I played one on Thursday at my local Long & McQuade, and I gotta say... It's been since about 86 or 87 that I've even enjoyed the sound of a guitar with any kind of gloss finish on it... But this one... Wow... the tone was only improved by the finish, near as these old abused ears could tell.. The neck felt like it'd been carved from the smoothest butter ever...
And with the addition of LR Baggs I-beam pick up... well, it was like raspberry icing on chocolate cake... I plugged it into a little Fender acoustic amp, and even with the amp at 3 or 4 and the guitar no where near mid-range, I had peoples attention OUTSIDE the glass guitar room... and the sound was clear and crisp... slid the bass adjuster up a bit while noodl'ng around in DADGAD and when I suddenly stopped, most of the other guitars on the wall were ringing in sympathetic vibration! It was very cool indeed!
They've changed a couple of things in the pick up... the On/Off switch is gone, which is cool with me... no accidentally leaving the thing on after a gig... The best change however is the addition of an externally accessed battery bay... I guess LR Baggs got sick and tired of me harping on at them about how dumb a design it is having to reach INSIDE the sound hole to change a stupid battery (Now if only they'd make it run off Phantom Power, I wouldn't need batteries at all...)
So I just got off the phone with the manager at L&McQ, and they've taken it off the wall, and put it aside with my name on it... Tonight or tomorrow, I'll go in and slap a big down payment on it, and work out the rest over 6 or 12 months... Then I'm moving to Rick Fieldings house, cause when Herself finds out, my nuts are gonna be noodles...