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wow Burton-on-Trent. i went to college there in the late 70's and there wasn't much of a live music scene there to my recollection. What was the live scene like pre Covid?

Based on your imagined budget.... Definitely something like the Katana, most probably the actual Katana. Guitars around the £300 mark, I'm a big fan of Vintage. Nicely put together instruments based on the traditional designs, with useful features like Wilkinson hardware, EZ lock tuners, quality pickups, opposing wound single coils to cut hum, stagger drilled teams that stay in tune... Just practical touches that really make a difference.

In the case you've described, I'd recommend starting afresh with strings that you buy yourself. A starting point would be, in my view, any set with a '10' for top 'E'. I used Fender Bullets for several years, until I found them starting to go rusty in the packet, from new. I've since gone for Elixir, which cost slightly more, but last, for me, much, much longer (I don't play that much, so I don't change that often...). If you've a set on that lasted a year, I assume you're not one of these bods that changes every week-end. A set of Elixirs will do the job, whatever strings you're taking off. Other than that, just go with whatever your budget allows, and learn from it. It's not all that critical; new strings sound better than year-old strings in any case. Just my tuppence-worth.