Bribery and corruption apart, the best way of reviewing a set of replacement pickups is to install them in a guitar with which you are already familiar. Like my rather non-descript mid-70s Strat. And like the two single coils and a humbucker from the gents at EMG.

Adding a humbucker to a Stratocaster necessitates some routing of the body cavity to make room. I copped out of doing this myself, partly because I'm not safe with a chisel, and partly because there weren't any scratchplates available with humbucker-size holes (there are now). A professional fitting job, including scratchplate costs around £35-£40, though some dealers include fitting in the price of the pickups. All use 9V PP3 batteries, which should tolerate about 1000 hours of having a lead plugged into the guitar.

One of the first things you notice after plugging in is the silence, even after you've turned the amp on. Each EMG pickup has a built-in pre-amp, which creates a humbucking effect, thus cutting out the buzzes and crackles normally associated with single coils.

Tonally, it's like having a new guitar. It still sounds like a Strat, only more so — brighter, harder, clearer, fuller, positively bristling with harmonics. Imagine how a nice fresh set of new strings sounds, then turn it up, and you'll have a rough idea of what difference the EMGs make.

That humbucker is warm and fat, and gives masses of sustain, but it's also incredibly loud and cutting. So loud in fact, that the back position became unusable for anything except solos, even with the pickup screwed right down. Still, you get what you ask for.

The response across the neck is good, with no loss of volume on bent strings. EMG claim that it's the relatively low magnetic strength of their pickups that gives better tone and longer sustain, by not inhibiting string movement

So what's the point in changing your old pickups for a set of expensive EMGs? Well, they changed my lacklustre Fender into a guitar that is a joy to listen to (though not necessarily in my hands). The EMGs brought out the natural tone of an otherwise dull instrument, without adding unwanted overtones. Apart from my vague misgivings about the Chernobyl-sized output of the humbucker, I have nothing but praise for these pickups. They work. Excellently.

EMG PICKUPS £199