Spun Pick-ups

[Calija]

Was wondering what sort of sound i would get if I had two emg81s rotated 90 degres and put parralell in the bridge position on a seven string. A fair bit of material would need to be taken put, plus some wierd electronics stuff but im curious about how it would sound. Ive tried out holding cheap passive humbuckers in that position, but that hasnt been very cosistent in terms of veriables, plus was very noisy and didnt make much of a difference compared to how they would normally be orientated.

 

[odibrom]

You'll most likely have the 4th string without a pickup beneath. Personally I think it's a bad idea that will probably trash the guitar, but please go ahead and prove me wrong.

 

[død]

Get a cheap strat with a pool route and drop it in a cheap pickguard to see if it works before chopping up a guitar, maybe? Sounds interesting, tho!

 

[Calija]

You'll most likely have the 4th string without a pickup beneath. Personally I think it's a bad idea that will probably trash the guitar, but please go ahead and prove me wrong.

based on the very innacurate measuring ive done the gap between the pickups shouldnt be bad enough but ill have to wait and see. hopefully I am able to prove you wrong otherwise I have a trashed guitar but i think it would be intresting either way

 

[odibrom]

based on the very innacurate measuring ive done the gap between the pickups shouldnt be bad enough but ill have to wait and see. hopefully I am able to prove you wrong otherwise I have a trashed guitar but i think it would be intresting either way

Understand that just because an EMG is a covered pickup, it is a 2 coil pickup. With that setup the pickups' poloes won't match the strings' spacing and that will probably make uneven volume between the strings.

Before committing that idea to the guitar, do a rough test on a spare piece of wood, attach the neck to it, place the bridge and the pickups and see if it sounds good. You can then ID possible problems and what not. This way you'll still have a good guitar body to go back to if thing don't work out.

Allow me to question why doing this? EMG has 7 string pickups that can sound just as good... do note that it's almost impossible to have a 7 string (or 8 or 9) pickup sounding like a 6 string version, even on the active branch of guitar pickups... Fishman is another brand to look at...

 

[Calija]

Understand that just because an EMG is a covered pickup, it is a 2 coil pickup. With that setup the pickups' poloes won't match the strings' spacing and that will probably make uneven volume between the strings.

Before committing that idea to the guitar, do a rough test on a spare piece of wood, attach the neck to it, place the bridge and the pickups and see if it sounds good. You can then ID possible problems and what not. This way you'll still have a good guitar body to go back to if thing don't work out.

Allow me to question why doing this? EMG has 7 string pickups that can sound just as good... do note that it's almost impossible to have a 7 string (or 8 or 9) pickup sounding like a 6 string version, even on the active branch of guitar pickups... Fishman is another brand to look at...

yeah the more I look at it the more it seems to fall apart but Im still curious.

I definitely wont go straight at the 7 string, it is more or less an experiment but if it really wont work at all then its just a complete waste so I will definitelly set up something to test and troubleshoot before I comit if I ever do.

Its really just curiosity. I currently have two guitars with emg 81s in the bridge and Im looking at getting a set of fishman fluences for one of them leaving me with two spares. If I test this idea with one pickup then i might end up swaping the the bridge 81 with the emg 85 that I would have changed for the fishmans, leaving me with two emg 81s to play with.
The reason that Im not just buying a 7 string pickup is because I just cant afford it lmao. I wouldnt be getting the fishmans for a long while so I dont really want to spend the money on a side guitar instad of my main one. The current pickups in the 7 string are also realy cheap and pretty bad so if it did work out then id have nice fancy emgs in it.
Plus I need a new amp before everthing else.
This stuff is expensive man

 

[akinari]

I'm all for experimentation here, but in this case I'd really advise just saving for a proper pickup 🤷‍♂️

 

[prlgmnr]

what's the problem that this is supposed to be the solution to?

 

[odibrom]

what's the problem that this is supposed to be the solution to?

Bad sounding original pickup...?

@calidon't rush into things... sell those EMGs and look for the used market. Used DiMarzios and / or Duncans aren't that expensive and may work as a patch until you have funds for the Fishmans...

 

[Calija]

I'm all for experimentation here, but in this case I'd really advise just saving for a proper pickup 🤷‍♂️

thats a good idea

 

[Calija]

Bad sounding original pickup...?

@calidon't rush into things... sell those EMGs and look for the used market. Used DiMarzios and / or Duncans aren't that expensive and may work as a patch until you have funds for the Fishmans...

Pick ups are pretty bad unfrtunately and really dont handle low tunings

If it does sort of work out with a test rig then i would be very carefulll if I were to go ahead with this idea, but most likelly not cus it would be very expensive and leave me with a useless guitar and pickups. I would look into selling one of the current sets tho I didnt really think about that.

 

[akinari]

The Entwistle 7 string pickups are good and affordable, maybe try those

 

[Calija]

The Entwistle 7 string pickups are good and affordable, maybe try those

these seem pretty cool ill keep them on the list of future upgrades for sure

 

[Zhysick]

All the years developing a hum cancelling pickup to now rotate them 90° and avoid the hum cancelling effect 😃

 

[odibrom]

All the years developing a hum cancelling pickup to now rotate them 90° and avoid the hum cancelling effect 😃

He's thinking on using active pickups, hum canceling won't be an issue here.

 

[Zhysick]

He's thinking on using active pickups, hum canceling won't be an issue here.

Mind to elaborate? Maybe my physics are wrong...

 

[odibrom]

Well, because active humbuckers have a preamp that filters out the hum...? Even if he was using single coil active pickups there'd be no hum... but I'm no electrician nor a physics master whatsoever, just guessing by experience...

 

[ElysianGuitars]

All the years developing a hum cancelling pickup to now rotate them 90° and avoid the hum cancelling effect 😃

Pickups would still hum cancel regardless of orientation in the guitar.

I could see there potentially being phase issues due to the alternating magnetic fields potentially splitting over a single string, you would potentially have issues with the sound of the string that sits right over the middle losing volume. I've seen similar with side by side hum canceling singles, the middle two strings can lose volume when bending. That's part of why G&L uses Z coils.

 

[ElysianGuitars]

Well, because active humbuckers have a preamp that filters out the hum...? Even if he was using single coil active pickups there'd be no hum... but I'm no electrician nor a physics master whatsoever, just guessing by experience...

It's more that active pickup coils are much lower impedance than standard humbuckers, wound with lower gauge wire than even a PAF, so even before the preamp they're low noise, as far as I understand them. The preamps are generally pretty basic as well AFAIK.

 

[Zhysick]

Pickups would still hum cancel regardless of orientation in the guitar.

I could see there potentially being phase issues due to the alternating magnetic fields potentially splitting over a single string, you would potentially have issues with the sound of the string that sits right over the middle losing volume. I've seen similar with side by side hum canceling singles, the middle two strings can lose volume when bending. That's part of why G&L uses Z coils.

Thanks! I knew active pickups had nothing to do with the cancelling (difference over passive pups) but I thought for proper cancelling effect the coils had to be reading different spots of the string but then I realised that is totally the opposite, the more different it is the more frequencies (phase cancellation) you loose. Also then remembered that stacked singles are hum csncelling and both coils are at the same spot so yeah, I realised my physics were broken but it was too late to think about it during a nightshift 🤣🤣

Thanks for your reply, really appreciate it!!