Classics are amazing. For their price you can still afford to get new pickups (a must with these ones) and replace the inlays if they bother you. The yellow ones are just terrible, the green not so bad.
Man we are similar, fellow Helix user lol, I have noiseless in my strat as well. I really like them. They handle gain well, loud, nice percussive quality. I think they work on a strat, but I want something mellower for the tele. I'm contemplating some Antiquities.
I gut the pickups and electronics in all my LPs. I wouldn't get hung up on the which Gibson pickups they are, they're all terrible in my opinion aside from 57's in a 335. Any boutique brand will be better Wolftone, Zhangbucker, WCR, Lollar, Fralin etc.
To people who say I'm nuts, I'm open to being corrected. But I still haven't read a refutation that isn't just name calling. Yes, the older ones were just as heavy, but the counter argument is that a denser piece of wood could weigh as much as less dense piece that's full of water. That would...
My advise for anyone looking for a Les Paul would be the following:
1) Try get something from 2008 or earlier if possible. 2009 is when Gibson really went downhill imo. Not to say that they're all bad but my experience is the quality is more consistent on the before 2009.
2) Stay away from...