Installed EMG David Gilmore pickups in G&L Legacy Special

[Virg]

I've felt that the blade pickups were a little dull.
They didn't have much body or soul to them, and i've always been a big fan of Gilmore.

So I purchased a pack of EMG DG20
The DG20 kit has had many variations,
including little circuit boards on each pot, to todays version,
one giant board with pots mounted on the board.

The G&L 5 way switch is closer to the vol/tone knobs than in a strat. It doesn't fit.
that left me with 2 options.

- somehow get a replacement pickguard that fits the g&l with strat spaced knobs,
or
- remove the pots from the EMG board, attach extensions and slide board in on angle


I went option 2. quicker, and should have been easier.
Desoldering went well. The first two pots came off the board and i was on my way....
The third pot went to <censored word>.. for no reason, the pcb decided a whole lot of other crap was coming off too..
These board aren't designed to be repaired ( or even seen correctly without a magnifying glass)

So I put it all together and fired an email to EMG explaining my non warranty adjustments.

EMG were really great about the whole thing. Like G&L, they are an american company, making a lot of stuff in the US. Their tech guys sent an email about a replacement board, and within a week or two I was sent a replacement board.

I've yet to get around to changing the new board in, (i'll be extra careful this time). At the moment the damaged board in teh Legacy Special sounds great. I love the noiseless active pickups and the mid boost of the DG set..
I was also surprised at how 'stratty' the active pickups sounded.

definitely an improvement.

EMG is a great company to deal with.
If only they designed their boards to be pot mounted. The new system doesn't fit 'all' strat style guitars.

I'll post some pics

[Salmon]

Please do post pictures. How is it that you can use the EMG's without the circuit board installed? Can you post an audio sample file once you have the pickups all hooked up?

I wanted a visual immediately upon reading your post. This is off the EMG webpage for the time being. The DG20 usually comes as a pre-wired pickguard so the picture is from the inside of a Strat kit. There is also a video in case people want to see more of how it typically is installed.