Seymour Duncan why not short legs?
It's because Gibson electrics were an outgrowth of very traditional archtop acoustics but Fender electrics were a radical departure from that tradition from day one. The Les Paul is the most traditional style solid body electric there is and it appeals to ocd traditionalists. (Along with plenty of other players.) I'm an SG guy myself.
You see the same thing in the car world. "Period correct" has turned into a happy place for obsessives.
I'm aware of that. And it's because Leo Fender wasn't a guitar maker.
But that's not my point. Even with the Les Paul having its looks based on an arch top, to differentiate it from a Fender "slab-o-wood" which Gibson laughed at, you can still update the pickup mounting and other features.
Seth Lover cobbled together a humbucker rather quickly. And again, this was to beat Fender. Seth didn't want exposed poles. But the marketing people wanted adjustable poles because Fender didn't have that. The original PAF prototype was mounted in a P-90 dog ear cover. So it's not like a lot of thought was put into a good way to mount the pickup. It's crude and should at the very least have three mounting screws.
But Gibson is stuck with this dogma of tradition, and customers that don't want anything improved.
And since other pickup makers started making aftermarket pickups, we are stuck with the Gibson and Fender form factors. So they have become generic while still having the flaws.
As a pickup maker myself, this is aggravating.
Notice how in the bass world pickups evolved into direct mount soup bars, often with three mounting screws. Even Leo's later pickups are made this way.
I owned an '81 LP Standard. I would not buy another. I'll just make my own guitar with all these flaws removed. I'm actually making myself an SG. [emoji6]
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