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If you could play both, it would be ideal to see and heard which ones sounded the best to your ears. Can’t go wrong either way. I would go for ‘54 per your description compared to 57 but that’s just me. YMMV. Good luck.
Not all pre-year 1999 (not 2000) 54 and 57 RI have long tenon. In fact, I've not seen one with the long tenon, but I could be wrong, too.
If you’re after LT, your best bet are 2000 on up RI with factory abr1 bridge.
As far as I know, the second number are always the year. More to do with pandemic I would guess that’s why they didn’t get lotta Pauls made in 2020 and those 2020 serial numbers fell behind on production? I’m guessing.
DJ doing natural checking for years with great results. IMO, far better than Murphy lab. I’ve had this 57 Custom since 2011. They will get there eventually?!