The EMG SL20 is the Steve Lukather signature pickguard set, developed in close collaboration with the Toto guitarist and session player and supplied as a complete pre-wired pickguard for Stratocaster-format guitars. The set carries the warm, clear, harmonically rich active voicing that has defined Lukather's recorded work across forty-plus years of Toto records, solo material and what is by any measure one of the largest session catalogues in popular music. What sits on the scratchplate is the Lukather pickup layout he reaches for on stage and in the studio: an HSS configuration with an active humbucker at the bridge for the harmonically dense lead voice the player is known for, and two active single-coils in the neck and middle positions for clean and rhythm work. The humbucker brings the focused midrange and singing sustain that carry Lukather's lead lines through a dense mix, while the single-coils preserve the position 2 and 4 quack and the open neck-position chime that records and tracks demand. The active circuit holds the noise floor low across all five selector positions, which matters most for a player whose work has so often been built in studios where 60-cycle hum is the most expensive sound in the room. Supplied as a complete pre-wired pickguard with the three pickups, the 5-way switch, volume and tone controls, output jack and battery clip in place. Drops into any standard Stratocaster body routed for an HSS pickguard. Runs from a single 9V battery. Distributed and supported in the UK by Selectron.
