Just called RS and talked to Roy. What a great guy! I've got a set of their Fralin Bassbuckers and a new set of pot, caps, and knobs on the way. We talked tone and output, and you'd probably not be surprised to know that he said many of the same things that we have discussed here regarding Epi LP pickup tone. He said he had briefly owned a late 80's Gibson Les Paul Standard bass and that its US-made pickups weren't much better than what Epi put in their later copy of it. I'll have to ream the pot holes and get new knobs because all the Epi stuff is metric, but I have no problem swapping out the crap pots in there now.
He also cautioned against buying new Gibson pickups because they're overwound to the point of ridiculousness with 16-20k outputs being common! I may be heading to Nashville next month, and was going to see what I could find there, and I'm glad to not have to drop what I'm sure would be a small fortune for pickups if Gibson had any bass models in stock and then have them be worse sounding than what's in there now.
It wasn't a sales pitch either. He made sure to let me know that their Bassbuckers do NOT sound like a Les Paul, but I think I can "make do" with vintage t-Bird toned pickups.
I'm psyched because I bought this bass for three reasons:
1. I just got a much better job, but will still contract at the TV station, but on
my terms.
2. My old band may be getting back together.
3 .Between this forum and my love for the Supersuckers, I've been destined to have a kick ass Gibby-themed axe in my arsenal for years and just now realized it.