I own a couple Ibanez RG570's . You can pick them up for around $300 they are HSH You can get a wide variety of tones from metal to jazz including that strat-ish tone. They are great guitar for the money. My Main Guitar is a Yamaha RGX-TT Ty Taybor Signature series. These you have to search for on Ebay as Yamaha no longer makes them. They go For about $500 to $800. This is HSS Kind of. It has a Duncan Jeff Beck in the Bridge and Duncan Vintage Rails in the middle and Neck position. Technically the Vintage rails are humbuckers but they are in a single coil size and sound like single coils...kind of. The other advantage to this guitar is that it has a coil tap on the Jeff Beck meaning you can make it a single coil with the push of a button. It goes from Les Paul to Strat that quick. Because of the pick up configuration this guitar is the most versatile in my collection. That's why its my go to. It also has some really unique features. Fret Markers are on the TOP BACK of the neck where you actually need them. You can see where you are without looking at the front of the fret board. It has a Wilkinson Tremolo with a Removable Block. So it can be blocked for dive only or free floating. Truss adjustment is at the base of the neck. EASY ACCESS!. Sperzal Locking Tuners. Inset and up turned cable jack. This great if you have a wireless system. The Guitar is light but sustains very well. Easy to play all night long. Great Metal Tones, Rockabilly, Jazz etc. It really does it all. Lastly I own 2 Shecter Hellraisers. Active EMG's. HH configurations. They are really solid guitars for the money (around $500) and for sure more metal oriented than the other guitars. Really well built and feel really solid. I'm going to purchase another one with the Sustainiac in it. That Guitar will probably end up being my main Axe for anything other then my cover band. The RGX-TT will remain king there.