Thanks for doing this comparison!  I didn't realize 1.9 was supposed to address the palm muting problem (my only complaint with the guitar).  The amp gain is a little low for the kind of metal playing I do, so it's hard to really tell if it would work out for the thrash metal / death metal stuff I'm in to.  I haven't had a chance to check my custom Variax patches that I thought made it sound the most 'metal', but I'll let you guys know once I have had the chance what I think.  Are there any all new pickup models or just an overall improvement to all of them?