EMG Single Coil Route with Non-EMG Single Coils?

opsopcopolis

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Hey everybody, on the verge of putting in a rear routed strat body build and I'm curious if anybody has tried dropping non-EMGs into the oval EMG route. I prefer the aesthetic of the EMG route and my hope is to use a G&L S-500 MFD set (https://g-l-online-store.myshopify.com/collections/pickups/products/g-l-mfd-pickup-for-s-500) that are oval single coils rather than the standard vintage strat triangular shape.

I did a search and saw mention of a few options (SD 1/4lb, SSL 5, etc...) but am curious if anybody has actually installed any of those in the Warmoth EMG route and how it went.

FTR I called in and was told that the main issue would most likely be that the leads on EMGs (and thus the wire route) are on the opposite side from most others, but I don't think that's necessarily a dealbreaker...
 
You would need to find pickups that do not have a triangular type base plate such as most Strat type pickups have.

EMG strat size pickups fit in a normal Strat pickguard so dimensionally as long as the pickup you want to use is a Strat size without the triangular base plate you should be fine.

Kinman offer all of their pickups made to order with a choice of either type of baseplate for example.
 
stratamania said:
You would need to find pickups that do not have a triangular type base plate such as most Strat type pickups have.

I'm not super concerned about that part as I have a set picked out and know there are other options available. Hoping somebody has some first hand experience direct mounting them in a warmoth body though.

Probably a non-issue but this is my first Warmoth build and I want to get it right!  :icon_biggrin:
 
I've installed Alembic pickups several times on Warmoth and other rear mount Strat bodies with EMG type PU routs.  No problem.

Bill, tgo
 
I was faced with this issue on an unpainted body, but learned that there are very few options for single coil pickups without the larger baseplate. E.g. no Dimarzio single coils would fit. So I set it out to get the hole enlarged. Hopefully you already know exactly what pickups you want, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
 
TheOtherEric said:
I was faced with this issue on an unpainted body, but learned that there are very few options for single coil pickups without the larger baseplate. E.g. no Dimarzio single coils would fit. So I set it out to get the hole enlarged. Hopefully you already know exactly what pickups you want, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Just as an FYI.... I checked up on Bartolini Pickups and their Strat pickups seem to have a similar base profile to EMGs. I have no idea what they would sound like, but Tommy Emmanuel's Telecaster had a Bartolini installed in at least one position.

https://bartolini.net/product/ace-sv/
 
I installed lace sensor pickups into an EMG route body which is a perfect fit! You can find some pics in below link :)

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=33251.0
 
I just realized that the Duncans I want to use in my upcoming build don't have the triangular baseplate. Is there any reason to not get the EMG route?

The attached image is from this Reverb listing:
 

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If a pickup fits a strat rout and has no triangular baseplate, it ought to fit the EMG style rout. One reason not to use it would be if you might change pickups down the road, you then are limited to this form factor. See post 2 above.
 
A word of caution the Duncan stacks and rails have the cable exit on the side of the casing which makes them hard to fit into emg routes.

You can special order DiMarzio Area and Rail pickups without the flange and they fit really well.
 
A word of caution the Duncan stacks and rails have the cable exit on the side of the casing which makes them hard to fit into emg routes.

You can special order DiMarzio Area and Rail pickups without the flange and they fit really well.

A good point, the last one I had did not come out of the side at the end, but it does lead toward the control cavity rout on the back. Not sure if this is what you meant. One thing that I found a bit of a problem was also the depth of the pickup, which probably would be less of a problem in a rear rout, but still the cable would have to make quite a tight turn without altering the lead strain relief point.

1681127159505.png
 
With the pickups in hand, yeah, supertruper's warning is right on the money. The cable exits the side of the pickup, not the bottom. Squished flat with the wire bent 90 degrees, the pickup measures .8 inches wide, and the spec for the EMG Strat route is .75 inches wide. The photo from that Reverb link that I posted above is accurate, but it's way more obvious with the pickup in hand that the wire is pretty stiff and can't get out of the way.

An enterprising woodworker might be able to use a keyhole router bit to make the bottom of the pickup cavity wider, while keeping the narrow route up top. One might also be able to desolder the lead wires and attach to the bottom of the pickup directly. I'm not really interested in either option, so I'm just rocking on with the standard Strat routes.
 
An enterprising woodworker might be able to use a keyhole router bit to make the bottom of the pickup cavity wider, while keeping the narrow route up top.
This is what I was going to suggest, but as you go on to rule it out... never mind.

Keep on rockin'.
 
what i did in my first custom guitar is having the emg style routing in the maple top but having the regular SC routing in the main wood, this turned our very good. i asked in one of my warmoth builds the warmoth team if they could customize it like that but undercut.pngthey rejected it.
 
This is what I was going to suggest, but as you go on to rule it out... never mind.
Ruled out primarily because I'd already ordered the body that Tuesday with regular Strat single coil routes. By Thursday, when I'd posted in this thread, Warmoth already had the build underway, so I couldn't change the routing without starting over, paying a restocking fee, picking a new lam top, etc... Not worthwhile, and the standard Strat route doesn't bother me at all.

Otherwise I'd be completely willing to do the keyhole route.
 
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