Didn't read the whole thread, but one thing that struck me was that Paul mentioned that going to these lighter buttons improved the balance of the guitar. But one of my main criticisms of my Custom 24 is that playing sitting down, the guitar is weightier towards the bridge, which makes it a challenge to keep in a comfortable, consistent playing position. Making the buttons even lighter will make this problem worse, not better.
All in all though, this seems a pretty minor change to me. People will get used to looking at the new buttons pretty quickly, and for most models, these are the last thing you're going to notice. I'm skeptical that this change is at all due to tone considerations.