Hot
Personally, I use vintage pickups and hot pickups and like the differences in sound.
I like hot pickups like the SH-4 JB humbucker, pasive, because of it's great tone even though it's high output.
And I like other high output pickups, like the "hot rails" and the 'lil 59, as well as duncan designed and other unidentified hot pups.
One thing I noticed though concerning really hot pickups is that I tried putting them in an inexpensive Epi LP II or Special and they worked like microphones to magnify the noise that was present in the circuit. I didn't like that and took them out put the old ones back in and returned the guitar for something else at GC like a trans cherry '66 SG Epi copy called a "SOR" for the movie Sound of Rock. That turned out to be a great guitar. Pickguard all the way under the pickups like on a strat. Fabulous tone guitar. Played like five SG copies and a Gibson SG that day and it sounded noticeably better than the other four, maybe more. That's why I say guitars are dynamic things, there are a lot of things that go into the sound of any single guitar all the way from individual parts, to joint matching, to individual wood quality, to neck wood quality and grain, bonding of the fretboard, strings, nuts, bridges, saddle material, pickup assembly, completed assembly, set up, grounding, wiring and electrical component quality, soldering and solder joints, neatness, attention to detail, etc.
That partial list is a long list and every element, in my opinion, contributes to how the guitar will ultimately sound. Maybe even some mistakes along the way contribute to that guitar we think sounds so great: the one.
Back to the subject. The Epi inexpensive LP Special or II sounded noisy with the high output pickups in it and the wiring and soldering looked good. Maybe it just need different capacitors to handle the higher output, but the pickups magnified the electrical noise, hum, etc., of the guitar to the point that I felt I'd have to take it to a tech and have it completely rewired. I could probably do it myself now, with the added experience I now have. It sounded like a grounding problem. Something I probably could have tracked down. Plus on an inexpensive guitar like this I should have replaced the pots and switch anyway. How's that quote go: "Experience teaches us things we wish we didn't know". Not sure if I got that right.
I think I'll get an inexpensive project guitar and see if I can turn it into something that sounds really good. Maybe another inexpensive LP or LP copy. Or a cheap flying V or Explorer type, these are hard to find inexpensively.
I really enjoy fixing up guitars and changing out pickups and things like that.
So, experience taught me that you can't just buy a cheap guitar and throw great pickups in it and have it sound great, all the time. You might get lucky, but if the rest of the rig isn't up to it the hot pickups will work like microphones to magnify the noise that the low output pickups didn't detect or reproduce anyway.
A great sounding set of hot pickups is really a thrill though, I must say that.
On the other hand some of my guitars have low output humbuckers and single coils and they sound really great and tonefull; not that a good hot pup can't sound toneful - try a SD JB or '59 or Jazz.
Duffy
