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First, the key difference:
We all learn strumming early on, because it makes sense when playing alone. You can strum a simple song, sing along and get a decent result. As skills progress, you find that regular strumming does not fit very well into an arrangement or mix of other instrument. It takes up a lot of aural space for the interest if provides. An electric guitar greatly extends the possibilities, since the extra volume allows us to play almost anything, even subtle little lines and still hang in mix with horns, drums and so on.

Next, here are a few variations that you might try:

1. Thrumming power chords - using just the heaviest 3 strings, play all downstrokes on some simple power chords, keeping good time. For instance, Pachelbel's canon in D is a natural for this kind exercise: D, A, Bmin, G, D, G, A, etc. Try it with just a smidge of overdrive and palm-muting for cool thumpa-thumpa tone.

2. Ska skanking - using the bridge pickup and a thin, clean tone, try some quick up strokes on off beats, on the skinny strings. Something like "Watching the detectives". Amin, F, Amin, F, C, G, C, G, etc

3. Some U2 style 'scubbing' using a bright tone with a little delay. "In the name of love (pride)" is a good example. Or you could try a descending riff, like in "Just like heaven" by the Cure. It perofrms the same duty as a strumming pattern for keeping time, but takes up less space in the mix, since it is a single note run.

4. Lastly, try some hybrid picking. Hold a pick normally but add in fingerpicking using your ring and middle fingers. This is popular in country music and really makes basic chords sound nice. You will also hear it in everything from Beatles tunes to alternative.

Actually, once you get the hang of the technique, you can do it on an acoustic. Distortion just helps the wild, high insect noises really pop out.

I suspect you are thinking of feedback. You often hear it at the end of a sustained note. It happens when the amp is loud enough to cause a feedback loop through the guitar body and pickups. You can accomplish this at somewhat lower volumes by touching the headstock to the speaker cabinet as a note sustains. Lots of preamp gain will also make controlled feedback easier to get.

Alternately, you may be hearing 'false harmonics' like in many ZZ Top recordings. This is accomplished by choking up on the pick so that only a little of it sticks out between your fingers and thumb. When you pick, allow the flesh of yoru thumb to follow the pick and just brush the string. With a gainy tone, this will generate crazy harmonic tones that will be one or even two octaves above the fretted note. At times, the tone is not even musically related to the fretted note.

Triple the output, I'd guess. Lipstick pickups are low output single coils with about 6k ohms of windings and Alinco II magnets. Ibanez has some different humbuckers,  including one sort of vintage model (58), but most are pretty warm. Esp. those on the pointier guitars.

EMG has multiple lines of pickups. The popular ones, the ones they are known for, are active. The 81 and 85 are active, use a battery and are widely used for teh metalz. They also have a variety of, cheaper, passive pickups that sound like typical budget models.

I have repaired lots of my own guitars and built a number of them from scratch, but I would take an investment grade instrument to a skilled luthier. Repairing valuable instruments is similar to restoring fine art. A proper repair has little to no impact on value. A poorly executed repair greatly reduces market value.

This guy is an expert or repairing vintage Martins:
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/pagelist.html

While a new side might be required, many side cracks can be repaired with a silk, linen or parchment patch, soaked in instrument grade hide glue applied to the inside. The external void can be filled with a lacquer stick, color matched to the wood. These steps are 1. compatible with the original materials and 2. reversible should other work be required.

If it were me, I would want to try several in my price range. No matter the brand, I would want a guitar that sounds fairly loud and clear unplugged, with a neck profile that feels good in my hand and that will play in tune. I could always update the pickups, for different tones, but the neck is the heart of the beast.

As for amps, I would look for a good clean tone, at the loudest volume that I would generally need. There are lots of ways to get distorted tones (pedals, modeling,etc) but you can not add headroom. If an amp breaks up too soon, all you can do is shop for another model with more wattage.

I do not think poly finishes will ever get the tiny cracks ("crazing") that old nitro finishes get. I also doubt that the cracks themselves are the source of any tonal improvement. They are just a sign that the finish has shrunk and hardened to a very thin, glass-like state that is less able to resist vibration. Poly finishes, like marine or spar varnish, skin over but remain pliable on the inside and so damp more vibration. The film is much thicker too.

That said, I don't feel that the finish is even in the top 5 of things that make one guitar sound better than another. For a solidbody, pickups have to be near the top of the list along with the specific stick of wood. The different species definately bring their own color to your tone. Even between parts made from the same species there are major differences in density and resonance. If you build a guitar from scratch, as you begin 'tap tuning' the parts, you will be amazed at the differences between say, 2 mahogany neck blanks.

Lastly, a guitar that feels really good inspires the player. The neck profile, fret finishing, fretboard radius, weight and hang all impact how a guitar feels. That is why I say, when you decide on a model you like, try to play 10 or 12 of them to find the one that has that little bit of magic for you.

Poly does not normally yellow with age, like lacquer. You can tint it, or dye the wood prior to finishing.

Some people have experimented with using strong UV, from a bed at a tanning salon, to age/color factory guitar finishes. Others wipe on brown shoe polish, then buff it off to leave a slight yellow tint.

My 12 year-old son plays a left-handed strat copy, but school makes him play cello right handed. All of the bows must move in the same direction, they say, to avoid collisions.

I am a bit of a vintage snob, I must admit. If you doubt the difference, play a 50's tele and a modern reissue back to back. You can't deny that those old guitars can play like butter and sound glorious. That said, I build guitars from modern parts or modifiy stock models to closely approximate the keys parts of that sound and feel. It can be done without tons of trouble.
One important part of the puzzle, after wood quality and pickups is the finish. After playing lacquer finished guitars for any length of time, modern poly finished guitars feel awful, plastic-y and cold. They sound muted and dead.

Do you know the radius of the fingerboard?
Lots of vintage guitars, with a small radius (7.5 - 9.5") will "fret out" on bent notes, esp. above the 12th fret. That is whay newer guitars have a larger radius (12") or a compound radius (12-16"). That gives you a flatter fretboard overall and with a compouond radius, it gets even flatter as you move up the neck. Though, first position chords are more comfortable on a smaller radius neck.

If I had to bet, I would guess that one of the higher frets was not properly dressed at the factory, or was not fully seated. If you see a fret (above the 18th) with a tiny visible gap between it and the board, you could try tapping it gently with a plastic headed hammer to seat it. If you sight down the neck, from the bridge end, and see a fret that is too high (proud), you can block sand it with 320, 400 & 600. That will make the top flat, so you'll need to re-round it with fine sand paper or synthetic steel wool without out a block.