how have your tonal tastes changed over the years?

Holy crap son...you gotta do something about that noise! :) I love single coils and miss my American Strat Deluxe Plus dearly...but heaven help you if you have a TV or other electronics on in the same room. :) By the way, mine had the Lace Sensors. I loved those. The bridge pickup was just as hot a a medium output humbucker, but still kept the single coil feel when you wanted it. And the tone control on it had a type of mid boost/high pass (called the "TBX" circuit or something like that). It was like using a TS without having to use a TS. :) It fooled a few people around here into thinking it was something other than a Strat.

And yeah, like yours...my Strat sounded gorgeous when it wasn't even plugged in. And those necks just feel so right. :) Welcome to the club. ;)

Haha, yeah, thats why i ordered the noiseless! ;)
I looked at the Lace Sensors, but i want slightly more "twang" out of the guitar.. and i have been considering adding one of those 1k boosts on my guitar as well, the problem is that i want a tonecontroll also, but only 2 knobs. ;X

You just gotta love when you feel the vibrations going through the entire guitar!
 
I like t00bz still... but I'm coming round to the possibilities of digital FX in a live situation.

Still don't dig the 5150 too much, and the Recto I used to have was a bit too brittle for my taste. I'm kind of an Orangey Marshall type of dude - cranked mid's, but rolling off the high-end to make the tone darker.

Finally... SUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTAINNN!!