Any EMG experts here?

ICTGoober

Well-known member
I have a set of black mini-humbuckers w/ black rings - in a guitar I just bought. Seller claimed they are EMG's, but there is no logo on the cover, and the back has a decal that looks like it came off a Gibson. The pots look weird, and there is no 9V battery. A little research yielded nothing. Any clues I can look for before I am forced to take photos?
 
I'm far from an expert, but I have owned a couple guitars that came with passive EMG's. However, they were clearly marked "EMG Select", so that's probably not much help.
 
Okay, here you go. Black plastic pickup covers, horrible job of wiring. It works, but there were balls of solder rolling around, wood shavings, and melted insulation.

SAM_4474.jpg SAM_4475.jpg SAM_4472.jpg
 
Wow! That looks like a "rip everything out, and start over" kinda job. That's probably your plan.
 
That's not an EMG. The tag on the bottom looks like a Gibson patent sticker but the cover and pickup rings look unoriginal.
 
Right, that's what I was thinking of. These metal rings are more like Firebird rings, but flat black - not plastic like the Gibsons. I cannot get the black covers off.
 
It looks like someone previously fitted full size humbuckers to this guitar. Maybe you can see if there are any router marks that do not look original. I think the pickup rings look like a conversion ring to retro-fit the mini humbuckers into a guitar routed for full size ones. Its possible they are original pickups, but the mounting rings are probably not original IMO.
 
Looks like Gibson mini buckers with black covers to me. There were some of those on certain guitars in the early/mid 70's. Kind of a cool score.
 
Don't know why I didn't think of it sooner - looked up the patent number of the back of the pickup.... It's the Gibson patent number. Confirmed by doing a photo search for Gibson SG Special mini-humbuckers. Same black plastic covers with ears and ears on the pickup baseplate.
 
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