macsen Posted February 22, 2003 Report Share Posted February 22, 2003 I have an Ibanez USRG30 that has DiMarzio pickups direct mounted. I would like to replace these with EMG-89s but the EMG pickups are designed for installation with mounting rings, and I have no desire to go drilling new holes in a AAA quilted maple top. I also don't want to enlarge the pickup cavities to accomodate the larger mounting foot that the EMGs have. This means that I have to modify the pickup to accomodate being installed in the body, not the other way around. Does anybody have an idea as to what I need to do to get this to work? NOTE: Before anybody tells me to contact EMG and ask them, let me state that I have sent 5 e-mails between 2/2002 and now. Every one of them has had no response, not even a "we suggest that you don't try this.". For some reason, I get the feeling that EMG doesn't want to touch this question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKG Posted February 22, 2003 Report Share Posted February 22, 2003 Are the mounting tabs on the EMG's rectangular? Plastic or Metal? I've altered mounting tabs on other pups by clipping off the outside corners of the tabs to enable them to fit in an Ibanez direct mount pocket. Works fine. As for direct mounting them. Are they not tall enough? Maybe adding a wood "spacer" between the pup and body would work? Nothing permanent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macsen Posted February 22, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2003 The mounting tabs are plastic, about 1/8th of an inch thick. This would not be to difficult to shape to fit in the cavity. The problem that crops up is the fact that the mounting screws are not normal wood screws, nor do they simply pass through a hole in the mounting foot. They are more along the lines of a fine threaded machine screw that passes through a brass nut embedded in the mounting foot. This nut is threaded to match the threads on the screw. The problem is that I can't just screw the pickups into the wood. I think that I will have to modify the pickup so that it takes a wood screw, and I'm not quites sure how to go about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted February 22, 2003 Report Share Posted February 22, 2003 Stewmac sells the direct mount screws. Personally if the height doesnt need adjusting I'd use the small screws that attach the pickup rings to the body Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted February 23, 2003 Report Share Posted February 23, 2003 How's about taking a trip down to the local ACE Hardware or some other that carries a full line of fastener's and grabbing a couple of extra nut's with the same thread along with some copper tubing a little smaller in diameter that the outside but bigger than the screw size. Drill a shallow hole the size of the copper tubing where the mounting screws should go into the body, solder or epoxy a nut to one end of the tubing then epoxy it into the body at the other end in the hole you just drilled. Repeat for the other side...... That way you have the anchors built into the body so you can adjust the pickup higth and also use the original machined screws,,,,,, Just a thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 i don't know if this will help but i have a 93 ibanez sabre custom which has the h-s-s pickup configuration and i just recently installed emg's to replace the ibanez usa's.the two single coils were direct mounted and the emg's were set up for mounting rings but i just used a screw thin enough to go through the threads of the pickups and long enough to reach sufficient depth and installed it the same as the old ones.works great and by the way the emg single coils have much more bite and clarity than any other single coil i've ever heard,plus the 81 at the bridge is the most aggresive pickup ever,with absolutely no noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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