Thanks. I'm still in the "so much gear, so little time" mode. I want them all, but my budget is pretty limited. I've never even owned a Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul.
Not to knock your experience, but sometimes these things are psychosomatic. We tell ourselves we can hear something, and then convince ourselves that it's always present.
I mean, alder isn't a very middy wood. And I don't see how a well constructed guitar would result in them having a middy sound. Pickups could play a role though, did you try swapping them out.
On how our mind tricks on us: Like after I played the Tyler today, I was looking at my Aristides all funny, feeling sad about the guitar.
After all, I had a new toy, the old one was now redundant.
Then I plugged the Aristides into the Savage and my Orange 2x12, turned up the volume and remembered what the guitar was like, both in terms of playability and sound.
Jaw dropping good, no fooling. I was really happy.