A nice pair of RG652AHMs. Yeah I liked the first one so much I had to get another. Best guitar purchases I have made in long time.

Somehow my superstrat addiction went a bit wild, and I remembered the RG2550EX I had years ago. Loved how it played, but the middle pickup got in the way, and I was never too fond of how the IBZ pickups sounded. Ended up selling it and avoiding super strat type guitars for a long time. Then I got back into late 70s early 80s hard rock and heavy metal, and to really do that justice, I needed some super strats, preferably hard tail. I kept looking at stuff from Charvel, Jackson, Etc, but none of them really appealed to me. Then for some reason I looked at the Ibanez website, and found the RG652AHMFX. It was PERFECT. Great colors. HH pickups, and even better, they were the Tone Zone and Air Norton, a pretty legendary combination. Some Royal Purple Burst ones came in stock at Sweetwater, and I saw one that had a grain pattern I really loved, and went for it. Received it, and it's just, awesome. I don't care of it's the "lower tier" Prestige. Swamp ash is a fantastic tone wood. Lots of the super expensive PRS guitars are now using Swamp Ash, so I don't get why everyone always wants Basswood etc.

What surprised me the most was that I loved the neck. I was afraid of how thin it was, but I have found over the years that the shape is far more important to me than the thickness. It's gotta have "shoulders" to the carve, or it has to be close to round. Anything like a "dish" or a "V" is right out, and this neck is awesome. Love how the binding feels, and it just works well with the jumbo frets. The SOUND is also great, and not just the Humbuckers, the in between sounds too! The neck pickup is great, but the second position with the coils in parallel might be even better. The kinda "tele" sounding position is great too. I love the bridge as well. Seems really solid, and with the strings through the body it's sure to have max sustain.

Well, as I started working away from learning rhythm stuff, I started also working on some Van Halen, and to really make that sound right, a double locking tremolo is needed. I already knew I loved the platform, and the edge is supposed to be one of the best out there, so I went for a second, which has a much different grain pattern, but I like it as well. Now I just need to learn how to REALLY use a tremolo for whammy tricks. Right now I'm trying to decide whether to put one or two teflon things on the bar, and if I use one, whether it should be at the top or the bottom. Also thinking about moving both to 9.5 gauge strings, as the fixed bridge comes with 10s, while the edge comes with 9s.

As a side note, I was looking for a locking strap solution, as there are like no straps with locking ends that can handle the giant strap buttons they put on these, but then I found out that Gotoh makes locking strap ends, in matching galaxy black, so I've got some of those to put on. Now I just need to get some better amps.