Thanks again for the welcome and well-wishes. I am indeed ecstatic. I will get pics up w/o the plastic as soon as I feel I can let go....I find letting go of things difficult and it bugs the heck outta my wife! Ha Ha Ha. Cool, a decoder ring. I'll wear it proudly. I'm stocked if the ring is like the one in your avatar, Mbgreene.
As far as the neck comparisons to the Axis, they are both thick, but the AL seems to have a flatter radius and be a tad wider (I'll have to recheck before you quote me on that) and speed runs and bends, harmonics etc are all there in spades. I'd prefer an AL neck on my Axis. Hope that helps some.