EMG Announces Solderless Installation

[Virtual Kevorkian]

From their site:

"EMG has unveiled the latest advancement in pickup technology, the solderless install. Beginning with their Pro Series pickguards and the new X-Series pickups, EMG will phase in the new components to existing products throughout 2009.[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]“A user friendly approach to the installation process is essential; not only for end-users but manufacturers as well.” says Rob Turner, founder and President of EMG Inc. “We have succeeded in simplifying the process of both installation and upgrading of pickups, putting the players in complete control. Now expanded to everything from pots, to input jacks, to pickups, this is the next generation of our quick-connect concept.”[/FONT]

"

 

[Mincer]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

They will probably sell a lot. And old-schoolers can just cut the connectors off and solder them the old way. I figure it was a matter of time before someone came out with this.

 

[theodie]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

Yeah, they will sell the crap out of em. That is a hackers dream!

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

Yep. "Wants to try different pickups" does not necessarily equal "wants to learn how to solder."

Still, it doesn't help me if I have my heart set on P-Rails.

 

[hanumanlangur]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

That looks great!

 

[apj]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

awesome, I've wondered how long it would be before someone came out with this, seems like a million dollar idea to me

 

[jasona84]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

I feel like it must have been an awful lot of work to fix something that wasn't broken to begin with...

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

They've been 90% of the way there for years with the quick connection plug on the bottom of the pickup. Plus when you are converting from passive pickups to active, you have to replace all of your pots anyway. This will save time on the install and is a good move for them. Did you guys see this yet?

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/ToneShaper_for_Stratocaster__P2032C215.cfm

 

[Mark Le Comte]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

I must admit, I am kind of amazed. This thread about solderless connections seems very positive on the idea, but a recent thread about SD doing the same thing sounded pretty negative.

I know a lot of people don't need this, but there are a lot of people who do so it expands their potential market.

 

[hanumanlangur]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

This thread makes me sad because it reminds me that guitars have different layouts, and so boards like this are only really good for super common ones (Strats, Teles, LP's...).

But on the other hand, it reminds me of how infinitely configurable Strats are, and how great it is that the pickguards include all the electronics. I think the Paul Reed Smith comment about Leo Fender being in a state of grace when designing the Stratocaster, must be true.

 

[Petrovsk Mizinski]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

Lemme guess, nothing for the 7 stringers though?
It sucks being in such a small niche market sometimes
Still, good move on EMGs part.
Now they just need to make EMG 707s without a stupid size pickup housing:laugh2:

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

Did you guys see this yet?

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/ToneShaper_for_Stratocaster__P2032C215.cfm

On the "why hasn't anyone done this yet" thread, there were pictures of the little connector thingies, but I hadn't read the whole page on them. $125 seems like a lot to replace all of your pots until you read about what all of the little switches do.

SW2 turns the caps in bank B on and off (see how they’re
beside each other?), and assigns them to the middle potentiometer.
You can turn on any one, but you can also turn on more
than one. When you add capacitors together in parallel (as we
are doing here), their values add. So if you turn on, say, the
.022μF cap and the .033μF cap, you’ll have the equivalent of a
.055μF cap. And turning on the .015μF, .022μF, and .033μF
caps will give you the equivalent of a .07μF cap. There are in
fact 31 possible values that can be achieved by turning on one
or more of the five caps, though only the bottom half or so fall
within the “conventional” range used in guitar tone circuits
(.015μF to .1μF). Still, we’ve provided a table on page 4 that will
show you which caps to turn on in order to achieve any of the
31 combinations.

For some people, yeah, it's fixing something that's not broke. For other people, it will be a way to completely change things every six months to a year. You buy your pots once, and then swap as needed. Capacitors are on the board. The series/parallel control seems a little weird, but maybe that's just something to get used to.

I can see the people who like the sound of vintage caps not liking it, but that's where the flexibility comes in. And most people are probably using the ceramic ones anyway (I know that's what came in my guitar.)

 

[Richard]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

figures... just when I learn to solder!!!!!

 

[Mincer]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

They've been 90% of the way there for years with the quick connection plug on the bottom of the pickup. Plus when you are converting from passive pickups to active, you have to replace all of your pots anyway. This will save time on the install and is a good move for them. Did you guys see this yet?

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/ToneShaper_for_Stratocaster__P2032C215.cfm

Id have thought Duncan would have done it first, but y'all put out more pedals lately than pickups.

This is a great idea, and in the end will get more people modding their guitars. I told the story in the other thread about a Duncan sale lost because it *seems* like the idea of soldering is that it is hard.
Newer Gibsons have PC boards in them, and modding pedals has people adding sockets to try different chips...it seems a modular approach has introduced many people to the pedal modding world, and it would probably do the same for pickups too.

 

[Fikealox]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

I like the idea. I just hope they have lots of different lengths of the double-ended cables, and that they aren't as over-priced as replacement quick-connects have been.

 

[Jet-Jaguar]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

You know, there's no reason why someone couldn't do what Acme is doing with strats, only with Les Pauls. They could even do one better by using a push-pull mechanism.

 

[omnimicro]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

It appears they will have some new models beside the strat. Found this on the SantellanSounds website


"Just designed the next models of the Toneshaper's product line, the Esquire and Telecaster lines. The Esquire model will support a 3 or 4 way switch and come in two control mounting styles.
The Telecaster model will also support a 3 or 4 way switch and come in two control mounting styles plus there is an additional model based on the 5 way switch Nashville Tele. "

Here are the feature settings for each:

Toneshaper's standard Features;

* 2 CTS 250K pots
* Electroswitch "CRL" 3 switch.
* Oak/Grisby 4 and 5 position switch.
* Solderless Pushbutton Terminal blocks
* Assignable Capacitor Values (31 possible) to master Tone Pot
* CTS Sliding switches
* Volume Kit (220K & 680PF)
* Billy Mod Tone control
* Choice from two Control mounting styles;
Standard ( Switch nearest strings, Volume and then Tone)
Rotated ( Volume pot nearest strings, Tone and then Switch)
* Multiple wiring options included;

Esquire Feature set;

with 3 way switch
Position 1 No Tone pot
Position 2 with Tone pot
Position 3 Assignable tone circuit (select from standard bassy, cocked wah
( .010uf & .0047uFcapacitors with a 3.3K resistor ) or Eldred mod ( fixed .0047uF capacitor )

with 4 way switch
Position 1 No Tone pot
Position 2 with Tone pot
Position 3 Assignable tone circuit (select from standard bassy or cocked wah)
Position 4 Fixed cap (select from .0047uF or .0033uF capacitor)

Standard Telecaster Feature set;

with 3 way switch
Position 1 Bridge
Position 2 Neck & Bridge in parallel or series
Position 3 Neck

with 4 way switch
Position 1 Bridge
Position 2 Neck & Bridge in parallel
Position 3 Neck
Position 4 Neck & Bridge in series


Nashville Telecaster Feature set;

with 5 way switch
Position 1 Bridge
Position 2 Bridge & Middle in parallel or series
Position 3 Neck & Bridge in parallel
Position 4 Neck & Middle in parallel or series
Position 5 Neck"

 

[Diocletian]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

IMO soldering isn't the biggest problem when changing stuff on a strat - it's having to take off all the strings and a pickguard.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

IMO soldering isn't the biggest problem when changing stuff on a strat - it's having to take off all the strings and a pickguard.

Word. That's one of the reasons I love Floyd Rose bridges so much.... you don't even have to remove the strings to swap pickups

 

[krankguitarist]

Re: EMG Announces Solderless Installation

Great idea for the person who is looking to make the active switch.

Doesn't really do a whole lot for the pickup swapper that the quick-connect system didn't already do. It still occurs to me that the 89 and the tw series aren't going to benefit from this either, unless they design the board to accept both their three pin quick connect and that crazy huge thing for the splittables.