EMG release Solderless Toggle Switch.

[Re-Pete]

Video here shows the switch. Connectors might be tight through some narrow routings though.

[youtube]3w_YUTlBTlM[/youtube]

 

[Logrinn]

Very nice. I was longing for something like this when I wired my guitar.

 

[ChristopherG]

About f-ing time.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

I dunno, I'm on the fence about this stuff. I learned to solder solely because I wanted to tinker with my guitar. Since learning to do it though, I've used it for so many other things. When a solder joint failed on my pool controller's pcb, I fixed it instead of buying a new one (saved $700 on that one!). When the battery terminal on my irrigation timer fell apart, I replaced it instead of buying a new timer. I've repaired my stereo amps and guitar amps; built, repaired and modified guitar pedals. It is a very handy skill and all it takes is a modest investment in equipment and a little practice. For me, I'm very glad that I learned to overcome the obstacle rather than being handed the bypass around it. But that's just me...

 

[ChristopherG]

^^Sure, sure. I know what you mean and I still solder my passive pups. What was annoying before was  having a solderless system if you were replacing the toggle--as you are want to do when replacing OEM electrics--and where thereby stuck with having to break out the soldering iron anyway.

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Yeah, I can dig that. Like having a bolt-on part for your truck, except for that one bracket that you have to weld, haha! It's mostly a bit of internal assessment I think: if there had been functional and readily available solderless solutions I probably never would have learned.

 

[AutoBat]

I'm completely down with this idea. I didn't exactly do a great job on my selector switch on my VIP, but at the same time haven't been bothered to go back and do it right. (I may have used speaker wire).

 

[Timmsie95]

Yeah, on guitars that I put Lace or Seymour Duncan pickups in, I have no problem soldering, but with EMGs, it's all fun and soleless, until you come to the switch (until now), so it's great in my opinion.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I normally prefer to do a hard solder job, but I can totally stand behind this solder-less ideology as it facilitates fast switching out of components, and when you're on a tight schedule, this greatly cuts that time down & gets you back in business quickly.

The connections are still solid as they are held in by friction, the components remain clean, and if by chance you have to replace any particular component, you don't have to gut the entire instrument to do so.

For a gigging musician, I can totally get the value in it.

If you're a bedroom musician, then sticking with the hardwire versions might be more preferable to you.

 

[Re-Pete]

I'm completely down with this idea. I didn't exactly do a great job on my selector switch on my VIP, but at the same time haven't been bothered to go back and do it right. (I may have used speaker wire).

Yeah same as me with the switch on my Carved Top Tele in my avatar pic. Sometimes the neck pickup goers MIA..... or there's static... But changing out the wiring in that guitar again is the stuff of nightmares. The narrow channel that the wires have to go through are authentic Gibson routing, yeah for sure, but tighter than....well....you know the crude quote  .

I still think you would have to take apart the connections and thread the tips only through. Those plugs are bulky in comparison to the routings they travel through. But for me the switch is a good idea an completes the system off nicely. That Carved Top Tele runs a Seymour Duncan Modular Preamp after the mini humbuckers. It does have a compressed headroom sound to it and have been in two minds about the sound I am getting and whether going over to an EMG system might be better.  :icon_scratch:

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I've got an 89 right now that I've got up on Reverb to hopefully fund a 57 purchase to go with an S.

Now that there are a great deal of options beyond the 81 (which I loathe) I'm interested in actives, but it's taken me a long time, like 30 years, and dozens of customer installs to finally consider them.

The 57/66 combo seems perfect to me, and I'll be dropping a set into my 7 string eventually, but my TFS6 has a SC in the neck, so I'm going with the S for that.

If the 89 doesn't move, then I may try it in the bridge of the TFS6, but I'm just not up to speed on any feedback for how well of a bridge pickup it is.

 

[ChristopherG]

I've got an 89 right now that I've got up on Reverb to hopefully fund a 57 purchase to go with an S.

Now that there are a great deal of options beyond the 81 (which I loathe) I'm interested in actives, but it's taken me a long time, like 30 years, and dozens of customer installs to finally consider them.

The 57/66 combo seems perfect to me, and I'll be dropping a set into my 7 string eventually, but my TFS6 has a SC in the neck, so I'm going with the S for that.

If the 89 doesn't move, then I may try it in the bridge of the TFS6, but I'm just not up to speed on any feedback for how well of a bridge pickup it is.

The problem with the 89, from what I understand all the other dual modes as well, is that you can either get a good "single coil sound" or a good "humbucker sound" but there is no height sweet spot where you get both.

The 57/66 is a bad ass set and is what is going in my Ibanez AX7521. Just enough room in the cavity for two batteries.

 

[Re-Pete]

The problem with the 89, from what I understand all the other dual modes as well, is that you can either get a good "single coil sound" or a good "humbucker sound" but there is no height sweet spot where you get both.

The 57/66 is a bad ass set and is what is going in my Ibanez AX7521. Just enough room in the cavity for two batteries.

That was my experience with the EMG 89 & 89R pickups. No sweet spot. Either a good sounding humbucker and a "meh" single coil sound or vice versa. Which actually makes sense if you think about it.  :doh:

 

[Re-Pete]

If the 89 doesn't move, then I may try it in the bridge of the TFS6, but I'm just not up to speed on any feedback for how well of a bridge pickup it is.

The 89 in humbucker mode resembles the 85 in tone. Alnico magnets, preamp the same as 85 I believe. The single coil mode is like the EMG SA. The 85 is as close to older styled - dare one say "PAF' sounding - as you'd get from EMG actives. SA like an old Strat pickup.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

If the 89 doesn't move, then I may try it in the bridge of the TFS6, but I'm just not up to speed on any feedback for how well of a bridge pickup it is.

The 89 in humbucker mode resembles the 85 in tone. Alnico magnets, preamp the same as 85 I believe. The single coil mode is like the EMG SA. The 85 is as close to older styled - dare one say "PAF' sounding - as you'd get from EMG actives. SA like an old Strat pickup.

Will likely try it out then.  thanks.