Waldorph Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Hi there! I'm currently overhauling my guitar, changing pickguard to chrome, and neckplate to chrome, with the name ''Lucy'' written on it. I 've decided to change pickups as well, but the pickups I want to change to is active, and my stock pickups are passive! Have anyone here changed their pickups to emg active? The PickUps I'm going to change to is Emg 85 (Bridge) and Emg 60 (Neck) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluemans335 Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Welcome aboard! I'd recommend going with with a pair of hot passives with ceramic magnets, like Gibson's 500T/496R, which Gibson puts in their own Explorers. Or a Duncan Custom or Distortion, or one of the many Dimarzios made for metal. Lots of good choices. Converting to actives is complicated. Besides the PU's, you have to change out the pots and add a battery pack. If you've never done this yourself, you should pay a good tech to do the conversion, and that adds to the cost. I just don't see it being worth the expense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSAR Posted February 14, 2013 Share Posted February 14, 2013 Scroll to the last page of this document for the wiring diagram you'll need: http://www.emgpickup..._0230-0106D.pdf With current EMGs you have to use their provided electronics, and "Quick Connect" system. In order to do this, you will have to enlarge the pot holes, and possibly the routing between your pickup cavities and the control cavity. EMGs provided pots are mini pots, so they leave a fair bit of room behind them in the control cavity, which leaves lots of room for the battery. The problem you'll likely encounter is the Battery buss, as it's larger then the battery, and really doesn't fit anywhere, so you may have to do some routing within the cavity to make it fit. The reason that the battery buss is needed is that EMG offers nothing in the way of toggle switches (though they do have "Quick Connect" Fender style switches available). So, you'll have to provide your own toggle switch, and solder the wires onto the switch, and then at the other end of these wires, they go into the little set screw clamps on the battery buss. EMGs are a bit of a pain in the a$s, and before you take the plunge you may want to look into other options, and be totally sure they're the only thing that can work for you. Seymour Duncan Blackouts or Livewires could be good active alternatives. Gibson, DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, all make good passive alternatives, at lower prices than a set of EMGs. If you want to stick with the EMG price range though, you could look into Lace, who make a load of alternatives that will likely sound much better than EMGs, or some other boutique manufacturers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waldorph Posted February 15, 2013 Author Share Posted February 15, 2013 Thanks for the extreme quick reply! I've decided to go for Seymour Duncan's - Sh 13 (bridge) and Sh 8 (neck) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSAR Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 Thanks for the extreme quick reply! I've decided to go for Seymour Duncan's - Sh 13 (bridge) and Sh 8 (neck) Interesting decision, and welcome to the forum, by the way. Make sure to post some pics when you've got her all done up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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