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I had a prejudice for many years--hot pickups would be so hot that it would take over the work of the amp. I suppose can be true.
But over time, I've heard Strats and Teles with hot pups. The best "amateur" Strat sound I ever heard came from a Hot Rails in the bridge.
Do you have a Fender with hot pickups in it? What do you think about them?
The only guitar I play regularly that has a hot pickup is my Guild Blues 90. It came with a Duncan Hot 90 neck p/u and a Duncan Custom 90 bridge p/u. I changed the neck pickup to a Duncan antiquity and am using that pickup as kind of channel switching. It works great with my Dr. Z Cure.
The Carvin DC135 that I just bought has a hot Carvin M22 in the bridge. It has kind of a "glossy" '90s tone. I'd like to change that to a Carvin C22B. I really liked that pickup a lot in my Carvin DC150- it had a fat Albert King "sting". It didn't pair well with the neck humbucker so I swapped it to a milder wind.
Both my strats have Custom Shop Fat 50s on them.
I myself don't like hotter pickups on strats, but it's a personal thing.
Two of my custom (ie: home-built) Strats have "hot" pickups installed, in both cases DiMarzio's. These are my "go-to" guitars. The other seven Strats in my collection have a variety of standard Fender sets -- 57/62's, Fat 50's, SCN's, '69s, Robert Cray's, and CS 60's wound by someone whose initials are "AY". I prefer the DiMarzio's for their superior honk and squawk but the Fender-equipped guitars fill a specific sonic need. Of them, I like the Fat 50's best followed by the AY's. Should I ever build another (visions of a '54 clone in Desert Sand w/gold-anodized pickguard dancing around in my head) it will likely feature Fender's Vintage 54's or the Fat 50's.
I'd like to build up another loaded pickguard (or 2 or 3) that use a quick connector for the grounding wire and the output jack wires. I like the Gold Lace Sensors but there are times when I want the real deal strat sound.