I'm currently working on a theory, that for the SE CU 24 (or SE Trem Bridge) at least , the upgrade to the bridge should be made perhaps before the pickups...
A lesson I learned (and philosophy I adopted as an Audiofly) ... Is that the source components are the most important in your system ,as they determine how much and how accurate a signal gets passed on to the more "attractive" components like amplifiers and speakers that actually only represent "potential". If the signal is lost at the source (the turntable, back when I adopted the philosophy) it is lost forever, and amps and speakers cannot correct for it.
The bridge, is a crucial piece of guitar infrastructure (along with the nut and tuners) and ultimately provide the ability of the strings to provide signal to pickups (think amp/ speakers) Yeah , I know the pickups are essentially microphones ... and "bad signal" in ? They will only amplify what they are fed...
Replacing pickups definitely make a difference. I've already done that on one SE CU 24 . (Indo made) .But I'm going to do the bridge on the other , and leave the pickups in place (that happen to be Korean G&B as the guitar is Korean made) ... and I'll see ultimately what they sound like , before I move to upgrade them. The idea being, to know ultimately what the stock pickup sounds like, before I off them ...
I'm figuring John Manns' killa dilla, 100% brass 2040 bridge (I even went with X-Rated , Unplated, Nekkid, Raw Brass saddles) will get that goal accomplished