personally I've never been a fan of guitars with 3 single coil pickups (one reason I don't like strats). I always figure if you're going to go with those kind of pickups, you might as well have two double coil because you get more power when you want it, but I've never actually played a 2 single and 1 double coil guitar. I am a big fan of ibanez though, so I might have to try one out next time I'm at the store.

as far as the finish, it looks gorgeous. I really like when the head matches the body like that