I'll second Jonobacon
Go check Ibanez (wizard II neck is fuckin' fast), Jackson Performer series, and a special $300 Cort Viva.
This is something special! My main axe is a $1000
Ibanez S540FM TTS, and I (and a friend of mine, he's a sort of Petrucci...) played on this cheap Cort Viva, and we looked to each other and said : "Damn! Now that's a fast mutha!"
It has 2 humbuckers and a single-coil, an imitation-Lo Pro Edge tremolo, soundwise comparable to the more expensive Ibanezes...
Maverick is worth checking too.
Forget Gibson, Gretsch, Parker....
I'm the kinda guy that plays old Slayer, The Haunted, Iron Maiden, Iced Earth...so yeah...I know what it is to play fast.
(Hence the name Speeddemon...duh!)
