My own preference when buying a guitar is for the instrument to have no factory-installed electronics, so that I can have the pickups of my choice added to them. I generally haven't been very impressed with the sound of most factory-installed pickups.
I do get pickups put into any guitar I might use onstage. The bulk of the playing in public that I've done in recent years has been at my weekly church gig, where we have a nice live room and plugging into the board or into an amp isn't necessary: area mics pick up the sound just fine.
But sometimes at church I'll plug in if I'm fingerpicking a quiet passage, and I sure like having the option. I played at a festival on Saturday where plugging in was essential - I wouldn't have been fully heard without it.
Hope that makes sense.
Wade Hampton Miller
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