Ranger SP's kickass. but only if you've got the funds to get all the gear up front and can make sure that all your rng's are set and ready to go at a specific time. Usually SP's are slow and not really set up for a few quick levels, plus after about a week or two things usually go down hill.
-If you can find a reliable bard to SP with, do it. If not, don't worry about it, throwing that many arrows at something, it's going to die w/ or w/o Prelude. A RDM works just fine for cutting down time. (If you HAVE to have a bard, the time spent waiting is easily made up for by the XP these SP's get).
-As far as tanks go, get a PLD. Ninja's are great for regular PT's, but ranger SP's they just don't hold hate. You've got the extra cure power, plus Cover is a lifesaver when somebody doesn't land their Sidewinder or the other rng TP isn't built up enough yet.
-3 ranger's is enough. 4 and you lose a support slot, 2 and it's kinda slow.
-Don't be the lowest level ranger when your SP hits lv55. Sucks so much when you're landing Piercing Arrow for 100 damage and they're lightin things up with Sidewinder for 500+. ><
-Just for your own info and some friendly competition, have one of your rng's run a parser. As soon as I told my SP that I was running one, it was a free-for-all to see who could lay down the most damage.
-Make sure you bring at least 10 stacks of arrows when you go partyin (per ranger >.>) cause when you're havin that much fun, nobody wants to stop and you usually stay for 7-20k xp.
- ...---<<<***SQUID SUSHI***>>>---... (+1 is nice, but regular works just fine)
That's about it, if you have any questions, send me a tell ingame. My sp broke up (Damn you WoW!), but I did get from 53-60 in about 5 days. Good luck, have fun and remember, Sidewinder is fun as all hell, but damned if you're not gonna die a couple times till you get the kicks outta your system.