[bradpdx]

I will add one other note about EMGs:

In common passive pickups, the inductance of the pickup creates a "tank circuit" when it is combined with the capacitance of the cable. This is one part of the classic "tone shaping" of good passive PUPs.

But think about it: when 2 pickups are combined in parallel, the output impedance is halved. This results in a doubling of the resonant frequency, and thus the combined pickups have more extended treble than either one by itself. This is especially evident on Strats when pickups are combined, just listen closely. It is a big part of the "quack" and sparkle that these guitars have.

EMGs approach of course doesn't work this way - pickups are just mixed and there is no effect upon frequency response. The result is that some things just behave differently that you may expect.

On an regular Strat set, I depend upon that mild treble boost when combining pickups. On EMGs, those same switch positions often sound too "fat" because there is no change in treble response. For that reason I used to add a mild treble boost to my Strats for only those switch positions, using a modified EMG RPC. I don't know if they still make that thing.