personaly i cant get to grips ( so to speak ) with that finger thumb thing. when your saying about small and precise finger movements, and you got everything on low rates you have no where near enough control.
i've been racing cars for many years and i've got a good feel for what my thumbs are doing, even tho its instinct and i have no idea what they do down there, and if i think i bet i'll crash
the tranny sticks have a little tension but not much, and i hate test flying peoples planes with weird sticks. it feels all wrong, i dont want to feel the stick, i want to feel the plane, ( yes i know its weird to say that, maybe some others know what i mean )
my setups are normally high rates, very little negitive expo, just to help with low level.
The help so far is very sound, my first take offs were staggers into the air then i would point it down and fly, much easier to have a ground bullet and pull up
As far as set up go, i would move the CofG back, tank empty it should be level, only nose down tank 1/2 to full. this is making your planes responce less when you take off heavy.
Take some of the tension off the sticks, your thinking about the tranny and fighting it, and maybe just thumb flying will help. you want to forget you have that thing in your hands.
Add some more rates so you can correct the yaw and have ailerons that work closer to stalling speed.
Some planes need rudder and aileron comb to turn nice, i test flew a cub the other week and i made that climb out look so untidy, damn thing was just going sideways on ailerons till i played with rudder too.

I agree with everything that has been said, but just wanted to add a little more responsive plane might help. mine are set up like this, i dont normally use all the stick during flight, and use my own built in expo.