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EMG 81 not fitting in body? What to do?


theDogger

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So swapping out some Seymour Duncan Micky Thompson Black Outs for EMG 80/61 set on a Ibanez MTM1. I have done this swap on an earlier MTM2 and had no issues. But is seems that the this MTM1 has a slight clearance issue with the EMG 81.

 

So my question is this? Do I route the MTM1 pickup cavity or sand the corners of the EMG? Its tight in the corners but not by much

 

emg-81.png

 

Thoughts?

 

thanks

 

-B

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Both my electric and my bass have stock pickups so take this for whatever it's worth but I'd be inclined to sand the corners of the pickup. Seems like it would be simpler and I'm all about making things easy on myself. How much would you need to sand?

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Definitely route the guitar, not the pickup. You risk damaging the epoxy potted pickup trying to shave it down.

 

Just take a Dremil and a sanding drum and wallow the sides of the pickup cavity out a little. You can widen the cavity out a tad more towards the bottom leaving it tighter at the top. This will allow the pickup to be angled without touching the sides.

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I've installed many sets of EMG's before and this a common issue. The corners are more square compared to a standard HB and you'd need to remove more then the thickness of the pickup cover to make them fit. The pickup needs to move freely not be jammed up in there too.

 

Also EMG's have a history of failing due to shock and vibration. If he does anything to mess with the pickups themselves, you not only blow they're resale value you risk damaging them. He can square the corners off of the route in no time using a flat or triangle file if that's all he has. A Dremel is ideal for that work though.

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I know about EMGs and their square corners. My bass has EMG knockoffs. As it turned out, the OP only needed clearance equal to the thickness of a paint chip so either approach would have worked and wouldn't have ''damaged'' the pickup. Thanks for the warning about EMGs essentially being crap (i.e., any random vibration can destroy them). I'll make a point of avoiding them or any guitar with EMGs installed.

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