Will new pickups fit?

[steviekool]

Good morning

I got that '90 Soloist Warbird that I was showing off to you peoples in another thread. I am thinking of swapping pickups out. Im looking at a set of EMG's.

First off, will they fit? The routing on this guitar is real tight! Although it seems the EMG's are the same shape, you never know, and Im wondering if anyone has any experience with this.

Sencond, If you do install a full set of EMG', I am guessing that you lose the MId boost Knob, and that will turn into a tone knob. I also figure where the battery goes for the mid boost now, will now be used for the pickups. Can I get a yeah or neah on this assumption?

Thanks in advance!!

[wilkinsi]

You may have to sand/scrape the sides/corners of the pickup routes to get them to fit. I had to do that to a WR1. I'd have thought since the EMG's require 25k pots as opposed to the 500k's you's expect to find in passive configs, you'd lose the mid-boost. What is it that you don't like about the Jackson pickups?

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

EMG makes a "mid boost knob" - the SPC or "Strat Presence Control."

It's great for adding craploads of noise to your signal.

I don't know about the singles (they are the right shape, but I've never done it) but it's iffy whether the humbucker will fit at the corners. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. You can carefully route or file the corners of the pickup routes to "square them off" a little and get them to fit, if necessary, no big deal.

[steviekool]

You may have to sand/scrape the sides/corners of the pickup routes to get them to fit. I had to do that to a WR1. I'd have thought since the EMG's require 25k pots as opposed to the 500k's you's expect to find in passive configs, you'd lose the mid-boost. What is it that you don't like about the Jackson pickups?

To be fair, I probably havent given these jackson pups much of a chance. I have plugged it in a total of 2 times. My issue is that the bridge pickup is pretty trebley. I am worried though that the EMG's will be the same way though.

Honestly, I got a great price on a full set, "Free", and I never had EMG's om any axe I have owned, so I was gonna take a chance and install them in this one. THe whole thing is though I dont really want any headaches, as far as them not fitting, and having to route, ect.

Maybe I will give the Jackson pups a little more run, and see what happens.

[charvel750]

For the single coil slots you need EMG's with the "quick connect" wires. Otherwise you'll have to etch out some wood. The humbucker in the bridge will fit no problem. You can keep the active Jackson boost circuit if you wish, just wire the EMG battery leads to the same one on the circuit. If you remove the circuit, you can have two tone controls like on a strat, or two volumes, or a dummy, etc.

[steviekool]

For the single coil slots you need EMG's with the "quick connect" wires. Otherwise you'll have to etch out some wood. The humbucker in the bridge will fit no problem. You can keep the active Jackson boost circuit if you wish, just wire the EMG battery leads to the same one on the circuit. If you remove the circuit, you can have two tone controls like on a strat, or two volumes, or a dummy, etc.

Once again MR. 750, thanks for your input. The set I am looking at is the ones with the quick connect wires, so I guess I am good. The problem is now I just got off a nice 2 hours session with the guitar, and now the pickups are growing on me. Especially mixing and matching the preamp boost in between cleans and dirty's, This axe is seeming very versitile, anywhere form pretty cleans, to balls out distortion. I really like the Active mid boost knob.

My real only complaint is the ridge pup is a bit thin, especially on the higher strings. The more research I do, kinda seems the EMG I would put in is not too much different, so maybe I will just let it be. They are definitely not bad pickups, and the 2 single coils are surprisingly very good. Yeah, I think I will let it be for now, but I change my mind on stuff like this like I change underwear.

Thanks again

[RacerX]

You may also want to experiment with pickup height.

[MetalHeadMat]

You'd probably be able to sell those pickups easily.

[steviekool]

You may also want to experiment with pickup height.

In theory that sounds good, but the 2 single coils in the neck and middle position are as low as they go, and are still sitting high enough to get in the way of picking every now and then, so they will not come up at all

The bridge pickup has the spring on the high e side i guess came off the track or something, so I cant raise or lower that side now. I need to wait until I get another setup on it, then we can fix that issue. The low e side is fine and moves up and down by itself, but that aint gonna cut it by itself!

[DonP]

The bridge pickup has the spring on the high e side i guess came off the track or something, so I cant raise or lower that side now. I need to wait until I get another setup on it, then we can fix that issue. The low e side is fine and moves up and down by itself, but that aint gonna cut it by itself!

You've unscrewed the pickup height screw out of the pickup. You need to take the pickup out and thread the screw back into the pickup.

[Newc]

Since that guitar had covered pickups to begin with, I don't think you'll have to mod the cavities to fit EMGs.

As well, check the volume pot on the circuit board, it might be 50K. I'm assuming you can use 50K pots with active pickups, though the commonly recommended value is 25K. I'm guessing a 50K pot will yield a brighter tone (much like a pickup being brighter with a 500K pot than a 250K pot).

If it works, you might be able to keep the mid-sweep, though you'd probably want a darker EMG humbucker like the 85 as opposed to the 81.


Interesting note here at the SeymourDuncan forum:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showpost.php?p=649470&postcount=6

...you must use the correct value pots with EMGs as they are designed to work with 25k. Using too high a value causes problems with the taper and impedance matching issues. Any value up to about 50k is OK but 250k is too far.
(ex-EMG support tech talking here)

[charvel750]

EMG's will work with the active Jackson circuits using 50K pots, no problem, no discernible difference in tone.