Thanks for the assessment of the pickups. I have to agree the tones are useful if you like mids but not what drives the love here. Major adjustments so far: filed the nut slots, lowered the bridge, adjusted pickup height, moved strap button. It plays much better now, with stronger G and D strings and a subtle essence of grind.
Acoustically it sounds better after the setup, so it's the electronics that are skewed. At rehearsals I've been favoring the neck pickup on full with the bridge pickup almost off and tone wide open. Tried a few songs with both pickups up - workable but not desirable - so a change of strings would help.
Does it sound like it will be easier to bump this in he direction of a grind machine, or a flatwound thumper?