Something said don't, but I did anyway, couldn't help myself,....

[Death by Uberschall]

I have the 81/SA combo in a couple of guitars. I have thought about trying the 81/60, but I like alnico pickups in my neck position. The 81/85 just works for me, does everything I need.

 

[stubhead]

I could force myself to play that, pretty easy. As much as we all love the Mighty W, it did take a fairly continuous onslaught of blue and green and purple PRS's to knock 'em off the straight and narrow.  :icon_thumright: And I have a friend who has a "thing" for custom shop Gibson Les Pauls, every other month he's traded or finagled away one for another. And they all sound alike, but I try to be polite - "Yes, Mark, that truly is the best..." But I gotta hand to Gibby, once you crest the 3 grand mark they can spray a mean 'burst too.

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Copied from the EMG forum:

In the guitar and pickup world, “chrome” is an industry term meaning a glossy, shiny silver colored surface finish on a guitar pickup or guitar hardware. Typically, this means a type of nickel or chrome plating over brass or some other base metal. During our search for sourcing the best available “chrome” finish cover cap, we found that the available products could not be ordered with any consistency. Since there were no specs for base metal, metal thickness, plating, or plating thickness, you could never know what you were getting from batch to batch. Most importantly, since the manufacturing process would not be controlled by us, there was no way of knowing how the sound and tonal performance characteristics of our pickups would be affected. This characteristic was something that also could vary from batch to batch. Finally, we could not find any US manufacturers. We knew at that point, that the “buy” solution would not work for us.

Since putting a nickel or chrome plating on a common base metal is just a low cost way to simulate polished stainless steel, we decided to look at the feasibility of doing the real thing. This was the “build” solution. EMG engineers worked out a way to produce a one piece, high quality, mirror polished, stainless steel cover cap while maintaining comparable pricing to the plated versions. In addition, the sound and tonal properties were virtually identical to our molded cover caps, and controlling the process guarantees the consistency and high quality level of the products. We are pleased to now offer humbuckers in the real deal, mirror polished stainless steel, commonly known as “Chrome EMG’s”.

The “gold” version is the same polished stainless steel cover cap with a gold colored finish that is commonly used to harden machine tools. It is a finish that both hardens the cover cap surface and penetrates the stainless steel substrate, rather than surface coating it as a plating would. This assures a durable, longer lasting surface finish that will stand up to your pounding riffs and all the abuse the road can dish out.

Designed and produced in the USA…

 

[AutoBat]

I've the "chrome" 81X/85X in my VIP. I quite enjoy them.

 

[DangerousR6]

Copied from the EMG forum:

In the guitar and pickup world, “chrome” is an industry term meaning a glossy, shiny silver colored surface finish on a guitar pickup or guitar hardware. Typically, this means a type of nickel or chrome plating over brass or some other base metal. During our search for sourcing the best available “chrome” finish cover cap, we found that the available products could not be ordered with any consistency. Since there were no specs for base metal, metal thickness, plating, or plating thickness, you could never know what you were getting from batch to batch. Most importantly, since the manufacturing process would not be controlled by us, there was no way of knowing how the sound and tonal performance characteristics of our pickups would be affected. This characteristic was something that also could vary from batch to batch. Finally, we could not find any US manufacturers. We knew at that point, that the “buy” solution would not work for us.

Since putting a nickel or chrome plating on a common base metal is just a low cost way to simulate polished stainless steel, we decided to look at the feasibility of doing the real thing. This was the “build” solution. EMG engineers worked out a way to produce a one piece, high quality, mirror polished, stainless steel cover cap while maintaining comparable pricing to the plated versions. In addition, the sound and tonal properties were virtually identical to our molded cover caps, and controlling the process guarantees the consistency and high quality level of the products. We are pleased to now offer humbuckers in the real deal, mirror polished stainless steel, commonly known as “Chrome EMG’s”.

The “gold” version is the same polished stainless steel cover cap with a gold colored finish that is commonly used to harden machine tools. It is a finish that both hardens the cover cap surface and penetrates the stainless steel substrate, rather than surface coating it as a plating would. This assures a durable, longer lasting surface finish that will stand up to your pounding riffs and all the abuse the road can dish out.

Designed and produced in the USA…

The "gold" is done in a process call Titanium Nitride or TiN coating. It's super hard finish.. :icon_biggrin:

 

[Death by Uberschall]

*** cough *** cough ***

 

[DangerousR6]

Ewwhhhhh, I need to engrave something in those....muuuahhhahaaa...midst resssist the temptatioooooon... :toothy12:

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Ewwhhhhh, I need to engrave something in those....muuuahhhahaaa...midst resssist the temptatioooooon... :toothy12:

:toothy12:

This is the first set of MetalWorks EMGs I've seen in person, and I gotta say, they look pretty damn nice.  :hello2:

 

[DangerousR6]

Ewwhhhhh, I need to engrave something in those....muuuahhhahaaa...midst resssist the temptatioooooon... :toothy12:

:toothy12:

This is the first set of MetalWorks EMGs I've seen in person, and I gotta say, they look pretty damn nice.  :hello2:

Nice... :icon_biggrin:

 

[LushTone]

*** cough *** cough ***

Awesome.

 

[mullyman]

PRS makes some the best looking guitars around.  The thing that has held me back was I was never in love with the neck profiles.  Damn.

Enjoy....she is a beauty

Same for me. I love the way they look but the neck just doesn't feel right to me.
MULLY

 

[Death by Uberschall]

Some iPhone teaser pics as I'm still at work. 

There is a grey under tone (almost like weathered wood) to the blue quilt that makes it look like storm clouds. Very cool.  :headbang1:

 

[Death by Uberschall]

And more,..........

 

[DangerousR6]

Did you take those pics in the light of day.... :toothy12:

 

[Death by Uberschall]

:laughing7:

Why yes I did!