Emg Pickup General Help And Tips

[7stringtechdeath]

Hey guys... just some EMG pickup queries.

So anyway, the main cause for me to do some modifications on the pickups is due to the extra feedback im getting. I usually turn my gain down to about 6 to overcome this, but it's still pretty damn bad.

Here's the catch... When I touch the input jack with my body the feedback cuts down about 75% less... to about an ordinary high gain feedback level.

So obviously I want to get my pickups to this point.

But I don't know how???

EMG's are internally grounded right? What do you guys think the cause of the feedback could be???

Maybe it's this:

Since the pickups are in a Bronze Warlock ( ), the tone and volume knobs are rather far apart. Further apart than the EMG wiring between the pots. So I had to extend it.

Anyway, what I did was cut the wire off one of the pots and attach insulated wire to the original wire. The original EMG wire was not insulated.

Do any of you think that maybe this is causing extra feedback? I doubt it, because the resistance wouldn't be that high, right?? I have no idea.

My solder joints weren't excellent, but they were as small as I could make them. I'll probably end up re-soldering everything, just to be sure, so that'll probably go.

One more thing; the Battery.

So we all know 18v is better than 9. But having the 2 batteries in the guitar is rather squashy. Do you guys know whether I can use non standard batteries in the guitar?

Ive read the instructions, and it specifies alkaline batteries, but is it really that necessary?

Anybody done any cool battery mods?

Just wanna get the most out of them.

I've lived with this problem for quite some time, never really bothered with fixing it, but now since I have to do a gig with my 6 string, I've decided to fix it. My main guitar is a beutiful 7 string Ibanez 1527...mm... But that floating bridge is just too damn hard to tune around.

HELP!

Shitdamn, big post, hope you guys were bothered reading it.

I definantly appreciate any help whatsoever.

Thanks,

John.

[GodBlessTexas]

Hey guys... just some EMG pickup queries.

OK.

So anyway, the main cause for me to do some modifications on the pickups is due to the extra feedback im getting. I usually turn my gain down to about 6 to overcome this, but it's still pretty damn bad. Here's the catch... When I touch the input jack with my body the feedback cuts down about 75% less... to about an ordinary high gain feedback level. So obviously I want to get my pickups to this point. But I don't know how???

EMG's are internally grounded right? What do you guys think the cause of the feedback could be???

Just so I have this clear: Your EMG's are noisy and you want to get them to be quiet like they're supposed to be, correct? With that in mind, EMG's are not internally grounded, they're internally shielded. There is a ground wire coming off of the pickups, whether they are the newer quick connect models or the older hardwired ones. The white wires coming off each pickup should have a metal shielding around inside the plastic jacket that is used for ground.

Maybe it's this:

Since the pickups are in a Bronze Warlock ( ), the tone and volume knobs are rather far apart. Further apart than the EMG wiring between the pots. So I had to extend it.

Anyway, what I did was cut the wire off one of the pots and attach insulated wire to the original wire. The original EMG wire was not insulated. Do any of you think that maybe this is causing extra feedback? I doubt it, because the resistance wouldn't be that high, right?? I have no idea. My solder joints weren't excellent, but they were as small as I could make them. I'll probably end up re-soldering everything, just to be sure, so that'll probably go.

Rewiring the pots from scratch is what I'd do as well.

One more thing; the Battery.

So we all know 18v is better than 9. But having the 2 batteries in the guitar is rather squashy. Do you guys know whether I can use non standard batteries in the guitar? Ive read the instructions, and it specifies alkaline batteries, but is it really that necessary?

The instructions specify alkaline or lithium batteries "for best performance." You can use rechargeables if you like. As long as you can get it 18V you should be OK, but two 9Vs are probably going to be the most economical and easiest way of doing it.

I hope that helps, and good luck.

GBT

[crafty]

I think I know exactly what you did. When you "extended" the wires, you didn't extend the ground plane because you used wire that didn't have the braided outer jacket. Something tells me you've either got a short or a ground loop in there that's injecting noise into the system.

Rewire the pickups exactly as the instructions say on EMG's site with the proper wire. If you don't know how to solder well, I would pay the $50 for a tech to do it for you.

[7stringtechdeath]

Thanks for the tips.

Crafty - The wires I extended aren't braided. They're not even insulated. I asked a freind and he said that extending un-insulated wire with insulated wire should'nt be a problem, but vise-versa and you have a problem.

I dunno if it's short circuit. I'm guessing no sound would come out if it was?

Texas - They are the newer quickconnect pups. How are they grounded? Does EMG have info on site apart from diagrams? There's no grounding wire...???

Dzienks

[crafty]

Check your jack wiring to make sure they're soldered in the proper locations. Ground and hot may be reversed.

[GodBlessTexas]

Texas - They are the newer quickconnect pups. How are they grounded? Does EMG have info on site apart from diagrams? There's no grounding wire...???

You'll notice that on the quick connect cable you have three wires from the black plastic adapter (red, white, and black) and only two wires after the white shrink tape. This is because the black wire is soldered to a metal woven shielding that runs under the jacket on the white wire. When you strip the white jacket off, you should see the mesh wire. This is the ground wire, and it should be soldered to the pots.

EMG wiring diagram for the non-splitting humbuckers is here. Take a look at the bottom of page two and you'll see a white wire that terminates the mesh to the volume pot

Remember the Alamo, and God Bless Texas...

[GregP]

Poor grounding still doesn't contribute to feedback, though, unless you're referring to something as feedback which isn't actually feedback.