Maybe he means passive vs active since that’s a more common question than the actual wiring?
Like said before, most pickups are passive. Just a magnet (or two if humbucker) with coil wire wrapped around it. Basically, mini generators.
A passive pickup’s output is dependent on the amount of wraps and kind of wire used. You want a high output passive pickup? Wrap lots of wire. Less output? Less wraps. Side effect of making a hot passive pickup, is that it becomes noisy, and the high and mids lose definition.
An active pickup is exactly the same, except that it uses less wire, and it has a preamp that’s powered by a 9v battery. The power of the pre amp is what dictates the pickup’s output.
The advantages of an active pickup is their whisper quiet operation, and resistance to amp feedback. You can runs tons of distortion and volume with an active pickup and keep the feedback at bay.
On paper, active pickups are better in every way, but tone is in the eye of the beer holder.
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