I bought an EBMM Cutlass HSS in 2019, since removing the bridge cover and putting all five springs on the tremolo to lock it down I love the play-ability of the guitar for myself. I had to abandon my guitar of 26 years as working with my hands have caused them to show more signs of aging than the rest of my body, at least to this point in my life, and the smaller neck on the cutlass allows for more playing time, but I question the pickups. The following statement is in Ernie Balls description:
"The Cutlass is loaded with two custom Ernie Ball Music Man mid-'60s-style single-coil pickups. But thanks to the installed active wide-spectrum Silent Circuit, you'll enjoy hum- and buzz-free performance."
I don't find this statement to be accurate at all, they sound pretty good but I've wondered for sometime if there is a set of pickups that might actually be more on the silent side. I'd also like to be able to split the humbucker, if I can find one that has a good single coil sound when split or maybe change over to a sss configuration with a slightly hotter bridge. I've been looking at the Fishman Fluence pickups which wouldn't be a hard swap since I have a battery compartment already in the cutlass, and the MojoTone quiet coil pickups. I recently watched a video that had silent pickups that looked and sounded like single coils but were actually a stacked humbucker, but for the life of me I can't remember what pickups they were. I know this is a very subjective topic as it is a personal sound choice that varies by individual taste, but I still value opinions of those who have had experience with alternatives to the stock pickups I have now.