Guitar pickups are all about tone. Tone is nothing more than a personal preference. How do you get to where you want to be? Machine or hand wound?

I find that machine wound pickups can lack character and clarity. When I want that vintage tone hand wound is where it's at for me. A machine is set to wind the same every time where as hand wound factors in the human element. A different scatter every time adds character to the pickup.

The Difference in Guitar Pickups Output

Pictured here are Zexcoil Convertible noiseless pickups. Sometimes noiseless is the way to go because in certain situations the sixty-cycle hum of a vintage style pickup is unbearable. These seem to be of higher output but retain the vintage tone. Normally the higher the output, the darker sounding the pickup will be... but not with these. Once again, its all up to preference of the player. You may want soaring lead tones without a lot of brightness. In that case, a higher output would be in order. Or, you may want a Stevie Ray Vaughan tone, where clarity is the most important element. In that case, a weaker pickup would be what you need.