learn to do it on your own. I don’t own one but have handled a couple, I’d say they come in a bit nicer than the Ibanez Gio stuff and just under their lower main line of instruments. Depending on what price point the Epiphones are you can also get a great guitar cheap - their set neck models, pound for pound, are better built than their Gibson counterparts, mainly because Gibson still cuts the headstock along with the neck, creating a weak spot. Epiphones are done with a scarf joint which is much stronger if it happens to take a spill.