Masseygrad....
"A few years ago the GA operators would have had 1000+ hour instructors to pick from. Well, they still do, but they're all scared that the 1000+ hr guys and girls are going to do a few hundred multi IFR hours and bugger off to Eagle, Origin or Nelson. Which is a justified concern"
I know what you are saying. . It seems that too many single hours is not such a good thing, for the reasons you mention above... no man's land between having enough for regionals, but too much for the likes of GBA.
Not had a lot of luck with finding multi work in GA, suspect that this may be a contributing factor..
.....unless it's just me!