the same thing have happened to strings that has happened to pups. Too many good choices!!! A lot of players don't really know enough about string types and their character to make appropriate choices for a particular guitar.
Here's what I mean: do you have a guitar in your collection you don't play because the guitar sound sucks? Tired of the parade of buying the RIGHT pup for your sucky guitar? I found the cheapest, easiest way to dial in that hopeless guitar (before you order a another pup or sell the axe on Ebay... or part it out) and that is to experiment with string types, brand & gauges.
If you can allow your ego to consider that the guitar MAY know better than you what strings work best for what you hear in your head... you may consider letting your guitar choose the strings instead. I've been doing that for years. I found that brands don't matter as much as type & gauge do. It's not the be all & end all to solving the suck factor, but it's the best chance to give a guitar before you condemn it.
I love when players say- I used Ernie Ball strings for years now I'm a lot happier since I switched to D'Addarrio. WTF? EB's & D'A's are made in the same factory, by the same people with the same wire. The only difference is the packaging.
I say if players knew as much or more about string types as they do about the rest of the tone chain... you would at least know how to go about solving certain tonal issues with a particular guitar. We all know strings are a part of a very, very long chain of tone. What string works best for you, your guitar AND your set up and playing style ... nobody knows but you. So if you don't know to start... well you start with that expensive parade of pups, amps and etc. whatever...
Once a guy brought in a guitar to a music store (where I worked) to trade off that he was unhappy with. His complaint to me was that it was hard to play, and he couldn't get enough mids & highs out of it. I gave him a chord and told him to go plug into an amp and set the amp's tone stack similar to his rig. I sat and watched him play and complain.
I asked him what kind of stings do you use? Elixer's he said. How long have you had those strings on I asked? 4 months he said. I asked to see his pick... it was a medium thin nylon pick. I asked to look at his guitar... there was enough relief in the neck for a sunday newspaper.
We corrected the relief, put on a set of stainless steel round wounds and I had him use a heavy celluloid pick. He found himself rolling off the mids & treble off the amp. He paid for the strings, bought some picks thanked me and left. That's when I decided to write this:
http://www.colestevens.net/id22.html
the treatment is unfinished... but it will allow you to learn more about strings that I was fortunate enough to learn from working in music retail for 6 years and getting more free strings from manufacturers than a boy deserves. So if you are picking out your strings because you like the pretty orange colors on the package you need to do yourself a favor like I did.
Oh yeah... I use EXL110 also.... ha!