problems swapping EMG's for Carvin pickups

[Cpt Crunch]

I have and ESP that came with EMG pickups. I acquired some Carvin C-22's to replace the old EMG's with. I got them in, but because they don't sound nearly as cool as my friend's Carvin, AND they're kinda noisey, AND the coil tap operation is reversed (pull the nob out for double coil sound push in for single coil sound), I'm suspicious that they might have been installed improperly. Since I'm not confident in my skills with wiring the electronics, I took it to my other friend (who is apprenticing a luthier in town) and had him do it. What he did was cut the existing wires and soldered the wires of the new pickups to the remaining wires of the old pickups. (does that make sense?)

It doesn't seem to me (or to him for that matter) that there is anything that could have gone wrong. But then why is the sound I get out of the carvins not nearly as impressive as the sound of my friend's carvin guitar? Why do I get all that noise? And why would the coil tap operation be reversed?

I think that might be the big clue. My threory is that either there is something inherent to the electronics of my ESP that makes it hook up with those Carvin pickups wrong, or my friend goofed up and connected some of the wires wrong.

...or it could just be that those carvin pickups aren't as cool as those ESP's.

I doubt that though. My friend brought his carvin over to my place and played it through my rig, and it sounded WAY better than my guitar. He didn't get buzzing from the pickups, and his guitar was just louder than mine.

Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts as to why the carvin pickups in my ESP aren't nearly as cool as they're supposed to be?

[socialmisfit]

the coil tap is probably reversed because the wires going into the switch are reversed or something. any pickups shouldbe able to go into any guitar fine. I've never actually owned EMGs in any of my guitars before, besides the crappy passive HZ combo... and if your ESP came with active EMGs, then that would also mean it came with the specialized ESP electronics, putting passives in w/out changing them could (but as i've said i have no idea - never owned them) be affecting your sound. all i know is the EMGs pot values are different those of standard ones.

It sounds like this "noise" you're talking about could be a grounding issue... check to make sure all grounding wires are connected right and the ground is actually connected to the ground point (usually the bridge claw)

as far as the wiring goes, I wouldnt have cut the wire in the middle and resoldered. its best to desolder and remove the whole wire and put the new one in its place. If I was a hired tech I wouldnt cut them like that as I'd be afraid of a customer accusing me of shoddy work. I hope he taped those connections off after... if not, that could be your problem there. bare hotpoints contacting with each other is not good.

[Kulyeh]

When swapping from EMGs to something else, you almost always have to change the volume pot value. Quite frankly snipping the existing wires and soldering on new ones is a crappy way of doing a swap. He should have done it properly and do all the soldering in the electronics cavity on the pots/switchs. He also should have made sure the pot value (and quite possible the tone cap/pot) are the correct value for that pickup.

[Cpt Crunch]

So OK. It sounds like the consensus is that when switching pickups, you should definately rewire the whole thing instead of cutting and reusing old wires (he did, by the way, tape up the soldering job on that). But it also sounds like there are some adjustments to be made as well.

The thing is, I don't know how to do those adjustments myself, and I'm afraid to learn without some hands-on instruction (this MY axe we're talking about!) I'm not sure if my friend can do that stuff yet either, so probably, I should take the thing somewhere. But how much do you think something like that might run me?

[socialmisfit]

the local shop here charges around 20-30 for pickup installations and stuff, but I take their business and do it for 15-20 :p. it might be a good idea to try and figure it out yourself though... there isnt really anything you can do to hurt the guitar. the most that could go wrong is you get a pot too hot (pretty unlikely even if you have no clue how to solder)... in which case you pick up another one from radio shack the same day. just practise soldering on some spare wire first...its really not that hard :)

[mjshailes]

What EMG's are they and do you wanna sell them if so how much? Oh yeah and ill need the original pots aswell.

Mike

[Cpt Crunch]

I hadn't thought much about selling them really. They're not active, so I guess that means they're the HZ set? If I do decide to sell them, I'll make sure to come here first.

[Reverend40oz]

Passive pickups (I think those carvin's are passive, aren't they?) will sound different depending on the guitar they are in. Make sure the pickguard is shielded well. Some shiny new pots/switches can't hurt either.