EMG-81 Chrome

132 Guitarist December 2010
QUICKTEST
MISCELLANEOUS
Verdict
A selection of EMG pickups,
including the 81, 85 and 60, are
also available with a gold cover
(also £119.99) and we must say
we’re totally sold on this unit’s
look, its high-octane noiseless
tone and, most importantly, the
ease of installation. [SB]
CONTACT: Fender GBI PHONE: [phone] WEB: www.fender.co.uk
EMG-81 Chrome
£119.99
How much cooler can one pickup be?
A battery-free tuner that’s green by name and by nature
The EMG 81 humbucker is
arguably the Californian
company’s best-known model,
and although all EMG, EMG-X
and EMG-HZ pickups are
available as retrofit units, we’re
hard pushed to think of a cooler,
more modern look to any
humbucker than the new
chrome version we have here.
The cover itself is actually
highly polished stainless steel,
and the active innards remain
that heady mix of a high-
powered ceramic core powered
by a nine-volt battery.
Best news here, especially if
you’re a solder-klutz (as this
reviewer certainly is!), is that all
EMG’s pickups come with the
Quik-Connect system, which
allows you to install the pickup
without the need for melting
metal. It took us less than 10
minutes to fit the EMG into our
HSS Strat and the instructions
are dead simple.
Our only niggle would be that
some of the connecting leads
are potentially too short and
there’s an added risk that your
guitar’s existing wire access
holes may not be large enough
to accommodate the solderless
connectors themselves.
Sounds
There are few humbuckers that
are more suited to hard rock
and metal – just ask Zakk
Wylde, Metallica, Slayer et al –
but the 81 also cleans up nicely,
demonstrating a zingy high end
and tight bass. That said, a tone
control is a must to rein-in that
treble on occasion.
Fender Green Chromatic Tuner
£38.78
It’s such a good idea, we’re
surprised no one’s tried it
before. When you think about
it, a battery-free guitar
accessory is a no-brainer, and
yet Fender’s Green GT-1000
chromatic tuner is the first
we’re aware of from any of MI’s
big names to be completely free
of those pesky little metal tubes
full of lithium, alkaline and
other nasty, environment-
harming substances.
The tuner’s power is
generated from a crank handle
that’s rotated to build up
charge. This is then stored in an
internal electric double-layer
capacitor. The charge, in our
experience at least, lasts for a
minimum of 24 hours – we
charged it up at the beginning
of the day and it was still tuning
well the following morning –
and it takes a maximum of 10
cranks of the handle to get the
tuner back up to power.
The layout of the tuner
part is traditional
enough, with a
simple display
featuring the
seven notes
plus the #
symbol, and
sharp or flat
red LEDs
either side of a
central green
‘in tune’ light.
In Use
The unit also
provides an internal
microphone, allowing it to
be used for acoustic
instruments as well as electric,
and the tuner is extremely
accurate. What’s more, there’s
also a small yet exceedingly
bright bulb incorporated into
the front panel, which we found
could be used as a rudimentary
yet serviceable torch!
The Bottom Line
We like: Modern look, ease of
installation…
We dislike: …but some of the
hookup wires are short
The Bottom Line
We like: It’s a very
commendable concept; the
tuner works well
We dislike: Nothing
GUITARIST RATING
Verdict
A very neat concept. The tuner
works perfectly well and if the
green nature of the GT-1000
doesn’t grab you, imagine the
cold, hard cash you’ll save not
having to buy a battery for it
every few months. A Green ’65
Reissue Twin, next? [SB]
GUITARIST RATING
CONTACT: Selectron PHONE: [phone] WEB: www.emginc.com
GIT336.rev_quick 132 11/8/10 1:53:00 PM