Thanks Rob
Yes, the pickguard was broken in the shop but the break was so straight that I assumed it was just part of the design!
To be fair, it's probably just cosmetic - it happens all the time on Strats. It's just that I thought it was odd on a brand new guitar where, to my knowledge, no-one has had reason to take the pickguard off.
I've no playability issues, in fact it's lovely to play. It's just a question of lack of familiarity with the wider neck. I was just, rather clumsily, making the point that although the wider neck is nice in many cases, there are some occasions where the narrower, standard neck is easier to play on. On balance I think I prefer the 660 but then, I would say that
Oddly, the strings that are on it look like D'Addarios to me because of the coloured ball ends. I don't think Rickenbacker strings have this feature do they? I can't remember what they looked like on the 370 because the "R" tailpiece obscured them so I'd have had to check specifically.
I might ask Tim at Sound Affects about the pickguard, although I was trying to avoid contacting him as I think he's had a bellyful of me already over the last week or so!
