EMG 57/66 Set F-Spaced BK

I bought this set to give an Ibanez EDR470EX (comparable to a modern Ibanez S) some new life; I was primarily aiming for metal but didn't go for the 81/85 because the cleans seemed much better on this set, and I wanted something a bit more versatile (plus, the 81/85 is done to death).

The kit seems aimed for Gibsons (with the 57 name and Gibson parts), so I had to purchase and solder a new output jack and pickup selector, but otherwise I am quite impressed with the installation, which was quite painless. The battery fits fairly snugly in the electronics cavity, so I didn't feel the need to use the battery holder I had bought.

The sound was essentially what I expected, that is to say it sounds good. It is advertised as PAF-like, but I don't own any PAFs to compare it to.

I like how the neck pickup sounds clean with no EQ modification, but I haven't found much use for it otherwise. The bridge pickup sounds nasal until I turn down the middle frequencies (which I expected); it works very well for metal kind of sound (also expected). I don't have the experience or vocabulary to describe how it sounds so I suggest you look up videos online or go try it in a store.

I have a set of Fishman Keith Merrows to compare it to, and surprisingly (to me) the EMGs have less muscle than them: I play the EMGs at 75-100%, but the Fishman at 50% (which gives me room to push the amp further if I want to, which I like). The EMG neck also has less brightness and harmonics, although that might be in part due to the guitar. The Fishman have two voicings (modern & PAF), but the EMGs sound PAF-ier to meown (again, I don't own a PAF..). I have heard people say Fishman pickups had more dynamics (that is to say, they are more sensitive to how strongly the string is picked) than EMGs, and I can confirm that the Fishman feel almost twice as sensitive.

In conclusion, I am happy to have bought these pickups (for 208 euros at the time). I was looking for something with enough bite for metal and the "EMG sound" without going all in on that sound, and I think this set did the job quite well.

This set sounds great even on my super cheap Jackson JS11. There's a lot of headroom and they aren't as compressed as classic 81/85 set. Alnico magnets make pickups sound warmer and more classy than your usual metal-only EMGs, they are very versatile! Although they aren't flawless. I have a problem with my neck pickup since it sits way too low (there's no way to raise it higher) and because of that the signal is very weak. There seems to be a problem with screws, but it only appears in the neck pickup, the bridge one is flawless. Overall very nice set, definetly reccomend!