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John Myung Bongo 4

Question Possibility of selling HT pickups aftermarket?

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blake100blake

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Sep 17, 2015
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31
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Valparaiso, IN
Hey EBMM hive mind!

Question for the EBMM employees/insiders in this forum. After receiving my L4 30th anniversary edition, I have absolutely fallen in love with the HT pickups in this guitar. They are clear, have plenty of output, but they don’t sound like a typical high output passive does. They’ve struck a balance that I haven’t had before in my guitarsenal and this beast has quickly become a number one.

That in mind, I now want to put the HT pickups in a couple of my other MM’s, specifically my two Luke 3’s. One HH, the other HSS. Is there any possibility EBMM would sell the HT pups aftermarket?
 
I'm doubting they'll sell the pickups separately. They're not interested in being a pickup company.
 
I was pondering replacing the ones in my Stingray HT with some Pariah Poundcakes or Bareknuckles VHIIs. Maybe we can make a deal if you're okay with semi-used ones.
 
I definitely LOVE LOVE LOVE the HT's in my Sabre. Would love a pair to correct the abominations that came in my PRS CU24!
 
Last time I asked EBMM the answer was no. They are not available separately and most likely will not be in the future.

As I see it: As far as I remember non of the past EBMM pickups were available for purchase separately, why we assume it would be different with HT?
 
Agree, but we will probably have to wait for a couple of years for the Luke HTs :) meanwhile there are so many nice pickups out there :)
 
Rbg said:
Last time I asked EBMM the answer was no. They are not available separately and most likely will not be in the future.

As I see it: As far as I remember non of the past EBMM pickups were available for purchase separately, why we assume it would be different with HT?
Click to expand...

Well. MOST of the past pickups were DiMarzios, and EBMM's deal with DiMarzio probably stipulates that they can only install them as OEM equipment in new guitars and were not allowed to sell them direct. The HT pickups are made in-house by EBMM. They MIGHT do it because there's no contractual thing preventing them from selling them. Of course, EBMM doesn't want to be in the business of selling pickups, but I bet they would do it for a Forum Knucklehead.
 
would love that! Swapping pickups is the best thing to do :-) maybe even better than actually playing ;-)
 
dibart77 said:
Well. MOST of the past pickups were DiMarzios, and EBMM's deal with DiMarzio probably stipulates that they can only install them as OEM equipment in new guitars and were not allowed to sell them direct. The HT pickups are made in-house by EBMM. They MIGHT do it because there's no contractual thing preventing them from selling them. Of course, EBMM doesn't want to be in the business of selling pickups, but I bet they would do it for a Forum Knucklehead.
Click to expand...
Any idea if we can do a group by or something, whom should we contact? :unsure:
 
dibart77 said:
Well. MOST of the past pickups were DiMarzios, and EBMM's deal with DiMarzio probably stipulates that they can only install them as OEM equipment in new guitars and were not allowed to sell them direct.
Click to expand...
I think it depends on the specific guitar / development / endorsement deal. With the Steve Morse humbucking pickups, AFAIK they have always been available separately. The single coil by the bridge is custom wound to work with the pickups, so I don't think it has ever been available separately. The Transitions on the Luke III were also always available. The single coils however were always listed as "dimarzio custom", though I have heard they are very similar to the Injector series hum cancelling singles. I think the Silhouette may have had "dimarzio custom" pickups for a while.

The one set of pickups that I really remember were the "only on EBMM guitars" were the EVH / Axis set, which have also been used on some other EBMM guitars. Considering how high profile the artist was, and how much went into making that guitar and the pickups, it's understandable. On the other hand the development process resulted in several new design concepts for Dimarzio that changed much of their pickup line, and they also ended up with the Tone Zone, which was for years one of their most popular pickups. Probably still is if Ibanez is using it a the stock pickup in some of their high end RG guitars.
 
PRS has done this with their DGT pickups. They won't sell them aftermarket. But if you own a PRS, and you send it in, they will install DGT pickups in it... they won't sell you just the pickups. They only come installed. Does EBMM have a "custom" shop (or repair) shop like that? Like maybe they'd sell you the HTs IN YOUR GUITAR?
 
At present, EBMM is not doing any non-warranty repairs. They used to although not sure about pickup replacements per se. Since COVID, they had to scale back their shop and focus exclusively on new manufacturing and any warranty related repairs. Perhaps someday they will again do such work.
 
That’s the exact information I gathered.
Also based on the quote I got for bigger m5 pole screws alone for EBMM L3 pickups, even if it happens those HT will not be cheap lol
 
That's a smart marketing/business decision, in my humble opinion.
Do you like/want THOSE pickups? Buy that guitar and that's it.
You can buy Transition pickups from DiMarzio directly, but you cannot buy custom DiMarzio pickups of EVH/Axis guitars.
They did not sell those pickups (neither DiMarzio did) even after Eddie moved to Peavey. And that's what makes EVH/Axis guitars magic.
The single coil in the Silho is something you cannot buy as well.
I don't know why they did this for some guitars and not for some others, but with their own pickups...I can understand why.
 
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