Just found a eric clapton sig series for 1200 and a billy corgan sig for 1000. The clapton is only an hour away. What are your feeling on both of these guitars? I am not familiar with pickups in general. The corgan specs are
1 Special Design Dimarzio® Billy Corgan Single-Spaced Humbucking Pickup (Neck),
1 Dimarzio® Chopper™ Pickup (Middle),
1 Special Design Dimarzio® Billy Corgan Single-Spaced Humbucking Pickup (Bridge)

And the clapton has 3 Vintage Noiseless™ Pickups (Neck, Middle, Bridge)

See thats the thing, I don't play metal. I do play rock though. I really want something that will perform well for hard rock but also have a very good clean sound.

Clapton guitar, hands down. Strat's are best with single coils. Those vintage noiseless are awesome. Unless you want a more darker, metal tone of the humbucker...

Can those pickups be changed out for something else down the road if I wanted to?

Those are damn good prices in today's market for Artist Series instruments. You should play both to get a feel for the necks and the tonal ranges of the pickups.

The Clapton circuit has a 25db preamp powered by a battery stowed in the trem rout behind the back plate and is activated through the jack when the cable is inserted. The preamp level is controlled by the lower 'tone' pot and will turn the guitar from mild mannered clarkstrat to superstrat as you increase the level. The upper tone pot is called a TBX (treble/bass cut). There's a midpoint detente (stop) at 5 where both extremes are balanced. Counter-clockwise from that point, the lows are emphazed, and clockwise from there, the highs. The trem is stopped by a wood block because EC prefers to play it as a hardtail(non-trem), but the block can be removed and the trem set to float if that's what you prefer. Itis not a divebomber type of trem. It is vintage strat design as is the bridge and block. Basically a '57 Stratocaster with a secret identity. The Corgan is only non-trem.

The Corgan pickups, for sure, are hotter and offer an interesting mix of pickup combinations. The Clapton pickups are called Vintage Noiseless, basically stacked humbucking pickups, which EC feels gives him a vintage tone w/o 60 cycle hum issues. The Corgan neck is a C, the Clapton is a modified V-neck, slightly slimmer than the conventional Fender V-neck. It sports a smaller headstock, while the Corgan offers the larger 70's look which some peope prefer in that they see it as more wood and better sustain.

Both are available in black orwhite. The Clapton is also available in Pewter, Red, and Green.

Let us know which one you gave a home.

Doc.