software

correct me if im wrong,
but it seems to me that the most common neck pups (for hard rock and metal anyway) are the 59 and the jazz which are both lower output pickups. why is this so? and if so can lower output pickups in the bridge do good hard rock and metal (like the 59 or the alnico pro II)?

To balance with the bridge pickup, the neck should be lower output because the neck position is acoustically louder. Also, people who play heavy music usually use the bridge for heavier/more distorted parts and the neck for cleans or smoother leads. You can use a lower output pickup for metal fine, but you would either use less gain, a higher gain amp, or a gain boost from your pedals. Lower output pickups generally sound brighter and less compressed than higher output pickups, if all other factors remain the same.

Lower output pickups can pull off metal, just not as easily. You need a bit more gain, but most high-gain amps are designed with unreal amounts of gain anyway. Jolly here uses a Jazz in the bridge of a few of his LP's and gets some heavy sounds out of it. He likes it because it stays tight and articulate under gain.

Slash uses the Alinco II Pros, and he plays with a ton of gain. It's all about how compressed you want your sound. The higher the output, the more gain, but generally the less clarity and note seperation. Lower output pups tend to hold their articulation under similar amounts of gain.

Neither is better or worse, just depends on what you want. YMMV