i'll throw in my two cents..i have a Brunton,it's a very small burner head with a Piezo lighter that i picked up on sale as a back up on canoe trips.after five years it is now my main stove and the heavy Coleman stays home.the lighter has always worked.
once i had to move the sparker tip just a tiny-tiny bit closer to the burner to get a spark to jump.cleaning the tip with a few strokes of a knife blade kept the rust and crud cleared off.
a Primus Gaz lamps lighting problem was solved the same way and works fine after years of use.
if the burner head is wet i can't get a spark so a lighter fires it up.
also..i have a super cheap--$5--tank lighter.ASG Pocket Torch that i got at a sale to help hospital volunteers.i thought it was sort of junkie but it's replaced my Bic on camping trips.it's Piezo is sort of "iffy" but it's never failed to light.

I might have to try your idea for "sprucing up" a piezo ignition.

The pocket torch sounds cool although my Delta Windmill is also something of a torch. With the Windmill, the problem for me is altitude. It just won't work starting somewhere above 7000'. I'll drive back later in the day to a lower elevation, and everything will be fine. Frustrating since my Windmill is so much better than a Bic.

HJ

I have a piezo igniter on my GSI stove, and the ceramic insulator cracked, resulting in piezo failure. I removed it, and have reverted to either a lighter, or sparklite, for lighting it.
I liked the piezo, but the ceramic, once cracked, rendered it useless. I found out the hard way about that one. So, I would say no; go without one, and use whatever method you choose to light it.