I know my experience doesn't quite fit what the OP is looking for, but here's my story...
I found a 1996 MIA strat, the type with the TBX tone control, for 500.00 in a Mom&Pop store and leaped on it...it was my only strat until 2006, when I grabbed a MiM standard out of Alto Music with a few dings for store cost, intending to use it in the truck I was driving at the time...as time went by I started preferring the MiM over the Mia, EXCEPT FOR THE PICKUPS... the pickups were replaced with a set of BG V60s and the MIA strat became superfluous, and got traded for an Epi Sheraton2...
...the end...