It is quite an interresting thing. What I will be going at is: It is really a matter of personal preferance, so try it all out and see what you think plays fast!!
Also I wanne apologize for the wall of text...
Thing is that I own a handfull of guitars, but I am gonna focus on 3 here: A Ibanez S series, a Dean Vendetta 7 string (the older mahagony version) and a very modern version of an LP (one big ass heavy piece of neck through wood kinda thing).
Now I´ll give you a quick rundown of the basic distinctive characteristics when it comes to playing.
Ibanez S: Lowest action, smallest body, thinnest neck
Dean: highest action, medium body, thin (compared to the others medium) neck
LP: medium (rather high) action, thick heavy body, thick neck.
Now take a guess which guitar I use for which sounds and which feels fastest. Got an expectation? Good.
Then let us take a look at how they feel to me and how I ended up using them after playing them and setting them up and a purely acoustic / playability level (pickups where bought after that).
Ibanez S: My mainly classic rock and blues work horse (very capable of going into folk and metal) loaded with RY bridge, IT middle and Mule neck (selfmade custom wiring). Plays fast, but it is played slowest of these three. Love it for the drawn out bluesy bended notes and it also invites strumming for me.
Dean: My modern axe loaded with Dimarzios John Petrucci Signature PUs (with Petruccis split middle wiring). This is the fastest guitar I own (and probably I have ever played, though one needs to also concider that it was my first electric, although I have modified action and PUs greatly since then). Great for modern rock and metal (prog metal) and modern metal leads.
LP: This is the pure metal axe loaded with an AM set (with a push pull poti for splits). This one is fast and very, very heavy (in sound and actual weight). It invites palm mutes, riffing and modern metal stuff (somewhat Heaven Shall Burn, but bigger, more defined and crushing), precise and crushing as heck, while getting me lead tones the are time whise in the middel of these three with the ibby being the oldest (the AM neck fits so good, brings out early Petrucci tones).
So again. What I am getting at is that the one that is supposed to play fastest (by the very general citeria) of these three makes me play slow blues, while the middle on is the fastest and the slowest one is middle fast...it is just crazy.
Just like today I went acoustic guitar shopping with my brother (he is the one who wants a guitar) and father (I also tried some electrics) and the difference in perception of what is playable in what way is astounding.
Not just that sound whise the gap between the best 500 pound guitar and the best 2300 pound guitar we could find was more like a 500 pound gap, but also which one feels good or fast.
Two sales people (who I generally really trust), my father, my brother and me all picked different playability favorites (which one is fastest, easiest to play) each one saying "this one is the best by miles". And that was just with Fender Strats I tried (just so you know, the Jimmy Vaughan Signature was my fav).
Bottom line from me (once again, cause I have had a few bears after my live mixing job tonight xD) is: Try and see what YOU think playes fast and is best for lead work.
Anything besides what your thingers tell you are guidelines at best.
