| EMG, Inc. | |
| Type: | Privately held company |
| Predecessor: | Overlend |
| Founder: | Rob Turner |
| Location City: | Santa Rosa, California |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Area Served: | Worldwide |
| Products: | Guitar pickups |
| Homepage: | www.EMGpickups.com |
EMG, Inc. is the current legal name of an American company based in Santa Rosa, California that manufactures guitar pickups and EQ accessories. Among guitar and bass accessories, the company sells active humbucker pickups, such as the EMG 81, the EMG 85, the EMG 60, and the EMG 89. They also produce passive pickups such as the EMG-HZ series, which include SRO-OC1's and SC Sets. There is also a series geared towards a more traditional and passive sound known as the X series.
Their active pickups are most popular among hard rock and metal artists such as Metallica, Slayer, Zakk Wylde, Sepultura, Judas Priest, Exodus, Emperor, Cannibal Corpse, Children of Bodom, Death Angel, Cryptopsy, Malevolent Creation and Primus but also used by others such as Prince, Vince Gill, Kyle Sokol, Steve Winwood, Steve Lukather and David Gilmour.
The company was founded in 1976 by Rob Turner in Long Beach, California. It was originally called Dirtywork Studios, and their first pickup continues to be manufactured as models EMG H and EMG HA models. The active humbucking pickup EMG 58 followed soon after. The name was changed to "Overlend" (spelled "Overland" in some sources) in 1978. However, its products have always been called EMG pickups.
In 1981, EMG active pickups became standard equipment on Steinberger basses and guitars. According to Hap Kuffner, EMG pickups originally had widespread success in Europe, after first exhibiting at the 1983 Musikmesse tradeshow in Germany. The name was changed to EMG, Inc. in 1983 ("EMG" stands for "Electro-Magnetic Generator"). As Steinberger guitars became more popular among American metal and rock musicians, so did EMG pickups, and vice versa.
Early EMG pickup designs were made with a bar magnet inside for two reasons. The first reason is that the pole pieces had too much magnetism on the strings and could cause some lower notes to go out of pitch in a Doppler effect. The second reason is that the pole pieces can make tuning and placement of the strings much more difficult. Using the bar magnet however gave the strings a more balanced output. The design of the bar magnet gives it a smoother distortion, better sustain through the amplifier, and have less fade onto the strings than the design of pole pieces.[1]
EMG pickups are standard equipment on some models from guitar manufacturers such as BC Rich, ESP, Schecter, Cort, Gibson, Dean, Steinberger, Ibanez, and Jackson Guitars. In addition to pickups, EMG Inc. also has a line of guitar and bass accessories, mainly for altering equalization settings such as bass/treble and gain boosting, and designed to work with most pickups. These can be found in instruments made by companies such as Schecter, who ship almost all of their basses with EMG equalization circuitry.
EMG Inc. has four distinct product ranges; the EMG Standard Series, HZ / SRO Series, SA Series and the EMG X-Series. These pickups are all featured on the official EMG Inc. website and include solderless wiring harnesses.
Some artists and bands who use or endorse EMG pickups include: