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I thought they only came in naturally stained Paduak or ash but no other colours.

Anyone here own one? How do they play and sound compared to say, an Ibanez Jem?

Dunno about colours.

The N4 I played was a weird beast. It had a amazing upper access, but the swamp ash body and maple/ebony neck made it sound very bright and annoying. Actually, kinda like Nuno's tone, now I think about it. I passed on it, even though I should have bought it for the price offered (about 300US).

You're not going to get me to tell you that Jems are tone machines either, but if forced to use either, I'd go for the jem, as it'd sound a bit fatter.

In reality, both are 'wheedle playability first, tone distant second' guitars. So I guess much depends on how important shred playability is to you.

As far as I know, they've never come in blue, but that shouldn't stop you (refinishing can be kinda fun).
I've never been impressed with the original N4s. That may be partly due to the fact that I like guitars that put up a bit of a fight and this one didn't at all. The strings felt too loose for their pitch, the action was insanely low (yea, I know, some players like that), and the guitar didn't resonate at all. To be fair, I liked the feel of the neck better than that of a Jem. That Wizard neck was just too narrow for me. But I'm not a fan of either model.

i just saw some white and black 1s on ebay but i have never seen a blue 1

hmm... so from what I gather so far the n4:

1. has little resonant qualities;
2. has a neck to die for; but
3. sounds very bright and annoying.

Gee, I wonder why ppl would buy them for $1700 or so that they're going for on evilbay??

I have an N4 and it's swamp ash, so it has the characteristics of a swamp ash guitar obviously. I like the tone myself, but if it's not your bag they also come in alder and real paduak or the stain alder. I want to get a real paduak one someday as well. The neck is super sweet on them, just perfect. I just tested the resonance no that it was mentioned. I thought it was pretty good myself, I think mine was built with a nice quality slab of wood. It's a fairly light guitar so this could maybe detract from that a little. I saw the black ones on ebay being sold by boogiestreet guitars. They look kind of cool, I wouldn't want one though. I think they're only a limited run. They also go for about $1300 I think brand new, not $1700. You could probably find one cheaper too. It will sound nothing like a jem because of the different pickups. If they were both alder with the same pickups I would imagine them to be similar in tone. Obviously try it out first if you can. Not everyone is going to like it.

I had a black N4 made in '97 a little while ago. I thought it was great; fantastic neck, good tone (not great) and definitely worth trying. I had to sell it to fund my worsening 'bass playing disease'.

As for blue ones, I have seen a blue 'N4' being sold on UK Ebay a few weeks back. It was basicaly N4 parts with a sprayed N4 body from the custom shop blted together. think if you really want a blue one it will have to be through the custom shop, which probably is not cheap....

There is an N5 and N6 now I think, with different pickup combinations and several colours. Don't know if there's a blue 1.

Just looked on the website and there are no blue ones I'm afraid. The N6 comes in green, black and sunburst and is fitted with a JB and two SSL-1's. the N5 comes in the same colours plus creme, and has three SSL-1's

An alder N4 would still be brighter sounding than a Jem, mainly due to the lack of an alder heel and the ebony board. But it would be an improvement on an ash N4 in terms of tonal warmth.

Perhaps you should look at an N2, they have rosewood boards and alder bodies.

I have a Paduak NX6 and love it! It is a SUPER bright sounding guitar when I got it. It came with a custom custom in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. I put a Bill Lawrence 500XL(bill and becky) and it was way to shrill. I went with EMG's(85 in the bridge and 81 in the neck) and absolutley fell in love! It is THE most versatile guitar I have ever owned. It took some getting used to the neck. I don't know the official name of the shape, but I would say a quot;Dquot; shape. Kind of pointed in the back, Not round. As far as necks go and Ibanez, I used to own an RG 570(I bought it new in 1989) and they are two different animals. The Ibanez is wide and thin and the Washburn, I think, is a little more narrow and curved( I don't know the radius). My NX is a hardtail. I gave up the splitting option for the EMGs and it was well worth it. I don't believe that Washburn ever sold any of the NX's in blue though. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have about them. Later! Mike