Titch - to a point I agree with you;a personable instructor who can communicate both in the air and on the ground is the way to go. I was trained up to solo by the CFI but then turned over to five different instructors in as many hours. Now this I don't recommend as I never flew the same way twice. I'd finally sort out how to land instead of attack from low level, and the next hour I was being "encouraged" to do it differently. I was ready by to give it away when I was rescued by an instructor who cared about aviation, was good at it, and wanted me to to be good at it too. You're dead on with the briefings, I knew what we were going to do and where. He was an "hours builder" but I was proud to call him a friend, and prouder yet when he made it to the left seat of a 146. He may have been the exception because he was an exceptional bloke.