Well, it's like we were saying at the time. Strat prices - for ANY Strat - have risen so there are no "cheap" ones any more. Unless you find someone selling who's been living in a cave for the last 5 years, cut off from contact with humanity... Martin, as you've discovered, a full kit ain't cheap. Except till you look at what else you could have new for that sort of money that's vaguely exotic.