Well, I kept my Gibson Les Paul and my Yamaha SG, but have to say that with the exception of the switch problem i have experienced (it's behaving 100% reliably now), the guitar is a really nice instrument and it's in the same sort of ball-park as both the aforementioned.  I have tried a few JTV-59 guitars - both Korean and US and really the difference between them there is virtually no difference, and really I could not detect any difference between the feel and playability of the Korean and US models.  The Korean JTV CSB that I have here is a ringer for yours and is a really nice guitar with 'classic' design lines in its genes for sure.

I would guess that the poster who offered his opinions probably hasn't actually tried a JTV-59 (he'd have had to have found one in stock for starters).  He's clearly under the mistaken impression (as a lot are) that the guitar is a synth of some description and as you obviously know, that ain't the case; the closest it comes to that I guess is the pitch shifting that's involved in the twelve string emulations.

Has he tried getting to the high frets on a Gibson Les Paul lately?  Don't get me wrong I love my LP and won't willingly part with it, but Gibson could learn a thing or two from the way the neck-body joint has been done on the JTV-59.

The boy obviously needs educating LOL and whilst this switch thing is causing a bit of concern at the moment, he doesn't seem to have grasped the concept.  However, I had the same opinion back in 2004 I think it was when I visited a local branch of a chain here in the north-west UK and enquired about the Variax as I'd heard about them and seen the ads with Steve Howe brandishing one but I just didn't get it and the store sales guy didn't either - and nor did he really bother to expand on it.  It was about 18 months later when I bought a 300 at a reasonable price thinking I'd take a chance that I actually understood what a Variax was and realised the potential of the electronics.  I swapped the neck for a Strat neck and it's a good comfortable guitar now.  However the store guy 18 months previously actually turned me right off and perpetuated my ignorance for 18 months longer than was necessary LOL.

The cool factor as far as looks go is a matter of opinion, but of the three models, my favourite is definitely the CSB/TSB 59 with the 89 and some of the 69's I've seen being as cool as anything else out there

I have an 89 as well as the 59 and I can tell you that if you've ever fallen in love with the slim style necks on Ibanez RG models as I have, you wouldn't be disappointed with the 89 either

I have a very soft leather strap I've had for years

Nick