Dead EMG?

  • Thread starter Thread starter pasinbyyou
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pasinbyyou
pasinbyyou
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I just wired up a Les Paul with new pots, wires, etc. and i noticed that my EMG 81 sounds dead. It works but the output seems really low, however i have not tested the output.

I was reading a post on here that someone mentioned that the older EMG's used some potting material that would shrink and cause the pick up to fail. Is there any evidence that this is a fact? if so, this certainly seems like it would be the problem.

Thanks in advance.
 
Shit happens - is it actually an oldest EMG (brown back), or an old EMG (no quick connect) or just not a new EMG?

I have an SA which gets ground noise - It was in the neck in an HSS guitar and I assumed initially it was the wiring, but decided the quick and dirty check was to just swap it with the middle pickup, et voila, it still makes the noise in the new position. And that's on a 2 year old guitar, so figure maybe a 3 year old pickup.
 
It's not super old meaning its not a brown back. Sadly, i'm not exactly sure how old it is - I do suspect its an earlier pickup, prior to the ZW set. I bought it with a used 90's model LP. They are all black front and back. Battery is new (and i don't think its the battery because the front P/U works great). it does have the three prong quick connect on the back.
 
So, i decided just for shits to see if the output from the guitar cable itself was different (though i'm sure this doesn't really measure much) the ohm meter reads the same for both pickups..

I don't think the pickup will work at all....?
 
Check to make sure you have all the grounds soldered correctly (the solid black wires in the WMG diagrams). I've had the experience of having a cold joint on a set of EMGs and it sounded really anemic, but was fixed by pressing on the joint.
 
Solderless wiring set up. I am good at soldering, but in this case i did not need too.
 
I had one that did that, except it was intermittent, it was the selector switch, not sure if this helps, but it just quit, thin sound, or no sound, just on bridge pickup, took it all apart, hooked it back up, same thing. Checked the switch and it was not making a connction even though I could see it was, (toggle type). replaced the switch and rock n roll.

Nevermind, I see you checked the resistance, if it was the switch it would read open, sorry.
 
Yes, all brand new pots from EMG - story goes, i ordered a back up wiring kit because i had suspicions that something was up with this guitar from the beginning. One day, the pick up just stopped working all together and i thought for sure it was the wiring. So i rewired the entire guitar, new everything except the actual pick up. New switch, etc... anyway, after that it appears to work fine, except this minor sound issue with the bridge pup. (and yes, a new battery too).

I may just buy a new set, and just see. tho i may be throwing out $200 - thanks again for all the comments. Appreciate it.
 
I crispy fried a set of EMG's once. I was trying to wire in a 18 volt mod and did it wrong and poof! Crispy fried. I took the pick ups out and put them in a guitar wired with EMG's and they didn't work. However the original ones did. That's how I know I toasted them. That is a bad feeling knowing you made a two hundred dollar mistake. I'm still pissed and that happened five years ago.
 
d1469d":h1jpn6jk said:
I crispy fried a set of EMG's once. I was trying to wire in a 18 volt mod and did it wrong and poof! Crispy fried. I took the pick ups out and put them in a guitar wired with EMG's and they didn't work. However the original ones did. That's how I know I toasted them. That is a bad feeling knowing you made a two hundred dollar mistake. I'm still pissed and that happened five years ago.
Click to expand...

yeah I wired an 18V mod wrong once but luckily for me all that happened was the battery got really hot really fat so I knew right away I had it wrong
 
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