PAF Vintage Tone? Not for everyone...

Apropos PAF…

Saw an ad just the other day of someone selling a set of PAF ("Patent Applied For") guitar pickups from a 50-something vintage (so he says) Gibson Les Paul.
One thousand dollars ($1'000.--) may be about 1 percent of the value of a real, vintage 1958 Les Paul, but put in the perspective of a reissue, refinish, replica instrument, this sum becomes outright ridiculous.
A set of $1000 pickups will not make your guitar sound 100 times better, just fractionally so.
Stories abound about the fact that the folks at Hamer Guitars are sitting on a ton of old PAF pickups that in the early 70s old Gibson owners were swapping out for newer and more "modern" (LOL) Di Marzios, Bill Lawrences, etc.
Most of those users probably did the wrong thing - but many probably found their tone to be lacking something, maybe warmth, maybe power... who knows.
A "Real PAF" is not the ultimate tone panacea - it's just a piece of (albeit important) modern music history.

In my personal experience I’ve seen boutique pickups *adding* to the overall tone of the instrument – the best results falling squarely on the shoulders of the best builds.

Who would I turn to in alternative?

Here’s my personal list:
Tom Holmes
Harry Häussel
Jason Lollar
Lindy Fralin
WCR
Harmonic Design
BareKnuckles
Wolfetone
And if I must:
Di Marzio
Seymour Duncan (caveat: I only like the Seth Lover – you’re warned)

I haven’t heard great things about PRS pups for some reason, and in any case I’d steer away from EMGs if the scope of the pickup upgrade is to obtain a better sounding „classic“ instrument.

One test for excellence…
Crank your amp to a nice overdrive, pickup volume full on.
Now roll down the volume on your guitar and see if
a)you manage to clean the overdrive
b)your clean sound (with the rolled down volume) retains the overall feeling and dynamics of the full output.

I’ve tried the trick on a $6'000 1994 Tom Murphy Les Paul into the ‚57 The Twin reissue amp.
Result?
Disappointing.
I kept my $$$ in my pocket – I’ll be looking to get both a Nik Huber (already in preorder status) and Gustavsson instead…