I'd answer the OP's questions as 1. it depends, 2. true, and 3. true.
I've played PP guitars since 1982; before that, Sho~Bud. Can a PP play as easy as a Mullen G2? I've never found one that can, but then again... just how "easy" do you have to have your guitar play? So easy that the very touch of your foot brushing the pedal actuates the string and makes the chord ever-so-slightly out of tune?
I'd venture to say that unless you're in the speed category of Mike Sigler, Travis Toy, or Doug Jernigan, the guitar isn't what's holding you back.
In my decades of experience the PP guitar, properly set up, is a close to "set it and forget it" as any steel made. Just a tweak of the open string tuning, if that, is all that's needed at the beginning of the night. Sometimes not even that, though I do usually go through the formality.
I have no problems playing PP guitars whatsoever if they are clean, lubed and set up correctly. That does not include guitars that have been ignored for years, never cleaned or lubed, and have been jacked with by some shade-tree guy who didn't know his rear from his elbow about steel mechanics.
All things being equal, the tuning stability of my workhorse PP guitars (over 12 of them over the years) exceeded that of any AP guitar I've personally owned or played professionally. Those include Sho~Bud, Mullen, Fessenden, and Emmons LeGrande guitars.
That said, I have been playing an Infinity guitar for the past 3 years. The reason? My two D-10 PP's are both over 50 years old and are 1964 and 1965 wraparounds. They're in great playable condition and frankly just too valuable to me to have them in harm's way sitting in an SUV or on a bandstand where drunk dancers can fall into them (it happened to me one night). So I play them here at the house and also on certain gigs where they're the obvious guitar of choice for the event.
The Infinity: I love the tone and feel of the Infinity, just the right amount of foot pressure on the pedals is needed; no more no less. The tone on strings 1-6 is that sweet, transparent, definitely "there" but not harsh tonality that I love, like my '65 wrap. And it's the most "in tune" out of the box AP guitar in terms of returning to pitch quickly I've experienced. But by no means have I abandoned the PP; I've played S-10 PPs on dates where I've flown, such as the SWSGA steel show and with great results.
I reserve the right to switch back to my Emmons guitars without further notice, and I don't want any backtalk, okay?.
My rig: Infinity and Telonics.
Son, we live in a world with walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with steel guitars. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?
