EMG no longer use switchcraft sockets

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I might be wrong, but I'm fairly certain that the last EMG pickup with wiring kit I installed included a switchcraft socket. (Please feel free to correct me if you know otherwise)

 

When I installed the EMG GZR pickup I bought recently for my formerly fretless precision bitsa which now has a precision to jazz conversion neck, the first thing I noticed on opening the packaging was that the socket didn't seem to be as solid as the switchcrafts we all know & love. I think it is might be a neutrik as it uses USA sized hardware like switchcraft & pure tone. I fitted it anyway, but ever since, whenever I played the bass using my very heavy cloth coated Fender coiled cable, the signal would somethines cut out momentarily due to movement of the cable's plug. I'm not sure whether this was due to the plug's tip losing contact with the socket as it flexed, or the signal part of the socket contacting the copper anti-slug tape lining the control cavity. This didn't occur often enough for it to be much of an issue, but was a minor irritation.

 

Today I had time to sort it out and fitted a puretone socket instead. I was pleased to find that the pure tone works with the slide-on connectors of the EMG solderless gubbins so it was a very easy job. As a belt & braces measure I also fashioned a plastic insulator from a thin water bottle to prevent any part of the socket touching the copper tape. Now the connection is rock-solid and no amount of force applied to the jack plug results in the sound cutting out.

[Hellzero]

Neutrik is made in Lichtenstein, so pure metric, Switchcraft is made in the USA, so pure imperial as is your Fender cable: a slight "incompatibility" is possible.

 

That said, you could have simply pushed the contact pins towards the center of the jack, it would have been sufficient to firmly hold the male connector of the cable in place.

 

Furthermore the so called 1/4 inch standard is not a standard at all, take a caliper and start measuring, you'll be amazed.