EMG's

[Kingofpain678]

ok so i know that generally the be-all end-all guitar rig is a mahogany or similar set neck guitar into an all tube amp.

i've also heard people say that emg's can make even the crappiest guitars sound good and sound pretty much the same in different guitars. but even if you polish a turd, its still a turd.

so my question is this, if i were to put emg's in my piece of crap paulownia body guitar would it help with the sound of the guitar? i know its not gonna fix the fact that the guitars a piece of crap and i know its not gonna sound as good as that all mahogany set neck guitar, but would it get me by until i have enough pocket change for one of those spiffy high end guitars?

 

[ocnor]

i've also heard people say that emg's can make even the crappiest guitars sound good and sound pretty much the same in different guitars.

The people that told you this are idiots. It sounds like advice that the morons at harmony central would give.

so my question is this, if i were to put emg's in my piece of crap paulownia body guitar would it help with the sound of the guitar?

Unless the stock pickups are just god awful sounding and screeching the difference would most likely be minimal. It would be better to save your pickup money and upgrade to a nicer guitar.

 

[antichef]

I agree that if the guitar is crap, it's best to upgrade the guitar.

I'm not gonna make any general statement about EMGs, but I had a basswood electric guitar that sounded terrible with the stock pickups, and so I went through a series of passive replacements - can't remember what they were right now (this was in the 1980's) and never got rid of what I thought was the crappy sound, and ultimately went with EMG 81/85 and thought it was OK. I have other guitars that sound good with passive pickups (which itself is a very broad statement, of course - many different styles of passive pickups around) and it's never occurred to me to put EMGs in those.

 

[Tadpui]

I think that the main strength of EMG pickups is that they maintain clarity at high gain levels. So if you use a ton of preamp gain, an EMG 81/85 combo will remain more articulate than most other pickups. But if you play with more normal gain settings, they tend to sound sterile and lifeless. Yes, they're clear and articulate but they don't have much personality.

Personally, I don't like them but pickups are a matter of preference so you'll have to decide for yourself. But I agree with the sentiment to just save your money and buy a good guitar instead of trying to dress up a klunker.

 

[Kingofpain678]

alright thanks guys.

and yeah, haha harmony central is partly responsible for my ignorance. i looked and looked but i couldnt find much of anything about paulownia except that its light weight.
its hard to find facts when their so well hidden behind mass stupidity.
thanks for the info guys i really appreciate it.

 

[lollygagger8]

EMG's sound like they have blankets over them. I've had 81's, 85's, the EMG-HZ (passive models) and they all sounded like shit. So if they sound better than your stock pickups, you need to upgrade your guitar.

If you can get your hands on some used PRS pickups off ebay.....those sound great with any type of music. HFS, Dragon II's, SC 250 pickups, #7's, Tremonti pickups all sound stellar.