emg vs. seymour duncan?

[Norumesque]

Pickups don't really have all that much to do with sustain. That is more of a factor of the wood and the hardware involved. The adjustment of the pickups can make a difference in the sustain, because if they are too close they can suck the energy out of the string, but that will happen with any pickup.

For myself, I always find EMGs to be really stale and sterile. They are very clean, and there is no question they are the quietest pickups you will find, but I just always find that they have no character, no personality. The JB has character to burn, and is the pickup I would choose. The additional benefit of the Duncan is that you don't have to replace both of them at the same time. The EMGs will not work with other pickups, as their impenitence is much lower.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi[/QUOTE

In my experience, pickups have a big role to play in the amount of sustain you get. I know this from doing accurate experiments on the same instrument, with the same amp and settings, and measuring the amount of sustain I got with different makes of pickups. Trust me, choice of pickups can make a huge difference to the amount of sustain you get. I think it has just as important role to play as the instrument, density and quality of the wood. And your amplifier.

 

[oDD]

Wow 4 year old thread - but since you brought it up, i guess ill comment.

I think both POVs in the whole sustain issue are correct. People are just looking at it differently.
I believe Light is say that a guitar, based on wood/construction/etc. already has a limited potential for sustain. When you change out a pickup that is hindering (key word) this potential sustain w/ one that hinders it a lot less - the sustain your guitar is now able to produce is not being restricted - so to speak. This would be very apparent if you are changing out the PUs on say an Epiphone w/ totally crappy stock PUs and replacing them w/ some really nice ones.
So in a sense, upgrading your PU will increase sustain but only because it is better at not hindering your guitars potential sustain.

Light - feel free to smack me up side the head if I took what you were saying wrong.

 

[thrashboy]

too weird?

alrighty, so if I was to get, say, an EMG 81 for the bridge, and a seymour-duncan Blackout on the neck, how fucked up would that sound? I play a lot of Testament, Iced Earth, Anthrax and Nuclear Assault type stuff, so I'm trying to get a rig that will let me play super fast, but still have distinction (like when I'm galloping really quick and I can't hear shit). Anybody have suggestions?