Before tossing the stock pickups, there's a couple of tweaks that might be worth trying out (unless you're going for a specific tone which only a new pu can give). If a neck humbucker is too dark, it's possible to make it brighter by lowering it and raising the adjustable poles to what the pu originally was when flush; or wiring a .047µf capacitor in series between the pickup's hot lead and switch terminal/pot lug. People on here have also swapped the magnets around in these V pickups (the 7 is ceramic and 8 alnico) with success.
Which Duncan is in the bridge? There's so many good aftermarket pickups out there, it depends on what kinds of music you play and what sort of response/feel/output you're going for.
Just for information; Im absolutely not trying to "call you out" or anything silly like that; just some misinformation I'd like to address is all. No offense intended what so ever mate.
I dont really understand how the "magnet swap" got so prolific. It literally does "nothing" (as long as your pickup is height adjustable and has adjustable poles). If the magnet is the same size (it is) all youre changing is the strength of the magnetic field. Theres no "musicality" to a magnet; its just a function of its magnetic field strength... and thats it lol (Im not addressing physical properties like permeability, heat resistance, degaussing resistance, etc its just entirely not applicable). Have a ceramic magnet and want that "silky smooth alnico 5 tone"? Lower your pickup a bit and raise your pole pieces. No, really. Stronger magnet = stronger field applied to the strings. Raising pickup also raises self capacitance; which "can" change the tone (its attenuating more frequencies. This is why I mentioned lowering pickup and raising pole pieces. It mimics the "location" of the alnico in comparison) Inverse square law works to our favor here; as small changes have relatively "dramatic" effect. That said, capacitance distance is linear, and magnetic flux by distance is exponential; the differences are going to be EXTREMELY small. In fact, the length of your cable absolutely will have more effect. It literally is "this simple", and no, theres no "but what about..." here. Faraday, Lenz, and Maxwell's LAWS do not care about your perceptions of tone lol. That said, if youre stuck with body mounted humbucker and want to change the output; then sure go nuts. Alnico magnets are VERY easily damaged and degaussed, the effects will be extremely minimal, and its a relatively big pain in the butt. Want to play around? Swap your v7 and v8. Why not? You already dont like them; maybe a position swap would be dope?
There are so many ways to play with pickups... I understand the nature of wanting to swap magnets; buzzwords by manufacturers that are propagated by ... "traditional" guitarists; we've all heard it. "The sweet smooth tones of the alnico 5" and "ceramic is cold and shrill"... thats all crap though; but fundamentally swapping magnets does seem somewhat "intuitive". Its just not really that simple Im afraid.
Id like to avoid "proving it" for now, but if I must.... lol. Messing with heights and playing with pole pieces can really have a pretty noticeable, and potentially largely positive, effect. Pickup heights can seriously dramatically change the output. That said, the lions share of a pickups "voice" comes from the winds; the rest of the equation obviously matters; but thats really the major factor here.
As long as it has a super wizard, youre gucci.
