I have used solderless guitar electronics ONCE and it was a massive failure. The wire clamp connections have no durability, so don't expect to be able to change things more than two or three times and be careful in the process not to torque the connection screws.
This video is ON POINT. I just installed my new ZW EMG's and followed the video, a couple of hours later. Bingo Bango!!! My Les Paul Custom sounds amazing!!! Didnt even crack open the instruction booklet. Great vid!!!
Just to let you guys know - i managed to install pickups perfectly, my guitar now ROARS and i couldn't be happier with EMG's! :D I've also made 18V mod (2 bateries) and the sound is hands down SUPERB. It even improved the clarity of pickups and removed so called "sterile" sound, so i really recommend it. Thank you EMG company for this really helpful tutorial and lots of fun to new buyers! :)
note the magic reversal of the the output jack wires: -> 12:43 = white left, black right -> 14:37 = black left, white right the latter seems to be the right one.
I'm using EMG 81 and 85 ZW set which I've had for over 10 years now,still going strong. My axe is a handcrafted by Luther Pendragon called Excalibur. Now my EMGS had to be soldered due to small cavity space and no luxury les Paul roomy cavity space to do easy emg solderless installation. We'd all love that but for me no chance. And to be honest I love the emg very responsive especially for heavy rock styles etc. Yet in my ibanez prestige I'm using the superb Bare Knuckle War pigs that's passive and not active and super high output and they are amazing hand crafted scatterwound pickups. All from the uk. So for me both pickups are incredible for what they are.
This video was excellent. Thanks for the upload! Installed the zw set tonight and they work great! Also, emg customer service is as good as these pickups; I talked to a very nice lady today, who answered their general telephone line, and she was quite friendly and knowledgeable, particularly regarding the questions I had about the length of zw pots.
My ZW set (and 3-way toggle switch) just came in, and I'm very excited to get them installed. I'm a longtime fan and user of EMG pickups, and can't wait to make my old B. C. Rich Bich my new B. C. Rich Bich. Edit: Also, such clean wiring is incredibly satisfying to see to an IT guy.
Looking at the same setup for my warlock and was thinking about the x3 way selector and x3 pots vs the x4 used here, any info / links that you followed or is it documented with the pickup set?
@@Petemotox The documentation that comes with the pups is very thorough, including wiring options for different types of switches (which you will have to order seperately). The set included the wiring harness, connector wires, jack, battery bus, two volume pots, and two tone pots - really everything you need to completely rewire your guitar. The plug-and-play aspect made it incredibly easy to install, and I've had zero issues with loose wiring (which seems to be the biggest worry from the other guitarists I spoke with before buying) in the three years since installing the new electronics. I'm a longtime EMG guy, so I ordered my set straight from EMG's website. Just be advised that you'll need the 10mm stemmed pots (you choose when ordering) for your 'lock so that your knobs won't be hanging an inch above the guitar body. I hope this helps a bit. Stay TRVE KVLT!
Thank you, Rob! I have fun soldering but this set was awesome to install. I have the newer set so the Pickup Selection Bus is different, but so well labeled, it doesn't even matter. Made my guitar sound better than new and certainly not my last EMG set, by a long shot. Again, thank you, Rob and EMG.
Dude I upgraded all my EMG guitars to this solderless system and it's amazing about time someone got smart trying to solder all those little bitty wires to those little bitty switches what's a headache well never again thanks EMG
I did this exact thing on my AIO Les Paul. 57/66 set super easy best thing I could have done. Now I can swap out whatever EMG pickup I want without soldering anything. It's amazing.
I just wanted to point out that at 12:41 the cabel that comes from the jack is conected with inverted polarities... they correct it later in the video but don't say anything about it.
I FIGURED IT OUT!! My issue was that I didn't use a pickup switch, I had a sh*t one and didn't want to use it. So I never connected anything to the poles. I took two wires from my previous passive pickups, snipped them up to make the wiring cleaner, and connected them from BRIDGE to OUTPUT using a heatshrink connector. (I'm only using one pickup; connected to the Buss btw)
Aside from setting up my switch, my wiring is done on my EMG's. I custom built a fireman's axe guitar and this video got me around my final bend. Great vid, thanks!
Just did this in my Epiphone SG. Took me about 2 hours cause I've never done anything like this before. Didn't run into any issues and the only thing wrong is my toggle switch is the wrong way round now, easy fix when I can be bothered. Thanks for the video I would have had no chance without this!
I got an EMG85, comes with a kit (it comes without the battery foam though) and everything is really intuitive and polished, I haven't finished the installation (gonna buy a battery tomorrow) but I can really recommend the pickup to guitarist friends.
This video was incredibly useful and will now save me a bunch of time and money, I will soon be grabbing the het set and watching this how to video again. Thanks ROB!
I got this system a couple of years ago. One thing they do not tell you for strat/tele type guitars is that you can actually get a 3 way and 5 way selector switch that's solderless. With that you can completely eliminate that buss chip. You still have to buy them separate though which was annoying. I don't understand why they cannot package the selector switch with the volume and tone pots....perhaps they have done that at this point but when I did it, it wasn't an option lol.
I don’t mind it a little more work when I did mine didn’t bother me I was just happy I got one of my favorite sets back the controversial EMG HZ set back
@@AvnerRosenstein-ULTRA-LXVfrom what I know most of the EMG community doesn’t like the passive variants that EMG did for quite a bit but I tend to prefer them cause I learned on multiple sets of them
81 more clear I think I went with a 81 60 set in my first Jackson. I may switch 81 in the bridge slot out for a 85. I have to closely hear the differences. I think the 81 is more clear and better I have to really listen to the 2
@@jgmopar🎸 《☆》I'm thinking about putting a set of ZWs in an 04 Epiphone LP that I put some Gibson Burstbucker Pros in when it was new. Over the years of not playing it much the electronics have gotten scratchy & sometimes I can't even get the neck pup to work without flashing the coil several times. I aquired a Gibson since then that I'm thinking the Burstbuckers will be perfect for✌🏼😎☯️
Rob this video still comes in handy to this day. I just swapped a 707TW for an 81 in the bridge of my Hellraiser(replaced all the pots and switch too) and forgot how to wire the damn output jack, lol.
With all the advances in modern technology etc, and guitars fetching anything from 40 bucks up to 150 thousands bucks, it'[s crazy that guitars are SO badly put together. Like apart from the mood, everything else is just cheap tacky shit. Look in the pot cavity on that Les Paul... a 3 grand guitar, maybe more... shitty dusty wiring, VERY messy soldering work, cables everywhere etc.. yet it's supposed to have that "Magic sound" that only shitty solder and cable jobs can get you lol. You'd think all guitars innerds now were just connect the Male to the Female like on the pickups. Should be that way directly to the pots too.
Apparently that “magic sound” is based around capacitors the size of municipal garbage cans being shoehorned into the electronics route and secured with enough solder to fill a life-sized mold of the Statue of Liberty. Extra points for a factory headstock re-glue! Play Authentic, eh? 😁
Late comment but epiphones are wired with plug and play at least for push pull pots, only things that were soldered on mine were ground and signal to the switch and tone
Nashville Hillbilly here, Been playing 30 years. All this machinery...oh, I do not like Gibson guitars. I primarily play Dean Guitars but, that is also my preference. Dean can make expensive shit too.
I recieved my set yesterday and i finally have time now so... Epiphone Les Paul - i hope you're ready :D Wish me luck, it looks like a hell of a installation!
I remember installing a pair of EMGs on my Epiphone les paul back in 2005. I don't think there these plug in pots and I did an awful job. This looks so easy!!
Need a new video. I did my beast installing on an epiphone les Paul 50s 2020 and the buzz is different. And didn’t work. So had to take it to a guitar shop to fix it. Hope we can have a new video for us non experts. Thank you. Emg is the best🇲🇽
The fuck ?! NOW you guys uploaded this video, while 6 months ago i was waiting cause i spent 2 hours trying to install those damn pickups ?! thanks EMGTV.
Great job demystifying this -it looks so simple once broken down. I'd like to see all manufacturers adopt a standard like this so I'd never have to strip and solder and dick around with a third hand, etc.
I've just bought a set of these off Amazon, I have 1 large pot with that quick connection. Then 3 little regular pots with soldered prongs, wires only have connections on one end
Nice! I have wanted to know how to install these in all of my Les Paul's. Now I can! Thanks! Going to go and buy a ton of EMG pickups now and then have to tell my GF I got "mugged" to explain why I don't have that cash anymore. haha :-D
Алексей Емельянов Randy Rhoads V was a pain in the ass, considering the drill holes are the width of a pencil and the jack cables not being long enough to reach the hardware compartment.
you need to use the jack that came with the kit. Its a stereo jack, it turns on the pickups when you plug in the cable. Original jack is mono. check out the emg website to order a longer jack. hope this helps.
Thanks for the video. For some reason, the wiring diagrams just never seem to work for me. I've wired 2 Les Pauls with these and both times the drawings just seemed wrong, but this video saved me this time. If anyone has an Afterburner (20db boost) pull pot. Looks like it just a replacement tone pot, with a hot wire for power - however, i can't recall - i installed one a long time and rarely use it.
I’ve been able to do my LP, SG, V, and Explorer with no problem. I can’t get a HH 3 way switch Strat to work for the life of me. I’ve even tried the solderless EMG 3 way switch. I’m lost.
Did you figure it out? You can always call EMG, go ahead and take photos of all connections made including the back of pickups and attach them to a an email. Call EMG tell em what you got going on.
@@Ikillintel1 I did. I used a couple of different diagrams and it’s working perfectly. I set it aside for about 10 days and came back to it fresh and got it first attempt.
@@nicholaslewis8938 my very first set (6 sets ago)I had a similar issue. Pretty much did the same thing only I didn't wait two weeks, just a few days. Now I can install this set very easily. I've also had and installed the Marty Friedman passive set and the Gary Holt set. I gotta admit that push pull kicked my ass a little.
What needs to be taken into account if I want to switch from passive to active EMGs? Sure, there's a battery in there, but to what extent does the wiring change? It would be great if you could make a video about it.
The pots are the same as long as you solder them to correct pickups. For example pot x works with both bridge and neck pickup. Same for pot y. So you can have bridge pickup to pot x and neck to pot y or the opposite way :)
I wired mine up but at the end tapping the pickups no matter what position I put the toggle switch it’s picking up on both pickups when I tap it with a screw
my 3 way toggle has no wires attached so unfortunately I am going to have to solder. Question: I noticed in your video that the red, green and blue wires coming from the toggle, have white wires inside that go to their positions, but also have another wire and all three are also attached to the ground. Is that required? I noticed that on the other end of the wires (where it goes into the solderless part) that they only have the one main wire.. can anyone explain if that is a requirement and why its like that??
Don't forget the primary goal of human communications is to convey the thought. You knew to what he was referring so he was successful. You just got spun up around the axle on terminology and that isn't his fault. Just sayin.
I just installed an 81/85 set with the quick connect kit into my Epi. LP and it was a breeze. It all went in nice and easy with no problems. The only thing is I find that when I have the 3 way switch in the up position the guitar has extremely low volume, don't know what's up with that unless that's the way it's suppose to sound. I've checked and re-checked and everything is plugged in correctly.
I just bought an Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy EX with EMG 81/85 pickups and they are soldered in like the old type even though it has quick connect wires. There is no solder-less pots or EMG bus and no solder-less interconnect wires. Question is if I get an official EMG wiring kit and pots for the pickups will there be any notable difference in tone? Sounds great as it is anyway.
If you wanna do it on a Flying V that has the output jack at the end of the wing, be sure that you ask for long wires upon ordering. The standard wires are way too short. Except that flaw EMG has a good support, I sent them a mail about the problem and within 3 workdays I received the extended wires.
Only complaint is installing the black pickups on that guitar! Maybe this was made before they were offering the metalworks covers. Also the 85 is the go-to bridge pickup for versatility, the 81 only excels as a Metal bridge P/U.
Just something... honestly i dont know too much about sound but i do know what i like. My friend was telling me theres a scoop of mid range (which i terribly love... though im not the high eq megadeth/oldies annihilator sound) and uhm... the sound breaks on cleans. i dont know if it was faulty... but it was brand new and after changing, it just seemed odd. while the emg 81/60 didnt break easily. i like the range of the 81/60 with the adjustment of the vol knob unlike the hetset.
