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!!!