[Charlie Bernstein]

Seems worth a try. What's the worst that could happen?

The amp matters, of course. But the biggest single improvement you can make to the sound of the guitar itself is probably refinishing it. What you have is most likely thick poly — cheap, but a tone killer. So if you like the guitar and are really ambitious, you could strip it (there could be as much as a pound of poly on there) and refinish it in rattle-can nitro or thin hand-rubbed poly.

There are lots of YouTubes that will show you how.