After recovering from the visual wonder of this beautiful guitar, I realized I'd be crazy for buying it sound unheard, mainly because I've never heard a transparent guitar before. So, upon returning to the store this morning, I took it for a test drive. Since I don't know any Rock licks (yet), I put the amp I hooked up to on its Clean setting and played through a few arpeggio studies I know, and did a couple of laps with "Romance", my first official piece of repertoire.
I was thoroughly impressed with the tone. Every note sounded nice and crisp. The fretboard was also very comfortable and easy to navigate.
Then, I had the Manager plug in and play a few riffs so I could hear what it sounds like when actually playing Metal. He used several different amp settings to demonstrate playing a variety of Rock styles - from Classic Rock to Heavy Metal and Blues - and played a few bits from music he and his band have written. My favorite band in the world is a Goth/Power Metal band called Nightwish. Their guitarist uses a lot of half and whole-step dropped tunings for many of their songs. So, he dropped the tuning a couple of times and played through a few chord progressions so I could hear how nice and chunky a sound the pickups can actually produce.
This thing sounds absolutely amazing. It's everything I want in a fixed bridge.
Now, having said all that, I'd like to introduce you to Atreyu:
I adore my Ibanez. It looks and sounds beautiful, but the floating bridge precludes me from ever being able to change tunings on-the-fly. So, on a whim this evening, I decided to take a trip down to my local music store and see what they had in fixed-bridge guitars. After spending a good half hour or so browsing their main wall, I started to leave the store, feeling a little "meh..." about their stock. On my way to the door, I saw this sitting on a display stand:
Suffice it to say, I was blown away. It's a BC Rich Acrylic Warlock. I've seen this thing list for $500-$700 online. The store had it tagged for $400. As thanks for giving them so much business during the last few years, the Manager is letting me have it for $350 WITH tax, AND he's throwing in a BC Rich hardshell case.
I'm picking it up tomorrow morning.
P.S. - Sorry for the bad pic quality. I apparently didn't give my cell phone long enough to snap a crisp image before saving it.