I know Im partial, and I havent even installed them yet...but you can get a set of Keystone pickups for $85, the dude invented noiseless pickups. These arent "noiseless", but they are supposed to be damn close and they get stellar reviews online as well, better reviews than the GFS(which I havent tried either).
Having said that though, I really like the stock MIM standard ceramic pups, turn em up to 20 for an almost overdriven tone or roll off the volume to 8-9 for nice clean Strat tones. I like them so much I cant decide which MIM to gut for the Keystones!
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But whats exactly the matter with the pup? You could probably find a used set of MIM pups for less than $40 on ebay...but if its just a simple wire to solder then do that.
But if it makes you feel any better, the bridge pup is my least favorite and it only becomes good if you move the tone pot to the bridge pickup and just take it off the middle pup entirely. Enjoy it til youve got the cash for another set...possitions 1-3 are pretty damn good all by themselves.
Are you able to post any pics? I havent seen a MIM I didnt like yet...even talked myself out of a 3rd one(Craigslist) just this afternoon. Mmmmm, midnight wine....mmmmm!
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[edit]Keystones are also handmade here in USA