Agile Interceptor 828 EMG to Passives

[MannyMoonjava]

I know this has been asked a bunch over the years, but i figured there must be better alternatives and newer options than the ones i found in threads from 10+ years ago. Also a bunch of dead links.

I have an Agile Interceptor Pro with EMGs and im ready for a change.
Im considering swapping to some BKP Soapbars.
Im just wondering if i got all of this correct.

I will need:
New Volume and Tone pots
BKP Soapbars
Extra wire?
Need to drill hole from electrics cavity to bridge for ground
Foam under pickups

Is there anything else that i need?
Has anyone done this in a similar guitar that can link me to an installation thread?

I was thinking of maybe dropping the tone pot completely in favor for a coil split switch. Is this possible with all BKP humbuckers or only specific ones?
As of now im thinking aftermath bridge and polymath neck, but im open for suggestions.

 

[Gator]

Yep you pretty much got everything you need on the list.

As long as you get 4 conductor pickups you can wire it for pretty much anything if you have the diaphragm.

My two cents, the aftermath 8 was one of the worst pickups I’ve used. Loved them in my 6 and 7 but for some reason they were so harsh and stiff in the 8. I personally have way better experience with the painkillers, juggernauts or rags in 8s.

Can’t comment on the polymath neck.

 

[Excruciator]

You will need all the physical things you list. You'll also either need smaller diameter pots, as the 25k EMG pots which you will be replacing are mini pots; or, you can ream the existing pot holes so they are wide enough for the standard sized pots. In this case, you will need knobs which will accept the wider pot shafts also, or to modify the ones you have currently. Standard pot values for almost all passive humbuckers are 500k, the BKP OEM 550k pots are also just fine.

You may not need to drill for the ground wire, lots of manufacturers install a taped off ground wire in their EMG equipped guitars, but that will be something you have to check yourself.

You will be able to use the stereo jack the guitar has currently, just bear in mind that will mean you're using one less of the lugs when compared to the EMG's. You may prefer to get a standard mono jack instead for the sake of simplicity, that's up to your taste.

With regards to splitting the pickups, any 4 conductor humbucker can be split like that. Just one caveat: Yanking the tone pot will result in a profoundly different response due to a different load on the pickup. The resonant peak will be more pronounced, and you'll either perceive a clearer, more defined sound, or an icepick/swarm of bees top end, or somewhere between the two. Some people like this, some don't, and it will be more noticeable depending on a variety of factors, such as your effects chain and the capacitance/length of your cable, the pickup models and brand you're using, et cetera. If you are keen to use a no tone setup, but you want to maintain the load a volume and tone would usually result in, you can use a 250k/280k pot instead.

You could also just install a push/pull on your volume or tone pot so you can keep them both and coil split; you'll need to make sure you have room in the cavity if you decide that's an option you want to explore. You'll need a new tone capacitor too, should you decide to keep the tone pot.