The key takeaway here is that your account of the collection included the word "SOLD". I buy them but never sell them. I bought a Yamaha Pacifica (which doesn't fit the "cheap" aspect at $300) and it sounds good and plays really well right from the box. I will probably do some buffing on the frets but other than that it's fine. I also bought a Roxio Blueburst Strat from Monoprice, JUST because it's pretty. It is also sounds and plays acceptably, though it will eventually get a tremolo upgrade and better tuning machines.

The fun one now is a no name Strat I bought for $60 from a Craigslist guy. He painted it purple for his grandkid but the kid lost interest in like 47 seconds. I am currently stripping it to bare wood and will get some gel stain that comes close to matching the yellow-ish stain on the fretboard. And here's the fun part.

In order to get my name and identity off of Facebook, I created a parody account named "Dick Steubig" after a character from a mid 90s video game, and then deleted my real account. I then found a guy who makes water slide decals, so the formerly purple Strat will proudly the bear the name "Steubig" on the headstock, a guitar made just for me, by my people!!

And THAT is how far I will go for a joke!

I never found a $6 guitar though!!