I tried this on three of my guitars. I used my 2007 Les Paul Custom, which has covered 498T/490R pickups. I used my 2014 SG, which has covered 57 Classics. And, I used my Jackson, which has uncovered Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz pickups.
When I went to touch the pickups with my thumb and finger as you did in the video, not a single one of the above pickups demonstrated increased noise, as your video depicts. I tried it both while touching the strings with my other hand, and without touching any other metal part.
This, of course is not a solution, but it does provide an additional data set.
Thanks, Smitty....that mimics my testing here with different guitars.
It's definitely related to the bridge pickup in this Gold Top.
Its not related to impedance or output. I experienced the same noise anomaly with several sets of Gibson 490's in my 2016 Gibson SG, and those are in the 7-8k range.
My daughter's new H-S-S Stratocaster is not affected. Neither are any of my student's guitars, despite some having higher output, uncovered pickups.
If you watch the video again, I am playing at very low volume. If I crank the volume, the bridge pickup goes into a howling feedback that cannot be controlled.
If you go back a few months and read my 6/4/2004 emails to Gibson's Nicholas Chemsak, regarding the problems with my then brand new 2003 Gibson SG, it is the exact same issue almost verbatim.
Chemsak's reply suggested buying a more expensive SG variant. But Chemsak did acknowledge a lot of noise complaints relating to pickups.
About a week into ownership, I returned the Gibson SG and bought two brand new Hamer Standards, for recording and live use respectively, from Guitar Sinner in Fresno - both were perfectly setup and sonically quiet off the rack. I played these awkward, yet quiet guitars for 2 years...until a colleague introduced me to Schecter. We paid a visit to their SoCal facility and I walked out with a brand new C1 Hellraiser - my main guitar from 2005 until September 2016 - when I bought my 2016 Gibson SG.
I still have the Hellraiser, which I still use for general recording work. It is especially good for volume swells, due to the placement of the volume knob, but I do feel like the EMG'S lack the character of a conventional pickup, and I much prefer the tone and feel of a 24-3/4" scale neck.
Getting back to the noise issues depicted in the video...I have been able to duplicate it at Guitar Sinner, with off the rack Gibson's....not all of them, but on several of them... with both covered and uncovered Gibson pickups.
After evaluation, I don't think the PCB is an issue - I actually think it's a good idea. I recently played one of the Gibson Historical Reissues, with all the vintage wiring, and played a 2017 Gibson Les Paul Tribute with PCB and the tonal spectrum was, to my ear, identical.
Secondly, I tried 3 sets of Gibson pickups (490R/490T x 2 & 57 Classics) that still exhibited this noise after the PCB was replaced with the Tone Man Vintage Harness - and finally stopped completely when the GFS Classic II's were installed.
So, step one will be having the guitar checked out by Gibson warranty - 60 miles away - and see what their official word is.
Depending on what they say/do, I have the option to just sell it outright or return it.
E with the Marshalls but clean a low hum on the Tube amps .......
