I’ve now been all over craigslist and ebay and to about every guitar store in the area:
Swissvale Music, Guitar Center, Guitar Gallery in Canonsburg, Larry’s Music Center in Rices Landing (middle of nowhere but nice guy and decent prices), Micarelli’s in Uniontown.
I’ve concluded that Guitar Center is kind of like the WalMart of music stores - good if you need routine things or know exactly what you want, but help is hit or miss depending on the person. I asked a guy today about the string height on an Ibanez S520. After some prompting, he eyeballed the neck and said it and the bridge could be tweaked a little to get the strings a little lower. I could almost fit my pinky under the strings.
I liked all the other places, but just haven’t found exactly what I want. I guess it’s almost the new model year so stock is low. Everyone seems to have about the same prices.
The Jackson necks just don’t feel right for my hand, and I’d like the EMG 81/85, which the Ibanez doesn’t have. I’m really thinking the ESP (LTD) M-400, but no one has it, or the the more expensive M-1000 with a true Floyd Rose. Larry’s had an ESP LTD MH-1000 which felt awesome, BUT it was $895 (decent price but well over my ~$600 budget), although on the spot he offered to knock $100 off! If it was the M-1000 I just may have taken it.
And I’ve bid on several Marshall MG100HDFX half stacks. They sound so much fuller to me than their single speaker combo amps. The guy at Guitar Gallery really seemed to like the Vox modeling amps, but didn’t have them in stock. I’m kind of leaning toward the Marshall with a multi-effects vs. a Vox or Line6 modeling amp.
So there you are - more than you could have possibly cared to hear about my shopping.