As it turns out, a couple of new strings is all my guitars needed to sound like themselves and at their best again. I don't believe that changing strings in of itself has that dramatic an effect on your tone, because I honestly find that my guitars still sound good even with a bunch of dirt and even some rust on them. I think the sound of new strings is overrated. Of course, I may just be used to the sound of old dirty strings, thus coming to prefer it...
No, I think what it was was that with missing strings, what I was capable of playing was decidedly stifled. I play all over the neck (as is best, I think), so I'm acutely aware of the different tones I get according to where on the neck I play the note, and all the different phrasings I can achieve. Losing a string cuts me off from a huge amount of these options, and I love running free with my solos. So I think that had a psychological effect on me, causing the feel of the guitar to change. Restoring the strings restored the feel that allows me to make the guitar sound its best.
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