Re: HB-102 Friend or Foe?
I've had that set in an LTD Viper, LTD M100, Schecter 006, and Ibanez AX-something. The HB102b that came stock in the Schecter totally kicked ass. The one from the Viper (which went into the other LTD & Ibanez) totally ate balls. They are inconsistent, in that, some are almost identical to JBs, and some are awful.
I don't really think you should base the decision of whether or not to buy the guitar on the stock pickups. There's ALWAYS somebody getting rid of a JB on the Trading Post or Ebay for pretty cheap.