Only three guitars exist that I can stand without any additional mods - Vintage Jaguars, jazzmasters, and Mustangs. I dunno what it is but any and all three will eat a metal guitar for breakfast with a well set up amp.
As far as modding goes, EMG's in my Jag-Stang was an idea I had beforehand more for looks than anything else (though I do like the sound of EMG pickups a great deal). The primary reason was that due to the plain covers, they looked in tone with the regular Mustang stylistically, which I prefer. This was way back in the day before one could get plain covers for guitar pickups easily. Guitar parts sales have come a long way from the mid 1990's, I remember when nobody made Jag, Jazzmaster, Mustang parts of any kind, and the only guitars you could find parts were for the same ol' 4 (Strat, Tele, Les Paul, and Generic Gibson). I seldom anymore mod anything unless it's missing features I need/want, or has terrible visual or mechanical aesthetics.
My modded Jaguar and Jag-Stang both were flukes, I bought the Jag unseen and unplayed with the idea of ripping it up, and redoing it with a black pickup and hot-wound Jaguar pickups, as well as the replacement for the TOM (a Stock Jag bridge).
The Jag-Stang was already I'd say 90% modded when I bought it, and I added a few other features in time (tone switch, one switch pickup selection, treble bleed cap, custom bend in the bar).
My Mustang, on the other hand, is pretty well stock except the color, which is one of my favorites. The major selling point on the Mustang was the same as the Jag-Stang, it's sound. I wanted a Mustang that was distinctively a Mustang, but stable enough in the feedback department I could veer off into heavy metal territory without any mods and catch some mean feedback assisted sustain. I dunno what Fender did to pot their pickups in 66', but I'm sure Brian May would approve.
