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Posted by: Praetorian Jan 16 2009, 01:34 PM

I had a Kerry King set of EMG 81/85's installed in my Ibanez, and they don't work. I brought the guitar to another guitar shop, and had another tech look at it. He said the wiring is correct, and everything looks right. But, still nothing. I called EMG and they gave me a couple of ideas to look for, but everything looks right. All their suggestions turned out to be correctly installed. Nobody seems to know what the problem is...and I am stuck with a guitar that makes no sound!

Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Jan 16 2009, 01:40 PM

Did you plug the guitar in

No seriously though could it be a cable or amp problem rather than guitar?

Posted by: Sigfridsson Jan 16 2009, 01:47 PM

Aye indeed, did you just try some of the elementary stuff?
I mean try plugging the guitar into like a tuner or whatever to just see if it's actually putting out any signal?
Or perhaps try switching out the battery just to make sure it's that.

Just make a little checklist of every small silly little thing you can think of and control it, besides if the wiring is done right you could easily try another emg pickup in the pup slot now right? The actual pickup is hooked up with a clip is it not, ie very easy to replace?

note the 3 pin connector on the left of the EMG 85 tag.

Posted by: Mandos Jan 16 2009, 01:49 PM

Do you have a battery?

Posted by: fatb0t Jan 16 2009, 02:07 PM

Are all the soldered connections solid? Is in the input jack 100% positively wired correctly? Are any of the wires flip flopped or missed matched? How about 5way or 3 way or 2 way switch (whatever you have) you totally sure that's correct? I always mess up the switch.

Posted by: Toni Suominen Jan 16 2009, 02:16 PM

As said, check the soldering again, there might be a very small problem somewhere in there. Good luck!

Posted by: audiopaal Jan 16 2009, 02:36 PM

Uhm, I had a problem similar to this when I changed one of the EMG's in my ESP..
The cable you plug in during installation fits either way, but only works if you put it in the right way!
Was that understandable?
I just turned it around, plugged it in the other way, put the EMG back and tightened the screws and.. VOILA!

The T3 pin cable, you know what I mean right?
If you haven't tried this, give it a shot!

Posted by: Praetorian Jan 16 2009, 04:54 PM

I have checked everything...and so have the two techs that looked at it. The pickups are plugged in the right way, the solders look good...I don't know what to think! I am taking it to yet a third tech tomorrow. I will let you know what he says!

Posted by: audiopaal Jan 16 2009, 04:58 PM

I really hope you get them to work
Good luck!!

Posted by: Praetorian Jan 16 2009, 07:17 PM

What do you mean a battery?











Just kidding!

Posted by: MickeM Jan 16 2009, 07:55 PM

good one!

If you have a multimeter you should be able to measure the pins and wires on/from the pickups, the pots, the switch to find out if something is dead.
Could be some silly error like the volume pot overheated during soldering and died, the switch doesn't connect, the battery feed is broken or somethingsomethingsomething.
That way you could rule out what died. The problem can be to know exactly what to measure. Especially switches are tricky but the three way one should be no match.
...I picked out my multimeter so see how and what is measurable but the box was empty I don't have EMG's either so even if I find it I can't help you with those in particular, but some random measurement should show an impedance.

Posted by: kaznie_NL Jan 16 2009, 07:58 PM

I'd also say use a multimeter, if the thing doesn't give any output, you might have a dead Pup?

Posted by: Praetorian Jan 16 2009, 09:50 PM

That's what I was thinking...but they would BOTH have to be dead. I just don't see that as a possibility.

Posted by: botoxfox Jan 16 2009, 10:26 PM

We don't like dead puppies now do we?

Posted by: kaznie_NL Jan 17 2009, 10:56 AM

Nopz, and both dead is quite weird indeed, but not impossible. Have you checked with the mulimeter?

Posted by: Praetorian Jan 17 2009, 01:48 PM

No idea how to do that. I am electrically idiotic. I am bringing it to a third tech today. I will let you know what he said!