EMG 60 Guitar pickup, (Used, Comm)

The EMG 60 is an active humbucking pickup designed for electric guitar and built around ceramic magnets with closely spaced aperture coils derived from an earlier mini-humbucker concept originally developed for Fender in 1979. It is most commonly installed in the neck position and became widely associated with the EMG 81/60 pairing used in high-gain metal and hard rock setups. The pickup uses an internal active preamp powered by a 9V battery and is housed in a full-size humbucker casing.

The design focuses on strong articulation, tight low-end response, boosted mids, and a brighter high-frequency attack than many other active humbuckers. The ceramic magnet structure and narrow coil spacing create a sharp transient response with extended sustain and clear harmonic detail, making the pickup suitable for both high-gain rhythm playing and fluid lead tones. The EMG 60 is also recognised for maintaining definition under heavy distortion while preserving clean-note separation on lower-gain settings.

The pickup measures approximately 10 kΩ impedance and uses low-current active circuitry for long battery life. It is manufactured in the United States and remains one of EMG’s longest-running active pickup designs.