2+2's Lead Guitar Players, Help Please.

[burningyen]

Sounds like you're on the right track by letting your ears be the final judge. On pickups, I don't think your guitar heros use souped-up high-output pickups. VH1 was recorded using an old Gibson PAF pickup, EJ uses vintage Strat single coils, and Beck uses noiseless Fender single coils. A lot of the thickness of the tone is determined by how you tweak the tone knobs on your guitar, amp and pedals. DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan and Rio Grande make good affordable PAF-type pickups. Just don't get the Seth Lover, which will tend to squeal at high gain. My guess is you'll end up with something like a Duncan '59 or a DiMarzio PAF.