Do the experiment 
Find a quiet room and play an electric guitar without plugging in. That’s what the guitar sounds like (wood, stings, construction). Once you move past the aesthetics, ergonomics and player ability, the sound overwhelmingly comes from the pickups (input) and amplifier (output).
In this equation the pickups, while important, are essentially just a couple of magnets, wrapped in copper wire, making up only a fraction of the guitar cost. (There are the vol/tone controls and pickup switches too, of course)
The amplifier on the other hand contributes most of the sound quality that we hear. (I’m including added fx like pedals and speakers on this side of the equation). This is where your dollar actually pays for your sound.
I started a thread about this here and, unsurprisingly, most folk emphasized the differences between the sound of the various guitars (or maybe more accurately pickups). My point was that, purely from a tone perspective, the amp/fx plays the most important role.
(Note: A couple of days after declaring I’d never need another electric guitar, I bought a cool new one which I love! I’d better brace myself for another bout of GAS then, eh @DarrellW? 
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