History
The company was founded in 1976 by Rob Turner in Santa Rosa, California. It was originally called Dirtywork Studios, and their first pickup was the same as their current 2011 model of EMG H and EMG HA models. The active humbucking pickup EMG 58 followed soon after. The name was changed to "Overlend" (spelled "Overland" in some sources) in 1978. However, its products have always been called EMG pickups.
In 1981, EMG active pickups became standard equipment on Steinberger basses and guitars. According to Hap Kuffner, EMG pickups originally had widespread success in Europe, after first exhibiting at the 1983 Musikmesse tradeshow in Germany. The name was changed to EMG, Inc. in 1983 ("EMG" stands for "Electro-Magnetic Generator"). As Steinberger guitars became more popular among American metal and rock musicians, so did EMG pickups, and vice-versa.
The early EMG pickup designs were made with a bar magnet inside it for two reasons. The first reason is that the pole pieces had too much magnetism on the strings and could cause some lower notes go out of pitch in a Doppler effect. The second reason is that the pole pieces can make tuning and placement of the strings much more difficult. Using the bar magnet however gave the strings a more balanced output. The design of the bar magnet gives it a smoother distortion, better sustain through the amplifier, and have less fade onto the strings than the design of pole pieces.
Read more about this topic: EMG HZ
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