EMG OMG! - are these EMG branded pickups FAKES? - (Obviously they are, but lets take a look inside)
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
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This $250 Explorer Shaped guitar has its charms, but it also has clearly counterfeit pickups. LETS CRACK THEM OPEN TO SEE WHATS INSIDE!
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You're not wrong, I DO be thinking about pickups all day long.
I KNEW IT!
See my comment, Colin....
I read this with a Scottish accent in my head.
They say men think of sex every 7 seconds. If you’re thinking of pickups the other remaining seconds, somehow you confused pickups and picking up girls during your education. You’ve got something called erotic transference.
@@phantom_spaceman me too
Thoughts: 1) EMG fakey fake fake. 2) Install the GFS humbucker; the fake has too much of the BAD microphonic-ness. Bonus: double zebrabuckers = cool factor. 3) Pull the tailpiece and use sandpaper to take the finish off where the wire touches; also, make sure the ground connects properly to the output jack (you may have to sand it, too). 4) Bump up to 11s - if you want beef, go with a set of medium GHS Boomers. Style points for top-wrapping the tail. 5) White paint jobs are basically prime for any refinish - 3M maroon scuff pad to take the shine off, and repaint however you want (you could even just hand-draw on it) before spraying clear over the finished product. 6) Or you could just sticker-bomb it if you have a stock of swag stickers. 7) Killswitch...if you're going to do that you need the red arcade type, leave the guitar white, and pretend you're Buckethead.
Top wrapping is for boomers
Do you have any suggestions for dealing with installing Fishman moderns? As a novice, I feel like crying. The wiring diagrams and instructions aren't much help, and they pretty much just say "eh, leave it to a pro." But I wanna do it!
Not familiar with these pickups - steve
Can I ask what the mic is on the Princeton? It looks lovely! (I'm a discerning buyer :) )
It's a Cascade Fat Head 2 ribbon mic. - steve
First thought... reminds me of EVH's early white Ibanez Destroyer that became, "The Shark". Second thought.... the fretboard inlays look like hands flipping the bird, I agree.😆 Cool guitar!
This guitar is inspired by James Hetfield's guitar. The original was an ESP MX-220 Explorer with middle finger inlays and 81-60 EMG pickups
When you said you were going to cut the top off the pup; I was expecting a dremel style tool, not an industrial attack haha
Need to take the top off this little plastic box "grabs f'n angle grinder"
what is an angle grinder but a really big dremel
right? I expected a surgeon an there comes a butcher😅
Something similar happened to me about 30 years ago. I bought a Les Paul copy, my first guitar with humbuckers. After I got it home and restrung it I thought I'd take the cover off one of the humbuckers. To my dismay there was only a single coil hiding under the cover. Fauxbuckers.
And then you found out what a P90 was.
After the Low End Lobster thing with the Gretsch. I used magnetic paper on the "Humbuckers" of my Epiphone Viola. Not humbuckers.
I still don't know - never used one. Am I missing out?
@@waytospergtherebro A P-90 with the cover off shouldn't look exactly like a single coil, with a space next to it to place another single coil.
I had the exact same thing happen to me with an LP copy--I think it was a Lotus? I took them out to swap them with pickups from a cheap Ibanez, and sure enough--metal humbucker covers with single coil pickups underneath.
I'm really surprised that EMG is letting them get away with that. But it looks great with a zebra pickup and would probably rock with a proper DiMarzio in it.
I concur... DiMarzio tone Zone bridge and air Norton neck setup.. A m a z I n g tones!
They are made in china maybe? It's legal there
Why they sell 2ith fakes would be a whole northern thing lol
Gibson haven't stopped China making fake les pauls with Gibson on the headstock, so if they can't stop it no one can.
I did Stumble on this and other video about that Explorer style a year later and I checked out thier site and They Get away with much more, they Make Replicas with Brand Logo and some slight key diffrence but they have ESP Replicas wirth ESP logo and Artist signature models. I.E ESP KH2 Ouija, Dean Dimebag Dean From Hell ETC...
No Chinese copy has real EMGs unless you specifically ask them to include them which is an up charge. They all have the same looking EMGs with the same font and font color. Also there is zero shielding in the pickup and control cavities.
Not only did it kill Tasha Yar, but now it’s time travelled to the past and hidden inside these terrible, terrible pickups. I’ve got a bone to pick with that goo!
This is all Q's fault. Probably.
That’s black epoxy. The coils probably weren’t wax potted first. You still have to do that with epoxy encapsulation. The epoxy didn’t seep to the top of the pickup. So there’s an air bubble there. That’s probably why they are microphonic.
Why did Bad Cat not worry about the fake EMG's being exposed, and thereby losing all credibility?
Because they had no credibility to begin with. Looking at their site they're selling almost exclusively knockoff/copies (likely sourced from the Chinese factories known for this stuff) complete with headstock shapes. They aren't concerned about that, so why would they be concerned about fake pickups?
@@Andrew_182 Yes, this exactly
I bet they closed already
@@djlehara nah 😂
While it's fine that guitar brands like this one try to get exposure in youtube, it's not nice they put fake-brand parts for everyone to see. I mean, whoever is making these pickups is actually selling them to appear as real EMGs, deceiving unaware/uninformed customers. We all know this guitar is an affordable one, but this brand didn't do it right IMO. If I were you, I wouldn't showcase this guitar anymore, I mean you might have to keep telling the story of the pickups forever which is not worth of your time. Cheers!
I agree. I would not give BadCat anymore time of day. Makes Ryan indirectly complicit by continuing to show the guitar brand once he discovers there are intentionally fake bootleg parts.
I’d even argue that he should remove all his videos that feature their products . . . and encourage other RUclipsrs to do the same and boycott this brand too. Doing so might make the brand think twice and change their ways - they can make inexpensive, great guitars without blatantly ripping off other brands and going so far as to fool people who don’t know better. Nobody knew about BadCat until RUclipsrs started showing their products, after all. Use that platform to hopefully invoke change!
For guitar measurements , a meter that measures capacitance and inductance as well as resistance is very worthwhile.
HA BLACK TASHA YAR KILLING GOO AMAZING
I wasn't expecting this video to turn into an episode of Mythbusters, but there Ryan was with an angle grinder tearing something apart.
I picked up one of the custom ones with a crazy graphic and barbed wire inlay, because the tackier the better. If the bones are as solid as they seem it'll be a great project.
please put EET HUM on this guitar. the grounding issue sealed the deal
When I put passive humbuckers into my Schecter Hellraiser I also had a buzz and learned for the first time that in an active guitar there is no ground wire for the bridge or strings needed. So, maybe they thought those are active EMGs when they build the guitar, haha!
Cheaper than cheap pickups, if they have that much resin on there and are still microphonic. Do have to say, though, that even with the distortion you had on there when you got it, it didn’t scream like it was on a Nirvana album.
As far as the bootleg EMG’s, probably done to make it as close to Hetfield’s as possible. (And, if you ever join a Who cover band, you could use it for Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere’s breakdown - with all the feedback and rapid fire toggle switching!)
Did you check with EMG as to whether they supply to BadCat / or ask them to verify (or not) the pickups? I assume that the Metallica /James Hetfield endorsement is fake also.
It is
The biggest giveaway for me is that generally EMGs are powered by a 9 V battery which has a separate set of conductors. This pick up did not have that. It also did not have the EMG quick connect system built into the pick up. In fact if you look on the back of the black goop you could actually see the pole pieces kind of sticking very strange to say the least!
I wonder if the EMG Hot 70 are also fake on the Fusion guitars. I see the real ones have screws on one of the pickups...
Nasty comment: "Your beard is the best beard I've ever seen. How do I get that beard??".
What’s that distortion pedal? Sounds killer ⚡️
I hate it when ppl do this but; 888th like! Yea yeah booooy!! Awesome video brother.
I have a friend with a zakk wylde gibson that I had to tell him was fake. First clue was the emg logos. But the closer i looked. It was everything
@@hollyc5417 he inherited it from a dead step dad. Were not sure if the dead guy thought they were real (theres actually 2) they play like epiphones. We laughed we we realised they were fake. But he wasnt out any money.
I have wires with crocodile clips at each end and clamp it before making the connections permanent. allows for a lot of experimenting with no hassle. If I am experimenting on a strat style I have two pickguards, one on the guitar with the pickups mounted and wires poking through and another out of the guitar with the switch and pots. Then just text and experiment before moving the pots and switch to the main pickguard and making connections permanent.
Me too, now. I once wired up a Strat w 26 settings. A lot of work for nothing. I ended up using 3 a lot and 5 more occasionally.
@@terryenglish7132 but it was fun to experiment, surely. Particularly useful when you don’t have the colour codes for the humbuckers.
And all the EMG bass pickups I have use the DuPont connectors ... only desoldering required to fit :-)
@@stephenhookings1985 Good on paper, but I had one break. I managed to salvage it , but it was tedious work. Bad design. The connection belongs on the lead ends, not at the pickup body. I do hate having to change switches or more when swapping p-ups , so its a good idea in general not done right.
Missed video opportunity; putting the chopped up pick up back in to see what it sounds like after being chopped haha
Tasha Yar killing goo is the reference of the year.
you probably just need to run a ground wire diagonally from the control cavity into the bridge post hole with the end stripped a fair bit so it gets sufficient contact with the post.
That was my first thought; that they didn't get good ground to begin with.
I got a laugh out of your Tasha Yar comment. Lol
swapping those pickup leads when you were trying to fix the ground put your middle position either into/out-of-phase depending on what it was before
is it legal to play surf music on an explorer?
curious about the grounding thing - I had the same issue a little while ago with an LP clone that I was modding out and I couldn't for the live of me figure out why it was having the grounding issue until I realized that the ground wire was going through properly to the bridge but the sleeves that were going to the body weren't actually metal - the sleeves were actually chromed plastic and the ground was never going to contact the bridge. once I replaced the entire tail it was all good
I say this with no intention to offend, but your hair and beard make you look like that one meme drawing. I think it's called "Yes Chad" lmao
Yes.
The reality is still such that for under $10, the Chinese could produce an identical clone to active EMG's. Their active is SMD so it's literally 25 to 50 cents including the PCB for a Chinese clone anyway. The LM4250 isn't exactly a top notch choice for an active circuit either. I just use good ole fashion transistors and my circuits turn any average unbranded pickup into a monster that eats EMG's and other major brands alive.
Meanwhile, my circuit in itself is about 20 cents in parts lol.
I don't think they were ever going to be active EMGs with no battery to be found. But EMG has a series of passives too, I don't know what they look like under the cover and they are not very microphonic. Also I think the EMG logo colors are pretty specific to models, those look like some of the active model colors to me but I'm no expert.
Oh and the color coding for pickup wires is a mess and I hate having to Google that shit every time I swap pickups for a guitar
From what I could find the Passive EMGs have an “HZ” next to the logo on the front and much more similar to an Active EMG with the quick connects.
Bing it instead? Variety is the spice of life 😂👍🏼
Like Schwig said, passive EMGs would be branded as EMG HZ. These are 100% fakes.
@Swigger96 my Shecter bass has EMG HZ's in it but they are active
EMG makes better Pickups
Mad points for Tasha Yar killing goo reference.
I'd put a Sustainer pickup in the neck. Love the epic overengineered removal of the "EMG" cover.
how about turning it into what it should have been an EMG heavy guitar, put some 11ens on it and some real EMGs in it and yea fix that brigh
Nice project guitar IMO... The grounding thing goes away with a bit of sandpaper... The neck pickup is kinda cool for Jack White type of stuff... Just Frankenstein it!
I got a Klein Tools MM300 Multimeter from Home Depot a few years ago. Only cost me $30 and has yet to fail me, def reccomend it.
OMG fake EMG's!
Excellent Star Trek reference. Well played sir!
Throw some dimarzios in there
Imagine believing the pickups were genuine EMG when paying $250 for the entire guitar
You have to pull a vacuum on the wax pot. That pulls the air out of the coils and the wax replaces the air.
What are some of your Favorite guitars you own?
It was driving me nuts, trying to figure out who you sounded like. Especially your laugh. And then it hit me, Adam Savage!! Your laugh is identical! Love the content as well of course, just found you the other day and im loving your energy and humor!
It’s so stupid to use fake pickups for small brands. I have budget but great Squier Contemporary Active strat. Pickups have just SQR on them and it’s ok. If it sound good, who need EMG Ultimate Custom Shop logo on it.
That guitar is crying for a refinish.
lol, I dont want to put that much effort into it, but I am planning on 'decorating' it.
@@60CycleHumcast "eet fuk" or "more beer"are the only appropriate decorations given the guitar it's modeled after
@@UnhungHero gotta do EET HUM
Apparently EMGs can be microphonic ruclips.net/video/sFkXt_TB-QA/видео.html 4:32
there is some disturbing guitars in your background wich give me nightmares
I didn’t see a battery compartment in the back during your unboxing. So I was suspecting they weren’t real. Put some Super Distortions in that sucker.
EMG makes excellent passives
You can by these on Ali baba from many stores middle finger inlays, fake EMG's and some calling it James Hetfield Eet Fuk model all Bad Cat did was put a waterslide decal on it
You give it the Van Halen treatment and cut a big chunk out of its rear, put some heavy chains in there, then check if it has lost sustain mustain
A lot of pickups fake are in Aliexpress, but not only EMG, Seymour Duncan, Epiphone etc.
Thought about buying this because I'm a huge Metallica and James Hetfield fan but with all the issues I'm not gonna be getting it. Are there any inexpensive white or black explorer style guitars with or without those inlays that don't suck?
The Harley Benton EX-84 may be a good option for you. Shaped a bit different. But an awesome Explorer option.
@@MrSpeed-lt8gr I was just about to say the same thing
It's fake isn't it? The message was on the fret board as inlays!!!! ;)😆
Your cover ones they're not getting between the top of pickup and cover. Always check the ground first especially for active.
F**k chinese EMGs. I had the same problem. Chinese girls.... OK, but not EMGs!!! Thanks for this video. :D
I'm already subscribed. How did that happen? Just to let you know, I have high Cholesterol.
Getting nightmare flashbacks after you mentioned that horrible TNG episode. At least the series got way way better after that mess. Always the darkest before dawn. Dark like a oil monster
Did the pots have values listed? Cause unless they passive the pot values will be 25k
Can't be an active pickup without a battery box!!!
Put real active EMGs in that puppy. Dremel in a battery box from Stew-Mac. 🤣🤣🤣
wax potting is always the final step, even at seymour duncan, but they leave them in for like a day and in w vibrating tray, so I bet cheap ones are made nothing like that
I (still) own this guitar. I put James Hetfield EMGs in it… it’s preeeet-ty cool. Despite it being a fake(ish) guitar, I *really* (legit, really) like it.
\m/, 😊 ,\m/
Wow.... Wax potted and nothing??? Or possibly they did wrong like they didnt have the humbucker the same temp as the wax so like it flash froze wax when they just stick it in there or something
I have a B-Stock Harley Benton Flying V with the same grounding issues. I don't bother fixing it because I know jack shyte about soldering them wires, I grab my Gibson Flying V 9 out of 10 times anyway. Maybe in the near future, some project to change pick ups on the HB, although I doubt it's worth the money and effort.
Well, expecting real emg's in a BUDGET import guitar from vuhChina is a bit of a stretch, right?
I’d like to see you do a roller bridge and/or roller nut swap on that guitar. I bought a similar fake explorer and did a complete solderless EMG pick up, pot, and tone switch swap (and hip shot locking tuners). Lot of set up work as well - and used heavy bottom skinny top strings. It sounds better, but keeping it in tune is a challenge. You think the rollers would help?
EMGs are the GOATs of pickups - prove me wrong!
Yeah they aren't real EMG pickups EMG pickups have a battery compartment nine volt unless it's EMG Hz pickup that's the only EMG pickups that are not active and the EMG Hz pickup has that written on the pickups. I would suggest getting DiMarzio pick ups or Seymour Duncan active pickups little cheaper than EMG pickups. And no that's a fake Esp logo on the headstock if that's what it says I can't really see it to good on my screen., unless that's a real Esp guitar three for four thousand dollar guitar which I seriously doubt that . In order to get rid of all the buzz have to get active pickups and you'll have to rout out a spot on the back of the guitar to hold the battery in place. It's about a hundred and fifty dollar guitar hope you didn't pay too much.
The site has absolutely no specs for the guitar. If it had a paper mache body you would be stuck with it, lol.
Have you checked out the New Fireflys The FFLX Supposedly better pickups and fretwork.
And that's another way to tell they're fake EMGs, because EMG pickups are self grounded
bad cat, more like mad catz instruments
They still don't manage to wax them properly? L0L. I bought a pair of fakes many years ago. They actually sounded decent, but same problem, microphonic. You could have dipped them into hot wax again, but again, maybe the garbage bin is really where this stuff really belongs.
I've actually had a £1600 LTD Sparrowhawk that had some grounding issues before. Was quite annoying but never considered getting it looked at. Input jack crackled too, not great for such an expensive guitar
Why aren't you Put in Some Real EMG's in there ? Because you would not need any Ground and it would make the Guitar Mutch Better? (:
You could probably also cook that fuvker to get rid of the wax
How's it going first off let me say this an 81 85 a 60 and all those they use a battery you would think they were HZ or just passive emgs but I don't know what kind of douchebaggery I'm seeing here well everybody Rock on maybe you could just sing through them LOL all right everybody have a great day
I don't think anyone should support this company. Using fake pickups is one of the worst things I've ever heard a guitar company do. They're actively trying to rip people off. I'm not supporting a company like that. I don't expect an inexpensive guitar to have good pickups but there's no excuse for fake pickups
Seems to a common problem with black tails, they coat threads. I also don't know how they don't get in trouble by putting fake anything on guitars!!!
60CH: I'll put it back together after we have a look.
Also 60CH: ANGLE GRINDER!
Those are fakes, real EMG's would have a battery, the passive ones have an "HZ" on the front cover
I use a Klein autoranging multimeter (don't remember what model it is) but honestly for just checking guitar pickups, I'd just go with a cheap harbor freight multimeter, that would probably suffice just fine lol
They are NOT floating in resin.. it is just a resin seal and underneath there is standard parafine.. the microphonicness can actually be sorted out if you drill atiny hole in the resin and re-wax-pot them :) but then they still dont sound as the real EMGs.. you are better off with a standard open coil pair by say fleor or belcat buckers if you want to save on pickups.
Sounds like you have a thing for surf rock and stuff like Roy Orbison... 1950s stuff
No sticker, no connector, and no battery in the guitar...yea its fake! The lack of battery is the first real clue without even removing the pickup. That's some bs right there though!
The connectors and wiring is a giveaway that it's not a genuine EMG, that one looks very cheap and the wiring looks especially cheap
All real emg are complete plug and play. Behind the 81/85 are 3 pins on the bottom of the humbuckers to connect to a small power supply adapter. There is no attached wire colors..
Well I was going to pick one of these up just to have one at the house, but when they are faking EMG's... Chibsons are bad enough. Faking EMG is making it just not worth it.
Green and bear are ground red is hot and black and white go together and I forgot to say that's usually how it is with Amazon pickups I don't know anything about this pickup just a suggestion
I saw those pickups one time in a fireworks box they had a fuse.......lol
If you have aJCM800 and turn it up and stand in front of it your in for a treat. Maybe that's microphonic. I don't know.
That guitar is an AliExpress guitar, they sell it for 200 bucks.
FIRST CLUE SHOULD HAVE BEEN NO BATTERY. SECOND ACTIVE EMGS DON'T NEED TO BE GROUNDED. IF THEY WERE PASSIVE THEY WOULD BE HZ OR OPEN COIL.THIRD IS NO CLIPS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE PICKUP.USUALLY THERE IS ALSO A MARKING STICKER EVEN ON THEIR SINGLE COIL SA PICKUPS
Those fret markers are awfully rude, if they look like fingers, that is. Polaris 4 Music … shameful 🦅
fires up the grinder, thank you .. instant like and subscribe. re: killswitch - make it a master volume, no tone and put the killswitch where the closest pot hole is.