EMG 60-7X and 707X are what I always advise for 'non-metal' extended range guitars. Easier now you can get them in a regular humbucker style, rather than the typical EMG soapbar shape.
The 60 wind was originally designed for the Telecaster Deluxe, before Fender made their own Wide Range pickups and when the Tele Deluxe was being positioned as a jazzy, Les Paul alternative. These days it is mostly used as a neck pickup for clean rhythm and distorted lead tones by shredders, in the same way the Seymour Duncan Jazz model often is. Like all active pickups, it switches between an airy jazz feel and a highly compressed metal feel depending on how close to the strings you position it. Place it further from the strings and you will not find a better neck pickup for a 7-string; no passive makes the 7th string fit in with the other 6 like the 60-7X does. It's also got a very percussive attack if you pick harder, if you're ever venturing into funk territory.
The 707 is similar to the (sadly 6-string-only) 60A. It's the natural bridge model to pair with a 60-7 neck. Slightly more focused in the mids and a little less treble. Otherwise, the same rules apply: back it away from the strings and you're in jazz and funk heaven. All the weaker EMG pickups are wound like older hollowbody pickups, with under-charged magnets and weak, loose and asymmetrical coils. It's only the preamp which then puts the output higher; you still have all the sensitivity and dynamics of a weaker pickup. Distance to the strings is key to switching an EMG from metal to classic rock to jazz, to even surf and country.
The regular, non-X versions have the tendancy towards compression that active pickups are known for. The X-series have more headroom than all but the most underwound passive pickup.
The main reason I stress these models over any passives is that 7th string. It takes a lot of work to get that sounding clear enough with a passive design, and making the 7th string respond well typically means making the unwound strings very piercing. Another solution is to wind very unbalanced coils, but then you get a lot of hum and a much weaker signal. The SD Jazz 7 and DM PAF7 both have this problem. Active designs get around it because they can have particular frequencies dialled in or out freely, with the housing making noise a non-issue and the preamp taking care of the final output.
The whole reason actives were invented in the first place was to master clean tones. Just like 7- and 8-strings, the only reason they have a reputation as being exclusively for metal is because of what sells well in the modern marketplace. A mahogany 7-string with active pickups has its roots more in jazz, funk, and even country, than it does in metal. Get the pickup height right, dual in your amp properly, and actives are the most solid bet by a long, long way.
arty07:
