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Eilif

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Sep 9, 2004
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Mililani, Hawaii
How difficult would it be to get an Axis Super Sport HH with piezo option and replace the passive pickups with two EMG-85 or EMG-81? Would the EMGs fit? The guitar would already have a battery to power the piezo.
 

johans

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Apr 19, 2004
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the Bay Area, CA
check out their catalogue ..
im not sure about emg products ...
but they should have it, since MM is a pretty common axe as well
 

Jimi D

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Feb 27, 2003
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I'm not sure EMG's would fit in an Axis without modding the pickups or the guitar - the "ear" routes in an Axis are kind of triangular, and there are lots of pickups out there that won't fit these cuts without modification. Also, if you need 9-volts for the piezo, you'll need another 9-volts for the pickups (and a lot of people think EMGs sound their best with 18-volts (two 9-volt batteries) powering them!) I'm sure you can do it, but I'd bet it's a bigger job than it first looks...
 

PurpleSport

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Feb 8, 2004
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Yeah...what Jimi said is probably very much true. Look at the bridge humbucker on the Luke...it's definitely more squared off vs. the triangular one on the Axis:


colorchart_25.jpg
colorchart_43.jpg



And then there's the battery issue...compartment(s) will have to be routed in the back unless there's a way to comfortably and securely fit it in the control cavity.

Both mods are not a job for the fainthearted, and most definitely something an expert luthier with a steady hand and good tools would need to do - don't try this at home, kids!
 

Warg Master

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Apr 7, 2004
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I'd try it at home... I could do it. :p

Yes, you would need to mod the pickup cavity. 1 9v sounds just fine to me, never tried 2 9vs... the control cavity should have enough room for the battery... but just barly, you may want to wrap it in foam so it does not shift around what picking up and playing, etc,etc and damage the inside.

Can be done, thought for the pickup mod, if you know not what you're doing, take it to be done by a pro as was said before.


As for my first state ment...

I could do it at home! :p
 

NorM

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Apr 18, 2003
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Tucson
On the Silos you do have to mod the pickguard to make the EMG's fit. I have seen some Axes (ed. plural of Axis according to Websters Dictionary) on ebay that have EMG's in them and never did I see one that was done well. My guess is that you would have to route the body to make the EMG's fit. (ouch)

Finally, Running one battery for the piezo and the EMG's works just fine. The current draw is so small that performance does not suffer. It works so good that I never even tried doubling the batteries.
 

PurpleSport

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Feb 8, 2004
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norm said:
My guess is that you would have to route the body to make the EMG's fit. (ouch)

Ouch indeed...definitely need a good router or Dremel tool with a template to pull that off - probably most if not all of those hack jobs you saw were done by hand, which most certainly is a license to get ugly.

I was just thinkin', tho....it might be possible to either:

A) Carefully shave down the "ears" on the EMG's with said Dremel or an upright belt sander to fit the slot shape. I've done this successfully on a DiMarzio HS-2's base to make it fit in an EMG single coil hole on a frontrouted Steinberger clone. Loads easier than carving up your precious git-fiddle, not to mention less expensive if you really screw up!

Or...

B) Contact EMG and see if they have or can make you a pickup with a modified housing that will fit, and spare yourself the work above. I know DiMarzio and Bill Lawrence offer models of their pickups in different housings for this very reason, perhaps EMG does too....
 

Lew

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Jul 15, 2004
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447
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UK
:eek:

Poor Poor Axis :(

:mad:

Why not get a LUKE W Piezio instead?
 
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