EMG HZ Humbucker Pickups and Splitting - A Natural Fit

I'm a curious sort of Bear. I like to see how stuff ticks - how does it work, and how can I make it do something interesting? Multi-wire humbucking or multi-coil pickups just beg to be split or tapped in some way. Why not have a few new sounds in your guitar? Usually, the cost is only a couple of dollars more than "standard" components (for the push-pull pots, the 5-way super switch, or the little mini switch(es)).


I've been working with lots of customizations using G&B Black-face pickups, and especially USA-made EMG HZ pickups. I've tinkered with early OEM-supplied HZs, all the way to HZ4 and HZ4A pickups. These pickups are really very easy to split! They come wired for weather, and the QuickConnect wiring harness used on these pickups makes it easy to drop them into a split-sound guitar. Bear in mind that EMG active pickups do not have the same wiring scheme and are usually not specifically splittable. The epoxy encasement generally prevents messing with the humbucker pickup's internal preamp and the wiring around the blades and windings.


From the factory, the QuickConnect harness already has the North Start wire (hot) singled out, the North End and South Start are already connected together and tinned (although they are usually folded back and shrink-tubed to the wire bundle), The South End and the Bare Ground are usually together, although I've seen some Polish-made harnesses that have the bare and South End as separate wires. Here's a picture depicting the way EMG HZ wire color coding works:




There are lots of good places to look up wiring diagrams on the 'net. Two of my favorites are the guitarelectronics.com website diagrams page, and the seymourduncan.com website diagrams page. The GuitarElectronics.com website does have color diagrams for many different types and brands of pickups... before you get stumped, look there. I also like the Seymour site because the diagrams are well-drawn and flawlessly implemented. Not all wiring diagrams are created equal. The same wiring concept can be done in different ways, even with the same components.


Here are a few close-ups of some of the EMG HZ pickups with which I've been working this week. Some are older OEM (installed as original equipment on guitars like ESPs, Jacksons, and others) and some are the retail-boxed variety you can purchase at most musical instrument sales sites.


I've taken some nice close-up pictures of a few different varieties of EMG HZ pickups - the good news is that the wiring scheme is the same among all of them.


An EMG HZ FH2, installed in one of my recent projects - a nice ESP EC-100QM



The typical appearance of an EMG HZ (either H4 or H4, as well as some other interesting OEM variants)


A nice-sounding EMG HZ H3 on the back side: note the black shiny epoxy-filled cavity...



A typical, early-style EMG HZ OEM pickup on the backside... I like the PCB notes on plus and minus and such... Clear epoxy on this one.



Here's a nice OEM EMG HZ pickup from the back, with the quick-connect installed. I LIKE the quick-connect on EMGs (and on Seymour Duncan's Blackouts (I love those Seymours!). I have gotten a guitar all put together, wired up, strung up, and decided to change the pickup after things are all put together. It takes only a few minutes and you can completely change the sound of your guitar without having to change ANY wiring!

Into each Jackson, a new sound must fall

I'm really fond of Jacksons - particularly unusual ones with shark-teeth inlays.


Moreover, I'm very fond of the feel, balance, and shape of the bodies. Although I'm a huge fan of LOTS of brands, Jacksons are just plain fun to mod.


I was lucky enough to snag a low-production-number (made for Guitar Centers) DXMGTSP - with original EMG HZ H3 pickups, and the 3x3 headstock (the string-through is a great sustainer!).





But, I wasn't looking for EMG sound on this one. The journey has begun. With the first experiment done, and the second on the way over the holiday season.



I started with a pair of epoxy-set, DEAD QUIET, German (pretty sure?) made of pickups with ESP labels (from my new ESP V200). I added push-pull coil tapping, top-line electrical components, Sprague Vitamin Q capacitor tone, a great switch and jack, and lots of grounding. As it is, my DXMGTSP is absolutely a dream to play and to hear.















However, if I can find a nice basic Jackson V-shape or Dinky shape (low-end, but in great shape - anybody got any dusty project Jacksons?), I'm going to move the current wiring and pickups to a new and shreddable home.


Phase two (and probably the final state) of my DXMGTSP is going to be with a pair of Seymour Duncan's excellent P-Rails pickups.



P-Rails give you REAL P90s, plus a blade - splittable to get just great grindy nasty dirty P90 sound or a great variation on the humbucker sound. Also, with a little mini-toggle, I'll be able to tap out the pickups to do P90 or just the blade or the humbucker sound (in neck, neck+bridge, bridge). Sonically awesome, yes:?

There will be some awesome music and recordings coming from my DXMGTSP. Gotta love a great-feeling guitar like my Jackson, with lots of excellent sounds all wrapped up in a well-grounded, high-quality-part package.

Stay tuned. I'll finish this particular phase II and share a peek at it with you all...

Welcome to Mod-Guitar Dot Com!

Welcome to Mod-Guitar.com!

This site will be a place where I can share experience, ideas, pictures, and results of guitar modifications (and bass modifications, too!). I hope you find something that helps you or makes your sound-life richer.

For great commonly-used electronic modification diagrams, I love sites like the Seymour Duncan Wiring Diagram site, the Guitar Electronics site, and even neat places like Stewart MacDonald. (I'll provide links in other posts another time).

Parts: there are SO many great sites out there. eBay supplies almost all my used stuff (host guitars, used pickups, great used necks, bridges and other important bits and pieces. But, there are many sites which I happily use to find new electronics pieces, and even guitar sites. I also have a great deal of respect for Mike Z. (an eBay seller - banjomikez) for new electronics and parts.

Locally, there's an awesome luthier named Darren Riley. Darren Riley's Internet site. Look him up if you're in town. He does magic with instruments and amplifiers. An instrument worked on by Darren is a happy instrument.



Please stop by or get the RSS feed to my site. I'll be here as often as I can as I walk through my guitar and bass sound-quest journey.

If I can, I will be glad to answer questions. I am not as experienced as people like Darren Riley (by a long shot), but I have had dozens of very successful and sonically rich projects work out to be awesome instruments. My local musical community is full of Jim Pearson customized guitars.

Drop me a note at my contact page if you need to send me a letter or two.

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