Sadly, I only have two modest Strats on deck, and am looking to possibly mod them with better pickups, or better, loaded pickups as pots and caps are of average quality, I think. We have:

SX Strat: I like the guitar, stock pickups are not that bad, but I wonder how much better it could become with interesting, juicy SSS pickups?

Other is a Freecycle Mako (1980s, Japan/Korea, possiblyrelated to Hondo?), very resonant old wood, nice maple neck! It could also use some new wiring

Looking for suggestions for pickups (assuming I improve soldering skills!) or loaded pickups (Carvin, Dragonfire, and like) for the above. Not thinking about spending too much on this, even though it would be interesting to see what would turn up with fancier pickups?