Tone???
well,see all ur comments it's kind of itch me a little bit =)
if we talking about tone,then we talking all about a guitar player made of! evry guitar player had a different kind of tone even for the newbie!
if we talking about tone,we speak the whole aspect of guitar playin...but what most important is the gear that we used not the human factors...once in the time Steve Lukather(TOTO) go down to the Eddie Van Halen(Van Halen) Studio 5150 and he played some of Van Halen tune using the exact gear that Eddie use(of course,it's Eddie Studio!)same guitar,same FX,same amps,same cables none of those things is change except the player.at the end Steve Play some part of The Famous "Erruption" Eddie Trade mark Solo!(since Steve is the one of the Eddie Admirer in Tapping technique! he can really copy the whole things so perfect!) but guess what,Eddie was there and watch steve playin his solo...after steve done,he step up and said this to eddie; "why my erruption solo just can't be same as yours?" Eddie short replied;"it's not the gears but the hand the heart and the head,man!"
So Tone is not only one aspect that matter,steve played with the exact equipment as well as eddie,the sound and tone that comes out is tottaly Eddie but the spirit is not!
if we speak tone in technical that would be the Guitar and the pick up is absolutely essentials!the elements!why every estabilished guitar player such Yngvie,Vai,Satch and many more have their own Pick up signature and Guitars?cause It's reflecting their character in playin.
if we speak tone in Abstract that would be the base character of every guitar player,including their musical abilities and so on and so on.
well,i guess that's all from my point of view,don't b offend,i just want to add some colour in here =)
take care and keep the Blast Licks Running Dude!