Originally posted by Polera
but bottom line (if your still reading!) is that fender is better for the reasons of quality by comman sence

You can't correlate price with quality.

Of the two I would go for the Ibanez; I have seen too many crap Epis. If you get a good Epi they can be great, but be sure to check it over very, very carefully.

For $700 you should be able to get a decent RG. If you can, get an RG5xx; I have a 570 and love it. Either the Edge or Low Pro Edge bridges will be superb; the TRS does not have a good reputation, but isn't quite as bad as is often made out.