The missus doesn't seem to understand, Neo; she keeps spurting crap like 'but you can't play the guitar', then she gets all personal and says stuff like 'you've had 4 or 5 guitars and never been able to play any of them', sometimes she really goes over the top with 'and you NEVER will be able to play'... Horrible cow...

I've got parts of a guitar and an amp. As soon as I've booked her ticket back to Thailand, I'll be back on the web buying more bits - but it does look like I might be upgrading my Ibanez. As you so rightly said, it needs hardtailing. I'll post a pic of the new tuners and middle pick-up when I get them (might as well throw in a Graphtec nut while I'm at it...), and a bandana.