Do EMGs make any guitar sound like EMGs?

[Doughboy]

I have a new build coming that will be a one piece koa body, flame koa top & pau ferro neck. I was going to put an EMG 85 & 2 EMG S in it, but having talked to my lutheir, he said it would be a shame to put EMGs in such a nice tone wood as EMGs take over the guitar & make everything sound like the EMG & make the wood, somewhat moot. Is this true? Would EMGs take away from the tonal quality of the wood somehow? More so than passive pickups?

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Oh boy, here we go,.....................

I have EMG 81/85 & 81/SA combos in several guitars? I can tell you EMGs do not sound the same in every guitar. I know that for a fact. Wood and build style makes a difference. My PRS C24 and My Gibson LP Gothic are both equipped with 81/85 pups and neither sounds the same. My Hamer Californians with the 81/SA pups sound much different. Then throw both my Warmoth Soloist & Tele in the mix with the 81/85 pups and I can show you six different sounding EMG guitars.

Wood and amps will make the most noticeable difference.

 

[Doughboy]

Thanks Death by Uberschall.  :icon_thumright:

I was hoping this was the case, but my luthier is kinda old school, so he probably has a bias.

I just didn't want to waste a great piece of tone wood with something that would take over the sound too much.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Remember one thing, if you dont't like them, you can always take them out.  :icon_thumright:

 

[Kadmium]

Every solid body guitar sounds pretty much like its pickups. Wood and hardware material have a small effect but on the whole, it's mostly the pickups. And even then, most pickups sound pretty similar - there's only a really major difference in configuration (1 coil, 2 coils in series, 2 coils in parallel, etc) and magnet type. EMGs sound a little different to ordinary ceramic / alnico pickups but it's not a massive difference. There's a bigger difference between a Celestion T-75 and a Vintage 30.

Long story short, if you can't make an EMG-equipped guitar sound like you want it to, it's probably not the guitar that's the problem.

 

[swarfrat]

The Rockman is one of the few exceptions to the rule that most of these things merely color your sound, but overall the sound you get is a result of YOU and the sum of all of your equipment. The Rockman was actually one of the first Guitar->MIDI->Sample players, it's a shame they didn't provide the MIDI out, only the end result audio.  You can plug a nylon string'ed bigsby L5 into a Rockman and it would sound just like any other electric guitar.

 

[pabloman]

EMG's have a very strong character. This character is definitely present in any instrument they are installed in. However, they still allow a guitars personaility to shine through as well. EMG's are a great tool to have in your arsenal. They can really provide you with a fresh approach to your playing. It's always cool to break the monotony once in a while. Like previously mentioned, you can always remove them and you should have no problem unloading them.

 

[Steve_Karl]

  You can plug a nylon string'ed bigsby L5 into a Rockman and it would sound just like any other electric guitar.

That's not been my experience.
I did a lot of recording using a Rockman and with 3 different guitars and they all sounded different, maintained their own distinct characters and it was also impossible to make my strat sound like my G&L ( and the opposite also ) through the Rockman or via any other method, even with 4 band parametric eq on the console and a 31 band graphic inserted.

I think a guitars character transcends signal chain. Signal chain can attempt to mask character but it's still there when comparing 2 guitars wearing the same mask.

 

[Strat Avenger]

EMGs have different dynamics from typical passive pickups.

The guitars wood and hardware (bridge) will affect the tone one way or another, regardless of what pickup is used. I don't know how much of a difference this affect has between active and passive pickups, as I have had only one guitar with active EMGs, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that There is a very noticeable tone difference between my LP style guitar and my ESP M-II, both of which have a Seymour Duncan JB. The LP has mahogany body & neck, with a TOM/STP bridge, while the M-II has a alder body, maple neck, and Floyd Rose Bridge. I don't know what has more affect; the wood, or the hardware, but I'm gonna guess that the Floyd makes the biggest difference.

I know that doesn't answer the original post directly, but I'm just pointing out that the notion that a pickup will sound the same regardless of what kind of guitar it's installed in, is misguided.