But I do not have bat ears. Why will I want a pickup with a frequency range that extends beyond 20kHz? People do not want “high fidelity” pickups. They want the tones they hear on a record. And that is definitely not “high fidelity”.

There’s an obvious reason why an artist paints on a white canvas. Before any color is applied, the surface is first prepared with gesso — a white paint mixture made from a binder combined with chalk, gypsum, pigment, or some variation thereof. The result is a consistent, smooth base that accepts paint evenly and allows the artist to control every hue and texture that follows. It provides a neutral starting point, free from tint or bias, so that whatever is added later remains true to intention.

The same idea applies to guitar pickups. A full-range pickup with a uniform frequency response functions like that blank, primed canvas. You rarely use full-range pickups entirely uncolored, although there are special cases where that pure neutrality is the goal. Most of the time, though, you paint over the canvas. You apply tone shapers, EQs, and resonant filters to create the desired sound, adding or subtracting color as you please. In this way, the pickup becomes a foundation for tone, not the tone itself.