EMG DG20 David Gilmour

I bought the EMG DG20 set because I owned a Strat guitar and I wasn't happy with the sound, plus I am a fan of David Gilmour sound, especially during the Pulse era.
The product works exactly as advertised, easy to install. Please note, you should buy a battery box and have everything installed by a luthier for best results, otherwise you must dismantle all whenever the battery runs flat.
Please read instructions to get the best tones, and NOTE that Tone pots are not really TONE pots, they are special EQ's that you need to understand and practice how to use them.
I owned several sets of EMG pickups along with vintage ones, and I can tell you that these ones bring great advantages, don't start biased that only vintage sounds good. Judge with your ears (and wallet :)))
PROS:
-Once installed, it took little time to get the tones I longed for: position 4(1st being bridge and 5th being neck) 1 and 3; Clean tones on all of them, drive on 1st
-SPC and EXG tone controls are awsome, please explore their range and try to get the most out of them
-Quiet pickups, the closest sound to Fenderish single-coils sound without the terrible noise that usually accompanies them
-Veeery easy to instal, good value for the money
-I got what I payed for, 2 clean tones and an overdrive one; for any other wishes, get a different guitar :)
CONS:
-Quite ugly pickboard, would have preferred a white one
-EMG Pickups without Tone controls are unusable, dull and common-sounding; don't let this fool you, experience settings with SPC and EXG controls, those are NOT regular Tone pots
-you should have been noticed that a battery box would be extremely usefull

At last, for the first time ever I can get a good and useable sound from ALL 5 switch positions! It's like discovering a whole new instrument. Having a mid scoop (EXG) and a mid boost (SPC) rather than simple tone controls enables a custom "Wiggly line" response curve, which is so much more flexible and easier to use than a graphic eq. It really is like rediscovering the Strat as a better instrument all round. OK, so is it really a Strat? or is this something different? - You can make your own decision. Is it David Gilmour, or is it the Strat sound? or does David play his own sound? Did Mark Knopfler invent position 2, or was it there all the time? This active eq brings it all to life in a much more vibrant way. The cons: having to install a battery! but I decided to "Bite the bullet" (I have other guitars if it fails) and installed an industrial lithium battery with a 10 year shelf life! (RS 784-5992) The other minor cons: only 3 off the shelf colours available. You can still customise (without any soldering) and choose your own pickguard - I chose dAndrea blue pearl 362775 with aged white knobs (they match the pickup colour nicely) (154804) available from Thomann. One final point mentioned in another review - The output can be rather hot, but don't forget it is an active system, and turning down the volume to 8 rather than 10 gives about the same level as a standard Strat.

I?ve wanting to revive my 20-year old strat with these for a while and I finally did and oh boy am I glad I did!

The sound is unbelievably clean, thanks to 5 active set, and is super quiet. The installation was a bit tricky, as you have to remove the ground wire welded to the back of the bridge. You also need to place the battery properly so it won?t shake when you play. Took me less than 20 minutes to install (including cleaning the guitar!). Looks beautiful and plays even more beautiful.

I?m a huge fan of Gilmour and this gave me access to his tones. The first song I played after installing them was a Pink Floyd song. You need to experiment with the wide range of tones it gives you and you?ll love it as much as I do.

Highly recommended and worth every penny put into it.

When most people think of EMGs they usually think of metal which, these pickups definitely can pull off. But, where these pickups truly shine is in the clean and overdriven sounds.
The most vital elements of this set are the EXG and SPC tone controls. These are very useful for shaping the sound of the guitar and is what makes these pickups so versatile. The EXG is a high and low boost (great for adding more clarity to your sound) and the SPC is a mid boost (great for making your guitar more present in a dense mix). When both controls are left at "0" you essentially have a strat with all the tone controls on "10". And of course, these pickups completely eliminate the hum as with all active EMGs.
Over all, I don't think you can go wrong with this set. If you are looking to make your strat more versatile, then this is the set for you.

I've had these DG20 pick-ups a few weeks now on my 2009 Mexican Strat, and have got used to them and their capabilities. The pickups themselves (without the tone-shaping enhancements from the EXG and SPC controls) are decent enough, but with a bit of the tone shaping, they sound absolutely stellar! I thought I would use the mid-boosting SPC control most, but actually find the tone with the SPC on 0 and the EXG about half-way is incredible! Think of Claptons tone on the fantastic "Just one night" album! They really are that good!

It goes without saying that these EMG pickups are very quiet, with just a hint of hiss noticeable when the active controls are up high. The output is pretty hot, ,but the pickups still sound good with the guitar volume at lower settings. About 8 on the vol knob is about the same as a set of hot passive pickups I would say...

In short - if you want your strat to sound like it cost 10 x more than you paid for it, these are the pick-ups to use!

These pick ups were just what I wanted they were easy to fit and sounded great fist time. I thought that having to unscrew the pick guard to change the battery would be an issue but you only have to do this twice a year and only takes less than a minute to do. The tonal quality of the pick ups surpassed my expectations giving me access to David Gilmour's tone straight out of my guitar so if you want his sounds these are the pick ups for you. I have spent years trying to get his tone through effects when I should have started at guitar and the EMG DG20 David Gilmour pick ups certainly delivered 100% satisfaction so go ahead and treat your guitar to these pick ups and you will experience guitar audio perfection.

Conclusion
I would recommend this product to any guitarist that is looking for beautiful clean tone and sparkling harmonics to rich easily controlled high gain and everything in-between plus the ease of them profited to a great looking scratch plate means no soldering involved everything uses plugs so soldering ability will not affect the sound. Plus your guitar will look and play beautifully.