replacing pole piece screws on humbuckers

Guitarse

Just bought a pair of '57 classic p'ups for my Tokai 335 copy. They have gold covers on them, and I want to change them for chrome covers. No problem changing them , but the screws on the '57s are also gold. Any issues with taking them out and replacing them with matching screws for the chrome covers?


Al

thermionic

The gold plating must be pretty thin - take them out and give the heads a polish with some metal polish.

ICBM

No problem with replacing them, just unscrew them. 

The plating underneath will be nickel, which still won't match if the covers actually are chrome rather than nickel. They can look similar until you see them side by side. It's difficult to get the gold out of the slot, too.

Guitarse

Thanks folks.

Guitarse

Actually, whilst I'm here, I don't know which is the neck and which is the bridge pickup. As I understand it, it doesn't matter with '57s, but they are each labelled with numbers, one has  0250 and the other with 0173 if that means anything?

Adam_MD

Use a multimeter and the highest resistance will probably be the bridge. Also if they're used the bridge wire might be shorter if they were previously cut to length.

thermionic

If there's a difference in dc resistance the higher one will be a '57 Classic Plus, which is often substituted in the bridge position. 

GuitarMonkey

If both stickers say 57 Classic then it doesn't matter as they are as good as identical and will be around 8KΩ a piece.

OilCityPickups

Beware of getting over sized nickel fillister headed pole screws that won't fit your new covers. There are some pretty wide tolerances about, and many screw heads won't fit the holes. If you use (Bugger)Allparts covers then use their pole screws. I use USA made Mojotone screws which also fit (Bugger)Allparts covers ... however at least three different sources on Flea Bay have turned up either oversize ones that will bulge your covers and ruin them ... or undersize ones with poorly formed slots, that have unsightly gaps around them when fitted to 'standard' covers ... and are a pain in the arse to put in (plus chew easily).

This is further complicated by covers not having 'standard' hole sizes either!!!

Guitarse

They're in and they sound great! Swapped the covers for the ones in the Tokai, but yes, on one pickup, the screws don't line up properly with the holes in the cover.