I have a sneaking suspision that EC plays the spec's he's told to. I remember reading some tale of a photo of him playing (i think) a rickenbacker was used in a mag. Fmic went mad, threatened legal action all the usuall hysteria. Note all his original guitars went to charity, doesnt sound like someone attatched to his instruments. Certainly the clapton strat owes more to gibson sounds than it does fender. Particularly the way he uses it with the mid on 10 and gain controlled by the volume pot.
Lets face a fact here. Claptons endorsement of lace pickups is void as he doesnt use them anymore. Does that mean that vintage noiseless are better? I certainly find that hard to believe.

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No no and no