I actually just found last night those default equipment set stat calls. Interestingly, you can use any equipment set that already exists in Origins or Shared for equipment start or preview. I am wondering why we can't call from our newly created stats, hence posting this in troubleshooting.
So Hybrid, you had success copying them to your stat calls and overwriting them through your mod? I did not think of trying that. Gonna go give that shot to use my own equipment in the preview.. and try editing one of the default starting equipment fields as well. Thanks!