Ok, I've been through one rehearsal now, and I have to say that this guitar plays in a completely different league than my Epiphone or PRS SE singlecuts. The relic job is very authentic, all my band members thought I'd have bouhgt a 30 year old Les Paul. Love the looks and feel of this laquer finish, too. The instrument is much lighter than Epi or Baja, so I am moving much more while playing, it is responsive, snappy, crunchy, has so much clarity and treble - I guess it's the first time also I played rhythm actually on the "rhythm" pickup of a Les Paul.
It has a very chimey clean sound, even more so than my Baja Tele I think (might be wrong), and I can actually hear all details of multi string chords, which is actually very inspiring and makes me experiment much more.
This might all be the honeymoon effect and maybe I'll have a different opinion next week (wouldn't be the first time :twisted: ) but I think I was very lucky and got a guitar that's much better than its price tag makes you think. It fits my style perfectly. Maybe a different bridge pickup will be apropriate - the SH-5 is a bit fizzy here and there, but at the moment I am enjoying the crispness of the overall instrument too much to change anything.
I will post clips to ask for advise on which pickup to use.