Ok, if you haven't heard enough already let me give it a shot. In my opinion of the order of importance for a direct recording guitar...
...intonation,
...action,
...pickups, - easily fixxed with $90 for bridge pu
...inspiration -feel in your hands
...tonewood -people will pooh pooh this but an ash tele/maple baritone/mahogany SG
are drastically different in tone.
...how much you paid and how pretty it is.
Intonation, action and feel are the hardest things to achieve this is where a better guitar shines almost instantly. If you have a clunker guitar that hits on those three you are fortunate and you can upgrade the bridge humbucker for under $100.