Hello, newbee to the site here. I found your post very intresting. I have been playing guitar for about 40 years now (still don't claim to be anything too special) but another one of those bang for your bux's deals is the MIA Highway One strat. It is the only electric guitar that i play now. It has everything the standard has in sound and plays like a dream. It just don't have the frills. At a very reasonable price right from the music store. I did have to make a few changes for it to work the way i need it to. since i don't use a trem bar much, I hard bolted the tail stock fast to the body and there is no squishy movment there and it stays in tune so well that I rarley have to touch the machines. Just wanted to say that this guitar is awsome for the bux.
Mark.