hey Bruce, that's an interesting observation (re: scale length). 'Splains alot about why it may have sounded more lively to my ear. Note it also isn't sunburst (I like the J45 sunburst) and, though the "quilted" is a nice touch, to be honest, when seeing it in person, that Gibson stain job was too dark to see the quilting.

For those who, like me, had not heard of Hagstrom until RB sent me on a search (Gee whiz, I thought I'd been around) here's a link to their site.