Bout to go to sleep, but was gonna just add to the discussion before I go. At one point I was wearing, Grand company axe, body, hands, belt, ring, feet, legs, and hat... now this is 8 peices... but for some reason, I wasn't getting my stat bonuses. But, when I took off my belt, and went down to 7 pieces, I got all my stats. I don't know why this was the case, but I eventually took off my grand company belt, and replaced it with a dungeon belt, and ended up getting all my stats...
I also noticed that if i took off the belt I got my stat bonus, and if i put the belt on, and took off the ring I got all my stat bonuses, but not with them both on. So I sacrificed the belt for the ring, and just wore another belt. Don't know why 8 pieces were to much... Maybe its a cap or something.