These were sold to me under the term "Hot rodded". However, it doesn't say "Hot rodded" on the box. So, unless it says "Hot Rodded" on the box, don't assume they are.Despite that, however, these are amazingly versatile pickups and have mountains of tone from sparkling highs to tight, well rounded lows. They are worth every penny. I bought them in white in order to match and fit the color pattern of my guitar, and I'm glad I bought them. They can handle everything from metal (probably not "thrash metal") to, well...jazz! Just buy them, you can't go wrong. If you want pickups for much harder metal, try SD's "Black Winter" set, or for the ultimate "metal" or "industrial metal," get the "invader" series. Seymour Duncan has something for anything you want to play!I can't account for the "ease of installation" because I paid my close friend to do it for me. But if he had encountered any problems, he definitely would've told me! I never would've heard the end of it! But he did the installation in one day and we jammed together afterwards playing Ozzy, Alice in Chains, Scorpions, Whitesnake, etc!!Addendum: I saw a video of someone using SD's "Invader" pickups, and when played "clean" the highs sound amazingly clear and actually "sparkly" with well defined middle and lows! I guess I misjudged them due to their name and other videos showing them being played under high gain or through a distortion stomp box. Now that I know how versatile and amazingly clear they can sound, I may just buy me a set of those too! Like I said before: Seymour Duncans never disappoint!