You said you want to save your money for a private stock. But what if this personalized guitar then doesn't sound like you expect and it is more like the eg gibsons you sent back?
If you know the model well, and order a PS version of that model, I think it would be
very rare indeed to have it not turn out phenomenally well.
But if you are taking a shot in the dark, and haven't played exactly the type of thing you're ordering, you're taking something of a risk, and you have to accept that you might not love the result. That's the case with any special order guitar, though.
If that risk is unacceptable and you want a PS, it's much smarter to buy from dealer stock, and there are several dealers who regularly have PS guitars in stock.
I've bought two PS guitars from dealer stock. I got the dealer to make clips of the guitars, and I got to hear what they sounded like through an amp, clean and dirty, and knew exactly what I was buying in terms of tone. I had also previously owned similar models, and knew what I was getting in terms of feel.
I've special ordered one, my PS Tonare Grand, because I wanted something in maple, and I absolutely love it, but I had a Tonare in cocobolo beforehand, so I pretty much knew the model and what I was getting into.
In the case of the 20th Anniversary PS, I'd already played a few Paul's Guitars, and had previously owned two other guitars with the 408 pickups. So the only unknown was the middle pickup, and I figured I'd like it. Which I do, the guitar is phenomenal.
If one has unusual ideas that aren't like regular production models, unusual wood combinations, unusual pickup configurations, etc., then you simply have to accept the risk, and there's no way around that. You may not like your Savile Row custom made suit, but you're still going to have to pay the tailor.
