i know there has been a few posts similar to this already, but i figure i'll make this question a bit more specific.

i have an epiphone les paul standard, and i was considering changing the pickups. what kind of pickups does that guitar come with stock, and how do those compare to say, 490s, or burstbuckers, or other more expensive gibson pickups. basically, i want to know if i can make my epiphone sound like a gibson by changing out the pickups. i know there are other subtle differences in manufacturing, i'm just considering overall tone and output. to continue this, what pickups would best create the sound of a gibson les paul?

on a related note, would this kind of process work with a fender strat? for example, taking a mexican strat and swapping pickups to make it sound like an american. what would be some good single-coil alternatives to stock fender pickups?