Guitar Pickups! Does it matter or is it all perception?

Not be difficult, but I think you would have to define "matters"....yes, of course they make a large change in tone and response going from worst to best....or lowest to highest output...or such. But, I think as a player you kind of have to decide how much it "matters". A lot of it IS how it responds. If you're asking if it matters in some "once it's put through ten pedals and EQd and recorded with a 57"....ehh....not as much as everything else. But, once you get to the level of guitar where the fretwork is consistent (thus intonation is solid up and down the neck)....pickups make the difference. Then wood. An Ash stray will always have different response than Alder. Not objectively better or worse...but different....and within the ash family, there will be variance pice to piece--actually, there's less variance in alder, which is the bigger selling point, I think....consistency.

You could come play my Heritage 535....which, due to the original owner's ignorance of such has a stock Seymour Duncan in the bridge and some generic Gibson Alinco replacement in the neck. If you couldn't hear the difference (beyond the obvious placement) I'd call you deaf. I've been meaning to call them and find out what Duncan was originally in the neck....but, honestly, I don't use the neck enough for it to be a priority.

But, yes....pickups....cap values....pot values....it all makes a difference. Arguably more so with single coils that are a little wider frequency response and lower output to begin with....

Wood and pickups, those are the only two major factors in tone. IMO pickup choice is critical in what it is you're looking for. Some give my attack, some are smooth, some are just gnarly as hell, I mean pick your poison. When I had my pickups made by Mojotone I just told them what I wanted my Tele to play like and they sent me a set that did exactly what I asked for. I highly recommend that company if anyone is looking for pickups for any guitar. They'll over/under wind them, different magnet combo's.... and the build quality is excellent.

Heck ya, pups make all the difference in the world. I bought a Gretsch Black Falcon that had stock pups in it. I played it for a year and enjoyed it. When I learned about TV Jones and his pups, I chose his best single coils and had a tech pop them in.

Truthfully, it became a totally different guitar with enhanced growl, spank and jangle. It was a minor league to major league kind of change.

Humbuckers, FWIW....I've never bothered to look beyond Seymour Duncan....I have had a number of different models my whole life as a player--they all sound "right" to me. I realize there are some handwound boutique companies now, but....they seem a lot like an answer to a question no one was asking.

....meanwhile, for singles...companies like Dimarzio and the Fender Custom Shop do a nice job on a budget....but, whether it's Lindy Fralin or Lollar--there are just magically good single out there in boutique land.

But, it's about match to the guitar....100%. Which is why I don't mention models.

"Vintage" style guitar pickups have fewer turns of wire, that's the classic sound. Most all aftermarket pickups are overwound to add more output so the kiddies can distort their amps.

This is a jazz guitar, I wouldn't take rec's from rockers too seriously. If you want the 1950's Gibson jazz box sound, a Gibson Burstbucker 1 will do nicely. It's 7800 ohms DC resistance, like the originals. Use 500k ohm Bourns conductive plastic volume and tone pots, they will also help.

I almost always change pickups. For me it is often more a matter of response and feel than just tone. There's a good bit of leeway twisting knobs to help dial in tone but if the guitar doesn't speak back to me it's all a futile exercise. This all assuming all other variables are working together as well, guitar wood, amp, humidity, barometric pressure, the efficiency of neural synapses firing on the given day...

I like Gibson's Burstbucker pickups, I have various versions of them in all of my humbuggie guitars, along with their P-90s in another.

Pickups make a huge difference, they can "make" or "break" an instrument's sound and response. All of my cheaper guitars and basses get high end pickups to bring them where I want them. The higher end guitars often get pickup tweaking as well.

If you care what compressor, monitors, or conversion you use, you should give the same consideration to your instruments' sounds. From pickups all the way through to pedals, amplifiers, and what speakers are in your speaker cabinets. Once you get a great sound dialed in you won't be the only one who notices. It's a very satisfying process. I find that tweaking an instrument is one of the most gratifying projects out of all DIY type things. It's the most immediate concern to a musician, the instrument in the hand, giving the sound off of your fingers to the room.  Working on an instrument just seems so passionate and artistic where working on a recording device feels so white coat Abbey Road which is different but cool as well.