Are my EMGs fake?

G

greekdude

New member
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

<In Jeremy Clarkson voice> Those would have to be the most accurate fakes ... in the world.


Regarding the noise/interference issue. Somebody I knew had the exact opposite problem. In his home, Duncan 9v active pickups were unacceptably noisy whereas EMGs were not. Just to eliminate all other possible explanations, I mixed EMG and SD active pickups in one guitar. A simple flick of the three-way toggle pickup selector was enough to demonstrate the difference.

Check your domestic wiring, lighting dimmer switches and fluorescent strip lights as possible sources of interference.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

Funkfingers said:
<In Jeremy Clarkson voice> Those would have to be the most accurate fakes ... in the world.


Regarding the noise/interference issue. Somebody I knew had the exact opposite problem. In his home, Duncan 9v active pickups were unacceptably noisy whereas EMGs were not. Just to eliminate all other possible explanations, I mixed EMG and SD active pickups in one guitar. A simple flick of the three-way toggle pickup selector was enough to demonstrate the difference.

Check your domestic wiring, lighting dimmer switches and fluorescent strip lights as possible sources of interference.
Click to expand...

*all* my other pups are less noisy. I better change pups than relocate. Maybe I got a bad batch?
Any one have seen those :
http://www.dhgate.com/product/emg-8...kups-closed/160274577.html#s1-0-1b|1656716903

They do not seem less fake than mine.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

greekdude said:
*all* my other pups are less noisy. I better change pups than relocate. Maybe I got a bad batch?
Click to expand...

Since your guitar has a Quik Connect solderless block connector wiring harness, it would be easy to test with a different EMG or SD 9v active pickup. This would demonstrate whether the problem stems from the individual pickups or something in the wiring harness.

greekdude said:
Any one have seen these :
http://www.dhgate.com/product/emg-8...kups-closed/160274577.html#s1-0-1b|1656716903

They do not seem less fake than mine.
Click to expand...

The Chinese copies have shorter pin connectors and the pad printed logos look wrong. The lettering is less sharp, is the wrong colour and appears to sit on the textured plastic surface rather than in a shaped hollow recess.

On your pickups, the logo on the -81 should be silver whilst the -60 should be matt grey. For some reason, the grey and white logos always appear smaller than the metallic ones.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

This assumes EMGs are "real" pickups to begin with.....


just kidding :D

Try shielding the pickup cavities with copper foil tape.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

greekdude said:
my EMGs ... are very noisy at nights.
Click to expand...

This statement is worthy of further investigation. It suggests that the EMG pickups in your guitar are more susceptible to interference at certain times of day than at other times.

What times of day? What in your local environment changes at those times of day? Electric lights, domestic heating or air conditioning, televisions and computer monitors, refrigerators, whathaveyou. (None of these need be in your home. The sources of interference could be in adjacent properties.)

*

A second question crosses my mind. Are the EMG pickups in your guitar a stock/factory installation or an after-market retrofit? Either way, it is possible that there has been a mistake somewhere in the circuit.

Pics of your control cavity and the jack socket terminals might help.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

Funkfingers said:
Since your guitar has a Quik Connect solderless block connector wiring harness, it would be easy to test with a different EMG or SD 9v active pickup. This would demonstrate whether the problem stems from the individual pickups or something in the wiring harness.



The Chinese copies have shorter pin connectors and the pad printed logos look wrong. The lettering is less sharp, is the wrong colour and appears to sit on the textured plastic surface rather than in a shaped hollow recess.

On your pickups, the logo on the -81 should be silver whilst the -60 should be matt grey. For some reason, the grey and white logos always appear smaller than the metallic ones.
Click to expand...

Thanks. You helped me.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

Funkfingers said:
(None of these need be in your home. The sources of interference could be in adjacent properties.)
Click to expand...

I guess so, and cannot figure out why.

Funkfingers said:
A second question crosses my mind. Are the EMG pickups in your guitar a stock/factory installation or an after-market retrofit? Either way, it is possible that there has been a mistake somewhere in the circuit.

Pics of your control cavity and the jack socket terminals might help.
Click to expand...

They were stock. About mistakes, I wander what it could be. There aren't many things configurable with EMGs anyway. I have changed the 3-way toggle, and didn't notice anything weird with the wiring. (the guitar hummed since day 1, when i bought it new). Granted the cavity is poorly shielded, but so is my non-shielded strat (fast tracks) which hums less than the EMGs. I will check the output jack as well. But smth tells me, it is just how those pups are made (unbalanced windings). Under normal gain, they are pretty quiet. The problem reveals under heavy gain only. I have been doing a lot of testing with shielding/wirings/electronics with strats for the last years (member of guitarnuts2 for years), so I would know if a hum is a result of bad wiring or just the pups. Will check the pins on the jack tho, just for the sake of completeness.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

All low impedance pickups that employ a pre-amplifier device produce some background noise. Typically, this will be a hissing sound. High gain amplification boosts this to a level at which it remains stubbornly audible.

EMG and Duncan 9v active pickups become increasingly noisy as the battery drains.

It is apparent from your first photograph that your guitar has grey conductive screening paint in its pickup cavities. Is the paint connected to ground in every cavity?

At the control cavity end of the pickup output cables, are the connections made by push-on plastic blocks onto metal prongs or soldered in the old-fashioned way?
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

My livewires are 18v (the old design) and they are dead quiet, no matter the time of day, location or orientation of the guitar, and they have no shielding at all.
This one with the EMGs (Ibanez ARZ800 - very nice guitar BTW), had some conductive paint which was done poorly from the factory and this morning, I tested almost zero conductivity among very close spots in the painted area. The wiring to the 3-way switch was done the old-fashioned way, no fancy pots or switches.
After spending nights after nights with shielding paints, aluminum, copper and VOM, and testing noise, I believe that with SC the positive effect might be minimal, while with HBs negligible, at least in my environment.
 
Last edited:
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

Just checked all wiring this morning, being consulted by the schematics of the EMG website. Nothing weird. Also I measured all conductivity along various electrical paths, battery, grounds, hots, jack, sleeve/ring/tip. All are just fine.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

What I noticed is that when I unscrewed the pup's ring and started moving it, rotating it, etc, the difference in hum picking was enormous. It is definitely the pickups. EMG 60 is slightly less noisy than the EMG 81, but still those two are the noisiest of all my pups.
I am wandering how EMG-X or blackouts would behave. If Blackouts can do the same good jazzy/bluesy cleans I might consider them.
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

On the pickup height adjustment screws, are you using metal springs, compressible rubber tubing or something else?
 
Re: Are my EMGs fake?

OOopps, I just re-strung the guitar minutes ago before I read your post. I guess it has the default by the factory : metal springs I would imagine. Never had any pup with rubber tuning ever.
 
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