The wrong way to make a pickup fit?? Advice!

[Luafcm]

I went to drop in some EMG's (6 string 81) into my guitar and notice that they don't fit. In fact, it was very hard not to notice this.

Anyway, I go online an see people recommend taking a dremmel to your guitar to make it fit. My guitar is worth a lot more then a EMG pickup, so I think I'll take the dremel to the EMG instead. Seems obvious.

Has anyone tried this? am I about to destroy my pickup? It's a very minor amount of material that needs to be shaved from the corners.

Here's the inside of an EMG. Looks like there is lots of clearance and extra material around the perimeter and at the corners to shave off.

What do you think? will it work?

 

[MF_Kitten]

the emg pickups are enclosed in the epoxy mold, and so you might hit wires or magnets while you're at it. i wouldn't do it!

 

[thesimo]

No idea

But i did some googling to see what its like inside

looks like you need to be careful that you dont chip off that terminal at the corner there

 

[Luafcm]

Hey! Thanks for the image! That helps!

Ya, those little corner terminals are likely the start and finish contact points of the coils. I'm going to dig for a patent or something. I need to see more of the corners. I'm not worried about grinding off a little FR4 but if I clip a wire I'm f-ed.

Thanks again!
(I'll try to ask an EMG tech rep and post what I learn)

 

[guitar4tw]

To be honest, I'd rather give the guitar to a professional tech or luthier and have him expand the cavities for you. I am going to do this with my Carvin (to fit BKPs)which will be here in a couple of weeks. Already talked to an awesome luthier, and he told me it's no problem at all.

 

[thesimo]

for the trouble its gonna be worth id just get some good passives

 

[Purist]

for the trouble its gonna be worth id just get some good passives

+1

What kind of guitar is it?

 

[Luafcm]

+1

What kind of guitar is it?

It's a 2005 Jackson KV-2 with the Pile 'O Skulls airbrush job. I went ahead and removed some material from the guitar with a rotary tool. The EMG's are in there resting comfortably now, they sound great FWIF. I decided that I didn't want to hurt the resale value of the EMG's in case I don't like them. I did notice that a Jackson tech took a rotary tool to the cavities already to remove some of the thicker lacquer that is over the air brushed finish. I was more then confident that I could do a cleaner job then the Jackson tech had, and besides, the cavities end up covered anyway.

It looks and sounds great. In the pic below you can see where the tech removed material from the pickup mounting 'wing', and also where I removed material for the corners of the EMG to slip by. I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for the advice guys!

 

[guitar4tw]

Glad it turned out fine!