That's really a good way of looking at it. I somewhat feel that way as well. Besides changing the pickups, I've been restringing alot of my guitars as well. I've pretty much always played 9's, but I've been restringing my guitars with 10's and 11's for the heck of it. They all feel totally different now.
Your mentioning putting a Seth at the neck position has me contemplating switching out the '59 that I have at the neck of one of my Teles for the Seth I have out in the shop. :scratchch