Ah ok, single coil pic ups... I get it
Yeah your right, Fenders are very "Bright" sounding guitars. Perfect for the high Jazz and Blues solos.
I have been thought so many sets of strings, I have used Erin Ball, D'Addarios, Fender Bullets, Dean Markley, Yamaha and back to Erin Ball and D'Adarrios.
True if you can make a crappy instrument sound good, you must be doing something right. LOL!
But having top quality made guitar just feels a lot better.