EMG wiring advice...

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So I'm going to install a single EMG 81 in a guitar which is currently all passive.

I only want the 81 pick-up in the bridge and a single volume control. No tone pot or switch. I'll obviously need to upgrade the output too.

I know pretty much nothing about wiring and without at least a bit of help it'll definitely end up a complete mess.

Thankfully, the pick-up and the wiring are the solderless type which should make things a bit easier. I've looked around for diagrams but can't find the single pot/pick-up setup I want and can't make head nor tail of the diagrams I've looked at.

Any and all help will be genuinely appreciated!
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Comments

  • Can I do away with the battery buss since nothing else will be running through it?

    If I can, I think I've got it sussed.
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  • guitarfishbayguitarfishbay Frets: 7953
    edited September 2017
    Slimbert said:
    Can I do away with the battery buss since nothing else will be running through it?

    If I can, I think I've got it sussed.
    Well you need to connect the red wire of the pickup to the battery somehow, the battery bus is an easy way to do this solderlessly. You wouldn't need it if you soldered the wires instead, but I don't think there's a solderless way that avoids the bus.
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  • Slimbert said:
    Can I do away with the battery buss since nothing else will be running through it?

    If I can, I think I've got it sussed.
    Well you need to connect the red wire of the pickup to the battery somehow, the battery bus is an easy way to do this solderlessly. You wouldn't need it if you soldered the wires instead, but I don't think there's a solderless way that avoids the bus.
    Thanks for that!

    The reason I ask is that the loom I have is already soldered in parts and I think the red wire is already connected to the battery.

    I just wondered if there was a reason I didn't know about why the buss had to be in the loop.
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  • The only other reason you'd want the bus is for it to be easy to connect a bunch of other controls to a single pickup guitar.

    If you've got a two pickup guitar there's a different type of bus, that looks like this


    If you're ever really stuck I'd recommend emailing EMG, I've found their customer service very helpful in the past.
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  • The only other reason you'd want the bus is for it to be easy to connect a bunch of other controls to a single pickup guitar.

    If you've got a two pickup guitar there's a different type of bus, that looks like this


    If you're ever really stuck I'd recommend emailing EMG, I've found their customer service very helpful in the past.
    That's the type of buss I have but it didn't come with the loom.

    I've found another diagram which shows what I want to do but doesn't show the buss.

    Between you and what else I've found I'm sorted. Sincere thanks for your help!
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  • Ok great hope you get it sorted!

    The 81 is one of my favourite pickups.  I've tried a lot of the other EMGs and I keep coming back to the 81 in the bridge
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  • If you buy Solderless EMG pickups brand new, you should get a separate version of the red portion of the Buss PCB. Plug the two red +9v block connectors into that.

    In the event that you ever decide to add a booster device, that also draws its power from the red distributor block.
    Be seeing you.
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