EMG 81

History and design

The EMG-81 was developed in 1979 and released to the market in 1981 (hence the model number). Construction is similar to traditional U-shaped pickups, but there are no separate pole pieces; steel bars (rails) are used instead. The Alnico V magnets of earlier discontinued models have been replaced with ceramic ones. While nominal output is the same as current EMG 85, lower noise ratio gives more gain opportunity.

As most other modern EMG pickups, today's EMG-81 has a Quik-connect output, which is a five-pin header on the pickup which comes with a compatible wiring harness. This allows for a less complicated pickup swap in the future, only requiring the removal the pickup guard and disconnecting the pickup, as opposed to melting the solder and installing the new pickup.

A few variants of the EMG 81 have also been released, such as the TW and X. The 81TW version features two separate pickups and preamps in a single pickup housing, allowing for single-coil and humbucking tones. The 81-X provides increased headroom giving the voicing an organic and open tone while still maintaining clarity and response.

18V Mod

The EMG 81 power source can be modified from 9V to 18V by adding a second 9V battery wired in series. This increases the headroom of the pickup and decreases distortion, particularly with regard to transients. Although the majority of EMG's pickups are rated for 27V operation, they recommend a maximum of 18V, citing the negligible performance increase.

There are two main ways to perform this modification. One method involves using separate battery harnesses for each battery. There are several different ways to achieve this, and wiring diagrams can be found all over the internet. The other involves using a separate 9V snap leading to the control cavity to wire two batteries in series outside of the battery compartment.

Guitars that are sold with the EMG 81 as stock