Right now I am playing a BRONZE(cheap?!?) BC Rich Mockingbird guitar. Which, for the 100 bucks I paid for it, has proven itself to be somewhat of an awesome guitar. I have progressed more in the past 3 months since I have gotten this guitar than I have in the 10 years I have played. I feel that I have already outgrown this guitar in the sense that the tone it provides is not suitable to the style of playing I now want to produce (neo-classical metal, progressive metal, etc). I would like to know what guitars out of the Ibanez RG line would most suit the styles of metal I would like to play (i.e Dream Theater, Yngwie, Older Metallica--not friggin St. Anger---we all know that they can succeed in any genre of metal though..., Dimmu Borgir, not to exclude any other more melodic or symphonic metal music out there). I learn how to play new styles and methods with relative ease, as I was a classicaly trained bassoonist for 7 years. So the real question is what Ibanez guitar will be the most flexible for all of these styles of music for the buck. Be forewarned that I am a cheap bastard! I can only spend about $300 dollars to get the guitar, but the mods can be done over time... I really feel that it is time to get a guiar with the following:

1: fast neck with jumbo frets ( 24 duh!!)
2: Good locking tremelo system (floyd rose?!?)
3: decent lasting body wood
4: somthing that is worth upgrading and good upkeep

Right now I have found these Ibanez guitars on closeout/ and or within my budget. Please feel free to make suggestions or comments regarding the following:


RG370DX
RG320QS what body wood it is really? basswood or mohogany???
RG350DX I hate the color and shape, but who cares! if it plays well.
S370? don't know if it is locking trem or not or if 24 fret

Look, I don't really care if it has sharkfin inlays, but would rather have them, and I don't really care how it looks (unless the RG350DX [ugly?!?!] is the ****) Right now I am a bedroom guitarist and don't plan on playing live until I am blazing fast.

I would really like some feedback on this, as I am itching to get the next guitar. Hopefully, Azrael will respond to this as well, since he got me to learn to play tocatta and fugue in dm on guitar (I liked to experiment when I had to learn organ, and that was one of my favorites). He has alot of experience to share and I hope he shares some with me in this issue. I am not set on getting an Ibanez guitar, but I have played a few of the RG series, and for the price they are solid guitars. Again, My budget is limited!!!! THanks Guys, hope to hear from you soon!!!

If you want 24 frets, RG is the way to go. The S series all come with 22.

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"I'm playing so fast, the tubes can't reproduce all the notes!"
- Marcus Paus

Dont be that much of a cheap bastard.

If you get the 370dx(with those sharktooth inlays)which is the best of what you listed there,you will run into a few things.

1.The trem is the edge pro II(or low TRS)... made with crap parts and just not as effective as the regular edge pro or Low pro.If you were to upgrade it would cost you at least 120$ if not 170$.

2.The woods the guitar is made from arnt all that great.Forget the mahogony body.You CANT feasibly upgrade a guitars wood.The finish is also most likley cheap and FAKE if it looks flamed or quilted(a photo top...although I dont think the 370dx has that).

3.Hardware,pickups and overall workmanship WILL be poor compared to any higher model.Uprading these will set you back even further.

By the time your finished,you will still have the same guitar,but with upgrades... it will still have close to the same value,and the orginal cut and construction of the guitar will still be there.

My advice would be to get a prestige model.Just overall better guitars.Go to guitartrader.com and take a look at the prstige models.Compare specs with the lower RG line.Youll see what I'm talking about.the RG1220 is around 450$ but its a large leap above the 320dx.Even the highest end regular RG model(the 570 I think)dosn't compare as well to the prestige models.The prestige RG's are still RG's,but to a higher standard.Its worth the little extra money.

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Try once,fail twice...

IF you really want an Ibenhad, save your pennies and play the BC Rich a little longer, and pick up either a Paul Gilbert model (around $550-600) or a JEM (a lot of used ones on ebay going around $700)
The only RG I have ever really liked is my Nuclear Yellow one I got in 87.

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Here's a hairbnd-ism for ya...
(In my best Forrest Gump voice) Life is like a box of chocolates.... it's sweet and enjoyable, but eventually has to turn to $hit....

I've been playing RG gutiars for a while. I guess technically the PGM and JEM models are better (i've played and owned both), but as far as cost goes...I still say go with an RG. My favorite was the RG560, which was the 570 with a HSS pickup configuration, very cool. But alas they don't make that anymore.

Basically, if I were you, I'd find a used 570 or 550 (570 for the rosewood fingerboard, 550 for the maple), then just swap out the pickups for whatever pickups you like (stock Ibanez pickups aren't all that great in my experience), and you have a pretty good ax.

And if you are into the JEM type guitars, you can pretty much turn an RG into something as functional as a JEM for half the price!

But, if you're interested in JEMs still, I suggest you wait a couple of months. I think Ibanez is about to release yet ANOTHER JEM model (as described by Steve Vai on a DVD recently), a new one may screw with teh used prices, it tends to.

And if you're really stuck on buying a new guitar, and you are choosing betwen an RG, JEM of PGM, but still want to stay on budget, I'd say the PGM is the best bet, as they're fairly inexpensive new.

Why do you want an Ibanez anyway (or do you guys own a Ibanez)?

Ibanez has given me 2 fantastic acoustisc guitars, I wouldn't trade them for the world, but electric I just dont see why a allot of people want Ibanez.

The BC Rich your playing is the cheapest BC Rich available btw, but then again it has proven its worth to you, as you told us. Why dont you get yourself another BC Rich, Bronze is the cheapest serie, you can get much better ones just 1 step up in the price (for about $400-500 you get yourself a nice platinum serie)

Metallica arnt playing Ibanez, I thought Dimmu played BC Rich, and John Petrucci does play Ibanez

Petrucci plays Carvin.

But what does that have to do with anything?

You can play pretty much anything you want on any solidbody guitar with humbuckers.