I'd have to agree with the poster who pointed out that different pickups work for different styles of music, different amounts of gain, different players, different amps, etc. Obviously, the opinions in this thread simply reflect of the tastes of the people posting, and they're going to vary. In fact, it's likely that they change over time as people play different styles over the years.
With that, I'd agree that the 57/08s are incredible pickups. I love them in the Stripped 58 and CU22 SH Ltd., two very different guitars. That tells me that they really ARE wonderful! I'm also a big fan of the Artist V pickups. Their clarity and openness is wonderful, and they split beautifully. Gotta also give props to the Soapbars the PRS offered; I believe they were Duncans (?) but in any event they suited my guitars well.
The PRS pickups that worked least well for me were the ones that came with my old Artist II (I think they were just called "Artist" pickups; I kept wishing for something a little more vintage sounding), and the #6 pickups that came in the Singlecut Trem. I also had a hard time finding tones I liked with the #6s. Again, not saying either of these were bad at all, just not for me. And that's why PRS offers alternative choices, of course, as do third party manufacturers.
I never had a hard time with the ones that came in the Customs and Custom 22s over the years, and I liked the McCarty pickups a lot.
Next up will be 53/10s.
