That is the point I was making. "Tone is in the fingers" is a misconception that was derived from a misused definition of what tone is. All the anecdotes and messages are still true, that if you want to sound better or like someone then you must master the technique. Really the only difference would be "Sound is in the fingers." Guitarists aren't the bunch to go to for vocabulary clarification you know? Bolt on is actually screw on, tremolo bar is actually a vibrato bar, modern electric guitar strings aren't so much strings anymore as they are wires, etc. These things just stick and it's impossible to get rid of them. I'm so picky about the tone discussion though because it constantly derails gear related threads and insults the skill of the player by insinuating that it is not the gear's fault, it is the player's, when the player could have fantastic technique and the people saying "tone is in the fingers" are none the wiser. So I just like to give people the benefit of the doubt about their technique until proven otherwise. Like if somebody buys Jeff Beck's exact rig and they can't sound like him then yes, I will say you need to get his technique down, but if I see another guy say he really wants to sound like Dimebag or something and that guy has been studying his technique for years but just needs proper gear to coax it out, I never wanna tell that guy that the answer is in more practice when it actually isn't. The overall sound is NOT the guitar tone, but the guitar tone is a part of the overall sound. If I plugged into EVH's rig and hit an A chord, then he steps in and he hits an A chord too, chances are the chords would be indistinguishable and you wouldn't for sure be able to tell who is who. His hands aren't getting a different kind of tone than my hands are, he just applies his technique differently. If we were playing Panama or something, then yeah you would be able to tell major differences, especially in the solo. But it is not like me hopping onto his rig would be like "suddenly the tone is scooped or muddy or wayyy to bright" or something like someone messed with the amp between the A chords we played. Your hands have influence over the tone, but the tone does not DERIVE from your hands or reside in them. Your hands are however responsible for bringing the tone out.
