I think the player has a lot to do with the tone you get, but it also has to do with everything else. In short, everything is important to your tone. Changing one small thing will mess up your sound big time. (If mess up is the right word)
I have some pretty cheap stuff, just because of the fact I'm a teenager inn the middle of nowhere with no job. It sucks, but I've come across some deals and I have a sound that I'm happy with, or was rather. See, I used Earnie Ball strings up until now. They are the nicest sounding sting I've used so far, but I go through strings a lot, so I tried some of theose plastic coated Elixer Strings, and they do outlast Earnie Balls, but the tone is so thick and harsh, it sounds like I'm using .11 guage strings when I'm actuially using .09's, so I think I'll go back to my Earnie Balls.
Anywhoo, thats just an example of how changing one little thing can really change your tone. It changed for the worse in this case :rolleyes: