RTP-area local music and culture

[Chris Rossi <rossi AT webslingerZ.com>]

Hey.  I've got a Les Paul studio with microphonic pick ups.  Piercing 
feedback with any kind of gaininess in the signal at all, even mild 
overdrive.  I'd like to replace them but am having a hard time tracking 
down any good info.  So far everyone I've called on the phone falls into 
one of two categories:

  1) Uh, we got some pickups on our wall that say "Gibson" on them.  I 
don't know if they'd work in a Les Paul.

  2) We have these sweet sounding boutique pickups for $230/pair.

I'd rather buy from somebody who at the very least knows what it is 
they're selling and speak about it intelligently.  Or failing that, I'm 
hoping maybe somebody here who knows more about guitar pick ups than I 
do will point me to some info that would enable me to make a decently 
informed choice and maybe even some place employing intelligent informed 
people willing to sell them to me.

As a point of reference, I'd rather have a sweet toneful pick up than 
something with a really hot output.  That's what the gain on my amp is 
for.  In all likelihood these Lindy Fralin pick ups for $230 would sound 
fantastic, but that's a lot of dough.  Maybe just the stock replacement 
parts from Gibson would be fine, but I can't even find those on the 
Gibson web site, much less info anywhere else.  Anybody?

I started to get into this several months ago and walked into a local 
store and asked the guy there what they had in pick ups for Les Paul 
style guitars.  He picked up a set of pickups and said, "These."  I 
asked, "Why?"  And he goes, "That's what I use."  I didn't buy from that 
guy.

Thanks for any help,

rossi