# Need some help with this EMG 81/60 wiring setup [pics inside!]



## turmoil (Mar 17, 2008)

i've had my les paul all wired up with an EMG 81/60 combo for well over a year now and it's fine but a few months ago i decided to put the stock pickups back in just to check them out but decided to re-install my EMGs once again.

i'm having a few minor issues with the wiring i think. At band practice the other day i noticed that even if i roll the guitar volume down, either one, and keep playing WITH THE VOLUME AT ZERO i can still hear stuff i'm playing coming out of the amp. it's _very_ faint but i shouldn't be able to hear anything. 

also, when i switch to the neck pickup there's just about zero hum/feedback but if i switch to the bridge pickup it feeds back once and a while and has noticeably more hum to it. i think that may be a grounding error on my part?

the final issue, and this one only happens every so often, but sometimes if i flip the toggle switch to the neck/bridge position the sound that comes out is VERY weak and lacking output but if i flip the switch again it corrects the output and becomes fine again. maybe something with the wiring i did on the actual toggle switch (pictured below) or to the control cavity??

here is exactly how my LP is wired right now, the toggle switch is on the right:






and here is the EMG schematic which i followed relatively closely:





the only thing i think i did differently was that i wired the capacitors to different lugs than the EMG schematic and on the neck tone pot i wired that black cable to where the other two connections were rather than to a different part of the pot.

if anyone has any ideas as to what i may have done wrong that would be awesome. like i said, it's working pretty fine but i feel that this wiring is a little shakey and i'd like to clean it up. also, i am using all EMG stock tone/volume knobs and input jack as well as capacitors and wires.
thanks!!


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## dpm (Mar 18, 2008)

First up, the switch issue you mention might just be a bit of crud in there so cleaning it with switch cleaner/lube ma y fix it. If it doesn't help you'll need to replace the switch.

Regarding the pot wiring, you see how you've got the pickups entering the second lug and exiting the first? That prevents either volume completely muting the sound in the middle switch position when turned down (ie. you can be in the middle position and completely roll down one volume without the guitar cutting out). Wiring it that way has the side effect of still allowing a tiny amount of signal through when turned to zero - so this is why you can still hear that faint output. Reversing the connections to lugs 1 and 2 on the volumes will eliminate that problem (pickup to lug one, lug 2 to switch), but rolling one volume to zero in the middle position will mute both pickups.

The noise in the bridge position could be a grounding issue or may simply be due to the 81 being higher output and having a different eq to the 60. The feedback may also be related to it driving your amp a little harder, or it may be a little loose in the pickup frame. Check your spring tension and see if it wobbles around easily.

Hope this helps


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## turmoil (Mar 18, 2008)

cool man! thanks for the advice! once i grab my soldering iron this weekend i'm going to fix this baby up!

what kind of stuff could i get for the switch, as in cleaning product?


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