Maybe a winner?

I took a trip to Fort Collins on Saturday (an expensive one, thanks to the fine folks at the Colorado State Police) and stopped by Guitar Center. I didn't have time to play a lot of guitars, but I saw a lot of them that are (and were) on the Short List and ended up playing one of them.

Here are some observations.

As I suspected, all of the non-Gio Ibanez guitars that I have left on the Short List have identical specs, including woods, pickups and hardware, so any choice among the RGs will be made strictly on looks alone. They had both flavors of RG5EX1s in stock - black and pewter - and although the pewter one was definitely better looking, neither of them floated my proverbial boat. They also had an RG350DX (the white one) and while I liked it better than the RG5EX1, it still wasn't my favorite.

I was surprised to see that they had a Sterling JP50 in stock, especially since their Web site didn't say they had one. Another surprise was how small it looked in person. It always looks huge in photos, but it's really not, especially the neck. Music Man guitars are known for their narrow neck profiles, which players either love or hate. I didn't play it, but I will be back to try it out.

The one I did play, though, was impressive. Amazing, actually. It was the RG4EXQM1 in red (Blackberry Burst, to be more precise). It really was a work of art. The quilted maple top was high quality, the sunburst paint was flawless, and it had added niceties like a bound body, a bound neck, and a chrome logo on the headstock. I had to play it. I ended up going through a Line 6 Spider Valve 112, which was surprisingly awesome (many surprises on this trip). The guitar played and sounded incredible. The 5-way switch and HSH configuration did everything from clean to bluesy overdrive to all out shred with ease. This is the third RG I've played and it was by far the best. Unless the JP50 really blows me away, methinks I found a Short List winner.

On a side note, my first attempt to play the RG4 (as I will call it now) was thwarted by a bad cable, but being the geeky troubleshooter I am, I picked up the first guitar next to me to make sure it was the cable and not the guitar. That guitar turned out to be one of the new Gio RGAs that are on the Short List (a black one) and although I didn't end up playing it, it made a good first impression. It felt solid, the carved top was nice, and the knobs had a quality feel. I especially liked how the knobs were grooved. It made them nice and grippy. I still want to try one out.

So it looks like the Short List is down to three guitars, with one clearly in the lead:

Ibanez RG4EXQM1 (ahead by a few carlengths)
Ibanez GRGA32T
Sterling JP50 (back on the list now that I know I can play one).