Oh the indecisiveness!
I bid on a used Variax 600 on eBay but didn't win it, so I was looking at a nice Cherry Sunburst Variax 700 but I didn't really want to spend that sort of money.
Then Trever posted about the Roland VG system and how it sounds better than a Variax so I searched eBay for one of those & found a used VG-88 Version 2 with GR3 hex pickup.
Well, Trevor waxed lyrical & the Roland blurb is very impressive - see
http://www.roland.com/products/en/VG-88 ... index.html.
I've got enough guitars & haven't really got room for another and the seller is nearby so.... I'm due to pick it up tomorrow
This means I've come full circle. I've got a 1973 Fender Strat so if I fit the GR3 onto it, I'll have the equivalent & more of the VG Strat, though the model selesctions will be done with my feet rather then my hands.
Once I've got it set up, it record some samplws & post them (somewhere) so you can all have a listen.
Thanks all for your inputs; it's been an interesting (if ultimately costly to me) discussion!
Best wishes,
Steve