Thought I'd let everyone who contributed to this post know I eventually chose the Mex strat with the maple fretboard. At the moments its got three single coil Fender pickups, the S.Ds I want can come later...spent enough cash for now....got the strat at a slightly lower price of £389....dont ask me that in dollars...i think its about $550, maybe less....

But anyway, its the best guitar i've ever owned :D it has a fantastic range of tone....I wore my fingers to shreds last night playing it and comparing it to my les paul....which also has a great range, but on the clean sound I find the strat a much more versatile and satisfying guitar....and on distortion its quite a challenge to play the solos I'm used to doing on the Epi and getting a good tone...the sustain is slightly shorter on the strat, which I had expected, so I'm now working harder to get that tone, its definitely worth the work. Pinch harmonics sound much better and alternate/tremelo picking feels a darn site more comfortable too.

The one thing I'm not happy with is the tremolo setup....I either have to let my playing adjust or alter the way the springs are set up.....what does everyone else do with theirs? What I'm looking for is a good, controlled melodic bending action and the facilities to do wacky effects with the tremolo, like Hendrix, Blackmore, Vai...etc.