If the new HD update is only for the electrics and not the acoustics, I'll pass...I can't use the new acoustics, and I'll be hanging on to v.1,71 if they maintain that miced, "eco", small room sound! Man, I really hate the new acoustics...i've tried, but I just can't get a decent sound. The ones from 1,71 are good enough for me...

I'm pretty excited about the update, and have been checking tgp like crazy since I heard about it.  Basically, I don't think we are going to get details about the realease date though, because I think the date depends on the user testing.  Obviously, there may or may not be problems with the update and those may be big or small, so untill testers find the problems, they won't really know how long it will take to fix them.  Once they fix the problems they find, then the whole thing starts over and they re-test to see if the fixes caused new problems. I don't think they will know for sure when it will be available untill a couple days before they release it.  Best thing to do is not worry about it too much, just chill and before too long get a nice surprise (kinda talking to myself here).

Regarding the new acoustics, I actually like them a lot better.  I think they sound better and I like the fact that they are brighter with the tone knob turned up.  I felt like with the old ones, I was always turning the tone knob way down which was a pain for changing patches (with some OK solutions from the HD500 and workbench). Obviously, ymmv.  I think the electrics will be less polarizing though, since the desired (or acurate) tone of an electric is probably more agreed upon than a miced acoustic.