# Need help with EMG solderless wiring



## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 8, 2012)

*What I want: 2-volume (no tone), so that in the middle position I can adjust the volume of each pick up independently. *

I googled this forum for a similar thread, and albeit there are a few that came close, not a single one had an answer to my exact situation. I am installing 2 EMG 81 in my Ibanez RG, I have all the pots, wiring bus, AND a solderless 3-way blade selector switch. This one:






Could you pleeeeease help me with a complete wiring diagram or a pic? Basically I do not know how/what to connect to the Bus and/or the selector switch.

Thanks.


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## The Only Factor (Sep 9, 2012)

This is easy to do. Following the diagrams below, check the following specific diagram #'s for details:
http://www.emgpickups.com/content/wiringdiagrams/H_0230-0106D.pdf , Diagram #7, on page 4... - for pickups to individual volume pot connections.
http://www.emgpickups.com/content/wiringdiagrams/S3_B165rC_0230-0167B.pdf - for volume pot outputs to switch inputs, and all other switch connections:
-Volume pot outputs to switch pickup inputs: Diagram #1, page 1
-Switch output to jack: Diagram #10, on page 4. *NOTE: you will be going strait from the switch output directly to the jack!!!*
-Battery connections: Diagram #'s 10 & 11 on page 4

In this case, you will need to take each pickup cable and wire them to the middle set of pins on each volume pot. This is the volume pot input in this case. Then your volume pot output will be the top set of pins, which will then go to the switch's pickup inputs. The switch output will get wired directly to the jack, and the battery connections should be self explanitory.

If you need any other help, just ask! But this is exactly what your looking for.

EDIT: I attached a pic of how it's wired in my M107 project ( 2 independent volumes, 1 tone, 3-way, all solderless system...). It may be a little congested in the pic, but if you follow what was described and what the specific diagrams I indicated show you, it's exactly how it is in the picture and you will have the same thing, just minus the tone pot. Like I said, any other questions, just ask and I'll be glad to help!


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 9, 2012)

Thanks man, you're awesome! I'll try it and let you know.


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## The Only Factor (Sep 9, 2012)

No problem!


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 9, 2012)

Here are the diagrams that 'The only factor' pointed out, and I think I have one question, scroll below:





















So i guess my question is how to connect the battery, as in diagram 7 (1st one above), or as in diagram 11 (the last one)?

Thanks again.


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 9, 2012)

Never mind, it worked, just connected BOTH the battery and the output-to-jack to the switch. Tested it and it worked like a charm, in theory. There is still a MAJOR problem, the output cable to jack is too short and it will not fit if I screwed the switch in place, now what?

*EDIT:* 
The pickup buss isn't connected to anything, could it be used to fix the current problem?


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## The Only Factor (Sep 9, 2012)

Stuck_in_a_dream said:


> Never mind, it worked, just connected BOTH the battery and the output to jack to the switch. Tested it and it worked like a charm, in theory. There is still a MAJOR problem, the output cable to jack is too short and it will not fit if I screwed the switch in place, now what?



Do you have any of the connector cables left, the 2-pin/wire ones that connect everything together??? If so, you will need to slice the end of one and the black connector piece end of the jack and connect them together. Here's how to do it:

-First, take one of the spare connector cables, and cut the black connector piece off at the very edge of the connector piece itself. You want as much wire s you can get to work with and be able to splice together.
-Next, cut the black connector piece off the jack wire in the same way.
-On both ends that you cut the connector pieces off of, cut the white rubber part back far enough to expose more of the smaller black and white wires. 
-Once you do this, you will need to solder both the black and white wires to the black and white wires of the other cable you cut the connector off of - the smaller connector cable with the bare ended black and white wires will get soldered to the bare ended black and white wires of the jack cable. NOTE: Be sure to cover both the black and white inner wires with heat shrink tubing after you solder them together!!! You will also want to cover the spliced area of the now longer cable with heat shrink tubing as well to make sure nothing makes contact with the inner wires and to make sure that whole area of the cable is covered and insulated again.

If you need further explanation and pics of this process, send me a PM and I'll get you taken care of.

EDIT: You can use the switch buss, but you'll need to use the switch buss in place of the solderless switch and use your original switch in it's place... If you want to go this route, you can. Just make sure you cut the wires off the switch AS FAR AWAY FROM THE SWITCH AS POSSIBLE!!! Again, you always want s much wire as you can to be able to work with and be able to position the switch buss in a spot close enough to be able to reach the jack...


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 9, 2012)

Thanks a lot Only factor, after looking it up at EMG web site, I actually meant the 'pickup' buss wasn't connected to anything, I edited it in my post, but I think you were talking about the same thing anyway. I'll read your post more carefully and see how to do it.

Thanks again, I couldn't have done it without your help.


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 9, 2012)

Here is how it looks:





I do have extra connections but soldering would defeat the purpose here, plus I couldn't solder to save my life  But seriously, I can do it if it is the only option.
So as you see in the pic above, the buss in the middle can be reached by the output jack cable, so is there a way to use it to solve this problem without any soldering? Just asking.


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## The Only Factor (Sep 9, 2012)

If you can't solder, no stress. You should be able to use the switch buss as a jumper to give you the extra room you need...

I think if you take the jack cable and connect it to the "OUTPUT" spot (in the picture, spot all the way left in the black pickup connections area...) on the switch buss, and then take a connector wire and go from the output of the switch to the "NECK" (the spot right next to the output connection in the pickup connection area...) position on the switch buss. This SHOULD work, though I've never had to use the switch buss as a jumper for connections before.

EDIT: Also, the pickup wire coming from the top right corner of your pic, that"s the neck pickup cable correct??? If this is the case, you may want to switch the volumes so that the bridge volume is closest to your hand and the neck volume is the one closest to the jack and more out of the way. not only that, but when you switch positions, you may have the pickups backwards on the switch positions - i.e.: bridge is neck and neck is bridge...


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 10, 2012)

Unfortunately, it didn't work, I connected the neck socket on the pickup buss to the output socket on the solderless switch and all I got was hum (that fades to complete silence if I touch the metal volume shafts), tried the bridge socket but got the same.
So, I'll make a trip to Radio Shack tomorrow to get a soldering kit 

As for your suggestion to switch controls for the pickups, I am not sure of the point but it's definitely something I could try once I get things working.


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## The Only Factor (Sep 10, 2012)

Ah okay. Was worth a shot in trying anyway.

Make sure the soldering iron is no more than 35 watts, as anything more than this can usually melt the insulation on the wires. Make sure to get solder that has flux to make sure your connections stick. And when you wind up soldering the black and white wires together on both the jack and connecor wire, you wil only need a very small amount of solder to make them stick together and make sure you are able to cover them with the heat shrink tubing.

If you want pictures of how to do this let me know and I'll snap some for you to make sure it comes out right. Will be talkin to ya again soon!


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 10, 2012)

Thanks a lot (Again ) for this, I had no clue. I also have two connector cables, so I'll practice soldering on one of them a few times before I go for the real thing. 

If already you have the pics, it'll be great to see them, PM them to me or post'em here.


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## The Only Factor (Sep 10, 2012)

I may already have some pics of this process, but if not I will take some and post them here for you and will explain each pic like I had previously.

Again no problem, and will post those this evening when I get out of work!


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## The Only Factor (Sep 10, 2012)

Okay, here's the pics and the details I mentioned about how to splice and make the EMG connector wires longer, whether for use on extending output cable to the jack or for a longer connector wire. 

*Picture #1:* The first picture titled "Connector wire end" shows the end of the cable with the black connector piece on it. If you look closely at the picture, you will see where the 2 smaller black and white wires start to go into the thicker cable... Right where these 2 wires go in, there's a spot where these 2 wires are soldered to what is the original hardwired EMG cables - braided outer bare wire with the smaller white inner wire.

As I was saying - and you will notice this on a connector cable if you hold one in your hand and look at this - You will see where there's basically 3 levels in the white heat shrink tubing on these cable ends. In the picture I posted, you will see where I drew the line indicating the first level. 

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, you will need to cut the black connector piece off the 2 smaller wires by cutting the connector piece off at the very edge of the connector piece. Doing this will give you as much wire to work with as possible. Once you have the connector cut off, you will then need to trim and cut off the white heat shrink tubing up to the first level (as shown by the marked area in the first pic...) and exposing as much of the wire there as you can. If you cut into the second level, it's no big deal, but you will obviously see where the 2 smaller wires are soldered to make the connector end pieces. So only cut up to the first level.

*Picture #2: *In this picture, it's showing the end of the cable with the connector piece cut off, the white heat shrink tubing cut back to the first level, and with both the black and white wires with the ends stripped. You will need the end of your jack cable wire and one end of one of the connector wires to look just like this to continue.

-Once you have the 2 ends of the cables like this, you will need to take a small enough piece of heat shrink tubing to put on one end of both the black and white wires. 
-So once you have the heat shrink tubing ready on one end of the smaller wires, go ahead and solder the white wire from the bared connector cable end to the bared end of the jack cable. Cover the soldered connection of the white wires with the heat shrink tubing to ensure nothing else makes contact with that cable/connection and short out.
_*NOTE:* When soldering these smaller wires together, you will not need a lot of solder on the end of the soldering iron. You will only need a very little bit to make sure the 2 cables stick together without a mass glob of solder , then making trying to cover this connection with the heat shrink tubing impossible. Like I said, just a little bit will do it for these!!!_
-Once you have the white wires soldered and covered, go ahead and do the same for the black wires. Once the connection has been made, cover again with the heat shrink tubing. This is where I also made mention of using a bigger diameter piece of heat shrink tubing to cover the whole patched area of the cable. You should be able to take a piece and slide it over the black connector piece end and slide it up to the patch area of the cable, then heat it up with the hot area of the soldering iron to cover and properly insulate the entire area of the cable you spliced and patched. Just be sure to cut a piece of heat shrink tubing a little bigger on both ends of the patch area to make sure it sits on the original white insulation of both cables.

*Picture #3*: This last picture shows how the final result should look, with both the black and white inner wires connected and covered with heat shrink tubing, and the whole patched area covered with a larger sized piece of heat shrink tubing as well. Though the wires shown in the picture are not the smaller connector wires, it is still the same way it will be done for your wires. The wire harness in this last picture is from an EMG 5-wire harness found on the Afterburner, PA-2, ect. that was cut short and I wanted to be able to use it again but with the solderless system. So by doing the steps I described above, you will be able to do this - not only for extending connector and jack cable wires, but also specialty-modifying the other EMG wires and components.

A few additional notes about a project like this:
-When making soldered connections, DO NOT blow on them to cool them off after you made the connection. Doing so creates internal air pockets inside the solder joint. These air pockets actually form moisture inside them and then corrode the solder joint from inside out, causing a weak/bad connection. So don't blow on them after you make the soldered connections!

-Be sure to get and use heat shrink tubing for this. It works a LOT better than electrical tape, and is a lot neater too - won't get adhesive all over the wires and connections. Not to mention, the heat shrink tubing will stay on until you cut it off, where as the tape has a tendency to peel off and become a mess. If you can as it's cheap enough and good to have, get 2 packs each of both the smaller and the medium sized heat shrink tubing packs. This will give you a few pieces to experiment with and still have plenty to make sure you can do the job with, as well as have the right sizes needed for both the smaller inner wires and to cover the outer cables where the patch area is. You can bring the wire with the bared ends with you if you need to reference what size tubing you will need, just make sure you bring the connector cable with the black connector piece as that is the end you'll slide the tubing over and up to the patched area to fully and properly insulate that area.

-Lastly and most importantly, don't hold the iron on these - or any wire for that matter too long. Even though it's a low wattage soldering iron (recommended MAX is 35 watts for guitar wiring for this reason...), the wire itself does still get hot and will wind up melting the original insulation on other parts of the wire near the area your working on and cause a short/weak/bad connection. If you can, practice on a few pieces of scrap wire about the same size as the smaller black and white inner wires first before modifying your actual cables. Always better to be safe then sorry!!!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. But this should cover details for this process pretty in-depth. Let me know how you make out!


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (Sep 17, 2012)

worked like a charm, thank you 'The Only Factor'. Here are a few initial remarks on the newly installed pickups.

1- They sounded like poop in 9v.
2- Using my EMG 18v power supply, and running them on 18v, they sound FANTASTIC!! Here is why IMHO:
- I am using Elixir Polyweb strings (steel core = a lot sensitive to magnetic field) and they sound bad if they are close to the pickups, but ...
- lowering the pickups, I found that there is a sweet spot where the EMG 81 sounds awesome in both positions.
- The Ibanez RG420 is basswood, and the pickups sounded better (read warmer + chunkier) than when they were in my LTD JK-1, mahogany wings, maple neck-thru, ebony fretboard. Now I believe the neck wood is a VERY dominant factor in neck-thru guitars.​


*EDIT:* Oh, and did I say the two-volume setup is far more interesting than volume-tone? The middle position can now morph/mix the qualities of neck and bridge pickups and these in-between tones sound really awesome.


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## The Only Factor (Sep 17, 2012)

Awesome!!! Glad you got everything in and was able to extend the wire with no problem and get everything working again - or should I say finally!!!

And yes, the dual volumes is so nice for being able to dial in some of those tasty tones from the middle position!

Glad I could help!!!


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## iliyad (May 11, 2018)

hi guys 
i have a emg set
with emg81/85 
and 1tone passive 25k
1 volume active 25k
1 selctor 3s
i cant find diagram for this pakcage
qustion1: with these tools need i to pickup buss or selector is enough??
qustion2: if enough
please give me a diagram for these tools
this is digram from emg web site but it is 3 tone/volume 
please answer me


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (May 11, 2018)

If using only two pickups, you have the wrong switch.
You want this one, which I currently have in my RG7620 using 57/66-H set.
http://www.emgpickups.com/media/productfile/T/3/T3_B162rE_0230-0181A.pdf


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## iliyad (May 11, 2018)

i find new diagram please check and say to me this is safe?
this is my selector and tone passive and volume active and two emg active pickups
and i dont need to pickup buss ???


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (May 11, 2018)

These 3 way & 5 way blade style switches have the buss built in.
This recent diagram looks correct. No additional buss is needed.

This is the diagram .pdf for that switch directly from EMG's website.
Download, & Print.
http://www.emgpickups.com/media/productfile/s/3/s3_b165rc_0230-0167b.pdf


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## iliyad (May 11, 2018)

thanks man
i have this digram but if you see
there isnt my pakage


i install my pickup by digram sended ????
its safe?? and standarnd????


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## TonyFlyingSquirrel (May 11, 2018)

Yes, safe to use, you may proceed.


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