doctornads
New member
I just wanted to know how if possible to add a battery to my strat. I want to get the EMG-81 pickup but its a active pickup so i need a battery.
adding a battery to my strat
- Thread starter doctornads
- Start date
Light
New member
A standard strat has PLENTY of room in the control cavity for a batery. You will have to remove the pickguard to change it, but it doesn't need to be changed very often, so it shouldn't be a problem. If it is a problem for you, then instal a BATTERY BOX. Unless you already have a humbucker in there, you will already have to do some routing (get it done by a professional, by the way). I would strongly recomend against trying to put a battery in the tremelo cavity, as there is not enough room, and there are too many moving parts.
Do remember, though, that you can not mix EMG's with passive pickups. If you put in one, you either have to replace all of them, or else get rid of the others and only use the one. They impedance mismatch will really screw you up if you try to combine them.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
Do remember, though, that you can not mix EMG's with passive pickups. If you put in one, you either have to replace all of them, or else get rid of the others and only use the one. They impedance mismatch will really screw you up if you try to combine them.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
doctornads
New member
ya i have a pearly gates plus pickup so I have the room for the humbucker. I didnt know about having to change all of the pickups to active. If i get 3 new active pickups do i need 3 batteries or just one?
travelin travis
New member
Would a rechargeable battery be a bad idea? If not, you could mount a small jack on the pick guard and use a cable to go to a charger.
cephus
Slow Children Playing
Light said:
I'd rather tape it to the pickguard than have to take the pickguard off to change it. If you keep your guitar up your ass then you change you batteries on a schedule and mark off the date on your day planner. I'm not like that and always end up changing it at the sound check or gig after it was sounding like shit. taking a strat pickguard off sucks at the kitchen table. Sucks even worse with it balanced on your lap at the bar.
When i say "depending on the setup", that means, "If you have 2 springs on your trem, it definitely fits."
I personally don't like the reliability issue with battery-powered electronics any more, but if I was gonna do it now, I'd make it pretty fricking easy to change (less than 10 screws to remove).
fretwire3d
New member
Simple.
Don't use an EMG. Its not worth the trouble.
Don't use an EMG. Its not worth the trouble.
Light
New member
cephus said:
Well, then I'd go with a battery box (assuming we are not talking about a colectable guitar here, in which case you shouldn't be putting in EMG's anyway). NO screws to remove. I certainly understand that Strat pickguards are a pain. For most players, two springs isn't enough. That only works if you are using small strings, really.
Light
"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
travelin travis
New member
I had another idea, mount a little jack on the pickguard and connect it to the pickups battery leads. Then you could clip a little battery box on your strap with a small cable going from the battery box to the small jack on the pickguard. If you don't use one of the tone controls, you could remove the pot and place the jack in it's hole so that you don't have to drill a new hole in the pickguard. You would'nt have a need for rechargeable batteries this way, too.
travelin travis
New member
Light said:
That I did not know. I've never made a comparison of different batteries.