Mod: EMG Covers for Passive Pickups

[The Spanish Inquisition]

I shaved the pickups to fit tighter into the covers and removed the mounting tabs. The pickups fit perfectly and tightly against the top of the cover. When you do this make sure you have the pups you want because it's permanent. I used a fine stone on my bench grinder and worked slowly. I do fabrication and body work so I wasn't scared to do it. But you need to take your time and do several test fits. Also, I used Seymour Duncan pickups and DiMarzio pickups may fit easier once the tabs are removed. You'll want to get on Stewart Macdonalds website and get some pickup epoxy like EMG uses to secure them permanently in the covers to keep them from sliding out over time.

You have the same guitar as I, is the SC-607's bridge grounded? I got custom covers done by a friend of mine, but of course, when going from active to passive, I need a ground wire.

 

[farren]

Years ago I direct-mounted some DiMarzios in my 707-routed Schecter after cutting the mounting tabs off, and though I bought the proper covers from guitarjones long ago, I'm just now getting around to finishing the project.

Could someone who has epoxied their passives to the housings give me some advice as an epoxy newbie?

I have 2-part 30 minute set epoxy. I know how to mix it, but is there anything protective I should do with the pickups before pouring? Once poured, do I need to clamp the pickup to the housings like I would when working with wood glue or an expansion glue, or can I set them, cover with an upside down bowl for protection, and forget them till dry? I intend to have epoxy almost all the way up to the edges of the housing.

 

[123321123]

Link is dead. Anywhere else to get these? The mojomusic ones appear to be too big.

Edit: Found. I'm thinking of doing some extra modding on this so I'll post up when I'm done.

 

[DespoticOrder]

Link is dead. Anywhere else to get these? The mojomusic ones appear to be too big.

Edit: Found. I'm thinking of doing some extra modding on this so I'll post up when I'm done.

Mind posting the working link? I did some searching but could only find em for 6 strings and basses.

 

[farren]

Working link to housings appropriate for 7-strings: Mojotone EMG Style 2-Hole Mount Soapbar Bass Neck Pickup Cover Black (4 String)

Working link to housings appropriate for 8-strings: Mojotone EMG Style 2-Hole Mount Soapbar Bass Pickup Cover Black (5 String)

Could anyone with epoxy experience address my previous reply?

 

[DespoticOrder]

Working link to housings appropriate for 7-strings: Mojotone EMG Style 2-Hole Mount Soapbar Bass Pickup Cover Black (5 String)

The 5 string bass pup covers work with 7 string pups, too? Sorry if I missed that in the other posts.

EDIT: It looks like the length of the 5 string bass pup cover is 4 inches, and the 707 housing is only 3.5 inches according to the website.

 

[farren]

The 5 string bass pup covers work with 7 string pups, too? Sorry if I missed that in the other posts.

EDIT: It looks like the length of the 5 string bass pup cover is 4 inches, and the 707 housing is only 3.5 inches according to the website.

You're right, sorry about that. That's an EMG-40 housing for an 8-string. I got my first EMG-35 housings long ago from Guitajones and had it in my head that it was a 5-string housing for some reason. I've edited it and added the correct link.

 

[DespoticOrder]

Sweet! Thanks. It looks like these go in a tiny bit deeper than the 707s. I guess I can file them down if I need to.

 

[farren]

As far as I'm aware, everyone has to file or cut them down at least 3 mm (depending on the pickup). The bases that passives are mounted to are too wide to fit inside the 707 housings and we want the bobbins/poles of the passives to contact the inner top side of the housings so as to maximize string proximity.

 

[DespoticOrder]

I'm actually kinda bummed about these EMG style housings. You have to force the pickup to get it to fit in there, and then the housing is too fat for the cavity.. I'm going to try to sand down the inside of it later tonight to see if it helps.

 

[farren]

I don't recall seeing anyone here mention sanding the inside walls down a bit, but yeah, Dimarzios certainly cause my housings to bulge a bit. I'm not sure if they'll fit in my route yet with only a few millimeters of height taken off the housings. Shouldn't be too much trouble either way I suppose.

By the way, I just got my Mojotone housings, and they are indeed a little taller than the ones I ordered a few years back from Guitarjones. The Guitarjones housings are truly identical to EMGs, but I don't know where those can be found these days...

 

[buttpirate666]

Covers came today, but no 2 part epoxy. I shaved the bobbins and baseplate down and also removed the mounting tabs completely. I don't care about reversing it. lol Here are the pics so far.

So yes, with some work it will work with Duncans or anything else. I got these from Mojo Tone. EMG 35 style bass pickup covers and I got the 10 pack of bass pickup mounting screws. Total cost was $6 before shipping. $12 after shipping. lmao But it was worth it.

So could I use any kind of 2 part epoxy? Or does it matter? I just ordered my dimarzio d activator 8, and emg style covers.

 

[farren]

So could I use any kind of 2 part epoxy? Or does it matter? I just ordered my dimarzio d activator 8, and emg style covers.

5 and 30 minute will both work. I'd go with 30 minute just to be on the safe side (more work time available): you're going to want to allow it to set far longer than 5/30 minutes anyway. Depending on humidity, 24-48 hours IMO for 30 minute.

 

[farren]

Just an update on trimming bobbins and filing the inner walls of the housings and such...

I just installed some Dimarzios into OEM EMG housings (the kind that look exactly like EMG housings minus the logo, not the newer kind that are slightly taller and have an extruded top) and the only things I had to modify were the mounting tabs and the housing height. For the taller Evo7, I removed 3-4 mm and for the shorter LiquiFire 7, I removed 6-7 mm. No bobbin modification or filing of the inner walls of the housings were required in this case.

 

[nothingleft09]

Sorry I didn't reply to any of these guys. I don't have the thread subbed anymore.

Epoxy. The epoxy I was going to use was for pickups. It was on the site I got the covers from. I ended up getting a refund because it was backordered.

I preferred shaving down the PICKUP not cutting down the housing because depending on the type of guitar you have and how high the pups sit you would have a gap at the bottom of the housing possibly. So instead I shaped the bobbins and the baseplate to fit completely up to the roof of the housing. I didn't have to trim much but did have to trim the bobbins as well as remove the mounting tabs and trim the baseplate. I got a solid tight fit against the roof of the housing. The reason I wanted to go with epoxy was so the pickup would not move over time with the guitar being played or possibly being dropped or anything like that. I was thinking ahead. It would suck to have to pull them just to push the pickup back up to the roof of the housing. Also to eliminate microphonic noise. If the cavity under a direct mount pickup without foam could create it then so could gaps and crevices inside the housing in theory. So I was going to completely fill the housing with epoxy just like an actual EMG is done.

If you have any more questions please feel free to PM me.

 

[farren]

I preferred shaving down the PICKUP not cutting down the housing because depending on the type of guitar you have and how high the pups sit you would have a gap at the bottom of the housing possibly. So instead I shaped the bobbins and the baseplate to fit completely up to the roof of the housing. I didn't have to trim much but did have to trim the bobbins as well as remove the mounting tabs and trim the baseplate. I got a solid tight fit against the roof of the housing. The reason I wanted to go with epoxy was so the pickup would not move over time with the guitar being played or possibly being dropped or anything like that. I was thinking ahead. It would suck to have to pull them just to push the pickup back up to the roof of the housing. Also to eliminate microphonic noise. If the cavity under a direct mount pickup without foam could create it then so could gaps and crevices inside the housing in theory. So I was going to completely fill the housing with epoxy just like an actual EMG is done.

That's true. This wasn't a concern for me because I was certain the bottoms of the housings wouldn't show as they sit quite deep in the body of my recessed Floyd-routed guitar. I cut just enough from each housing so that the face of the bobbins could mate directly against the top of the housings for a secure and level bond. Regardless of height, the bottoms never show in my guitar. I certainly agree epoxy is the best solution regardless of which part someone decides to modify, housings or pickups, plus it looks pro

 

[nothingleft09]

Exactly. People with Tune-o-matics like the SC607b I modified the pickups on sit pretty high out of the body which is why I went the route that I did. As I said. It depends on the type of guitar you're going with.

 

[spadz93]

quick question. both me and a friend did this mod to our sevens, and we lost quite a bit of gain, to the point where i had to use a compressor inside my pod to bring the level up. i put a set of full shreds into my 7, and i also have the 6 version in another guitar. theres a very noticeable gain difference. he did the same exact process as i did, which was the one listed here. did we do something wrong?

 

[nothingleft09]

You want to get the pickup as close as possible, if not directly onto the roof of the housing. After that you're going to have to get your pickup height as close as you can to the string with the string pressed down at the last fret. Check all of your connections as well and make sure you are wired in the correct phase. If all that is good then I would say pull the post grind down a spot on the side of the string post and solder the wire directly to the post or to the spring claw of your Floyd rose. Full Shreds don't seem to be really high output like some duncans, but I'm basing that on Keith Merrows vid of the Duncan 6 string pickups.

Edit: Did you guys remember to change to 500k passive pots? A couple of people have had that same problem lately and just forgot they needed to be changed out as well. Same symptom, loss of gain and volume.

 

[spadz93]

I changed to 500k pots, my bridge is properly grounded, and I'm wired to a 2 vol no tone 3 way toggle setup. pickups pretty close, but I don't want the strings hitting the pickups