Nice to see some electric guitar geekery on HN :). I started playing last year during the pandemic too, but I had learned a bit in elementary school and I playe

Nice to see some electric guitar geekery on HN :). I started playing last year during the pandemic too, but I had learned a bit in elementary school and I played alto saxophone for around a decade in various school jazz groups. Gentle suggestion: try to see how many different tones you can get out of one sole pickup by varying your technique (angle and strength of attack, angle that your finger is fretting the string, the part of your finger you fret with, amount of vibrato, type of vibrato, gentle bends, etc). Try practicing with the amp cranked so you can play notes at normal volume just by brushing the pick against the string and listen to the errors it reveals in your technique. The electric guitar is an extremely sensitive instrument. Pickups do make a huge difference (particularly switching between singles and humbuckers), but I got this advice from a teacher and it has totally changed my perspective on tone. If you can develop a deep understanding of the relationship your technique has to tone, you can find a tone that is yours on any guitar, I guarantee it.