Well...I wanted to try a few other things with the shielding, but did not hear a reduction in anything except peace and quiet....
So back in everything went. I did notice one thing however. The magnets are aged pretty heavily with a coating. As I was looking at what looked like a big dark booger, I noticed it was a piece of whatever is used to coat the magnets that broke loose. I decided what the heck and lowered the pickups, took off the covers and scraped away the aging material, and put it all back together. There was a small but perceptible difference to my ears in the overtone on G and D. It seems to be reduced.
What I have learned through all this is that when these pickups were originally built by whoever thought the G string magnet should be so high, many players were pushing the G string down...taking the chance the pickups would be ok...just because of this problem.
Someone I spoke with yesterday told me something that has stuck with me. This "issue," is really a perceived one. Many do not even hear it....although a lot do.
That said, the first set I got had the "mojo" and I'll be shoving them back in and returning the second set. Just thinking about this stuff can be draining. Ok...couple more weeks now and I'll be able to start wet sanding my project relic strat and then begin removing paint.