Headstocks: yep, appearances are subjective. One likes a blonde ... blondes are a dime a dozen where I live....
Neck wood and sustain: talking about Fender style guitars, you have a bolt-on maple neck. The main difference is how much maple there is. I could swear that my chunky necked partscaster sustains better than my slim(ish) necked Stratocaster - the old neck-through Ibanez (thin neck laminate with 3 pieces maple, 2 pieces walnut) probably sustains even better.
If more weight in the headstock is desirable, locking tuners are surely the only way to go