I didn't participate in that experiment, since I wasn't there, but I completely agree with the assessment that various members have posted.
You do enough recording over a 25 year period, you pick up on some stuff, I guess.
I believe that a guitar works like an analog synthesizer using a basic waveform, modified by filters and an ADSR envelope. Example: Take an all mahogany guitar, and you have a rich, midrange-prominent waveform. Add a maple cap, and you've removed some midrange, which makes the guitar sound brighter. You haven't added high-end, you've scooped the midrange a little bit. But on balance, the guitar will sound brighter because of that. It works just like a filter on an analog synth.
Go to a semi-hollow or hollow, and what you've done is change the type of base waveform and the type of filter. Now instead of a 12 db/octave, maybe you've got a 24 db/octave with a different shape. And you've got a different kind of resonant filter as well, to accentuate different parts of the frequency band.
Various neck and fingerboard materials will also alter the tone in different ways, and so will scale length, hardware, etc.
Use a different base wood - alder, or ash - and you're going to start with a different waveform. Then the various other parts will further affect that.
Now throw in pickups, which to me is like using a different microphone, and you have more to think about and alter the tone, and that includes modifying the ADSR envelope.
So it's hardly surprising that a Lester sounds different from a typical PRS - the scale length is different, the construction is different, the hardware is different, etc.
I will note that my Stripped 58 sounded a LOT closer to a Lester than my SC58 with ebony board and 53/10s. But it still had its own thing going on, and frankly, I liked it better than any Lester I'd previously owned or played, but then I generally prefer the PRS sound to the Gibson sound anyway.
I also gotta say that what I listen for in a guitar isn't balls, it's harmonic content, and I'd guess that's because when I'm working on a recording, I'm mixing the bass and kick for the balls, and I want to clear a bit of the bottom end out of the guitar tracks so the bass and kick can be heard clearly. I like it when the guitar lives in its own space and doesn't get in the way of the other instruments. And of course, one also needs to make room for vocals, so a guitar that has a little bit of midrange scoop works really well.