Why do you prefer passive pick ups ?
Some actives like the EMG 81 for example will pretty much sound the same nailed to a pine 2X4 with a neck bolted on as it will in a Honduras Mahogany body. Great if you have a guitar that is a tonal dog you need to fix but not so good with a well crafted good sounding guitar that you suck the life out of.
Passives on the other hand are more expressive and will let more of the tone of the guitar and the character of the woods come through.
I own guitars with both but the EMG set I have in my one off proto Washburn MG for example is an alnico mag set in the 85 and H-60A not your normal 81/ whatever set so they reflect the sound of the guitar and are not so sterile and cold.
Most of my guitars have passives (Duncans mostly) as I want the tone of the woods in the guitar to come through and not just get a generic tone from the pickup alone.
