Is it a fact that...

Niallseroreilly

pickup covers remove treble from the overall sound?
Stumbled upon the Rick Beato (whos that) rig rundown and his tech seemed to claim that it was a common fact that all covers remove high end? Is this true?

AntonHunter

Sounds like BS, surely?!

p90fool

Some way more than others. Gibson humbucker covers are not too bad, but Epiphone covers used to be bloody awful though I don't know what the current crop are like. 

I usually get mine from @Alegree ; because his are sonically very transparent. I have Firebird, gold foil and 70s Fender pickups all hidden under his H/B covers in various guitars with practically no treble loss. 

Lewy

Metal ones certainly can. Something to do with inductance or something clever.

Cirrus

Yes, 100%. It's not even that subtle a difference.

I had a set of SD A2P's in my Explorer 2008-2017, at which point I decided to install covers on them for cosmetic reasons. It absolutely changed the sound - dulls down the top end and changes the pick response. It was enough to make me not like the p'ups any more.

I used good covers and installed them competently, so it's not that I borked the pickups. Covers just change the sound.


To that end, I've just installed a Pearly Gates Trembucker in my Explorer because they're generally considered to be pretty bright up top, and I thought that a covered version of one of those would be just about right.

timmypix

As far as I understand it a metal cover will absolutely interfere with the magnetic field which then results in treble loss. Different metal compositions do it to varying degrees - probably best asking @OilCityPickups or @Alegree for a proper explanation!

OilCityPickups

Niallseroreilly said:

pickup covers remove treble from the overall sound?
Stumbled upon the Rick Beato (whos that) rig rundown and his tech seemed to claim that it was a common fact that all covers remove high end? Is this true?

timmypix said:

As far as I understand it a metal cover will absolutely interfere with the magnetic field which then results in treble loss. Different metal compositions do it to varying degrees - probably best asking @OilCityPickups or @Alegree for a proper explanation!

They act through eddy currents and effectively filter a little of the top end away ... absolutely correct.Nickel is the best metal for cover use, and the thinner the better ... brass is god awful. However the only cover that doesn't take a little off the top end is a plastic one. We have stopped making fully nickel covered HB sized P90s because the main reason the majority of HB P90s don't sound quite 'right' is that proper soapbars and dogears only have plastic covers! We now only do nickel 'rings' on our HB90s with open tops.

ICBM

Yes they do, quite noticeably. There are two mechanisms - eddy currents in the metal which weaken the magnetic field above the pickup, and capacitance of the grounded cover to the coils which is like a small tone control turned down.

Which is more important depends on the metal used for the cover, the amount of windings in the coils, and the dimensions of the coils and cover.

It's not just humbuckers - you can substantially brighten a Tele neck pickup just by disconnecting the grounded tab (removing the capacitance) or removing the cover entirely.

Metal-covered P90s on Epiphone Casinos sound duller than plastic-covered ones too.

clarkefan

First person I'm aware of swearing by this in an interview was Clapton in the 60's. 

thermionic

Someone should make a laminated pickup cover and stop those pesky eddy currents!

p90fool

Years ago you would sometimes feel ripped off when you found out your cheap humbuckers had chromed plastic covers, but I've spent the last couple of years trying to track some down with no success.  

kossofffan

Used Monty's PAF's for about 3 years. Took off the bridge cover 'a la page', quickly soldered it back on. end off

Kittyfrisk

This Eddy Currents chap sounds like a bloody nuisance.

Lesgrandepotato

Kittyfrisk said:

This Eddy Currents chap sounds like a bloody nuisance.

Indeed, I see no valid raisin’s for his actions. Suspect it’s just sour grapes. 

thomasross20

I prefer uncovered... I do find covers muffle the sound a bit

Niallseroreilly

thomasross20 said:

I prefer uncovered... I do find covers muffle the sound a bit

That has definitely been my experience...

Kittyfrisk

Isn't the metal pickup cover effect actually a treble reduction, rather than an overall muffling of the sound?

ICBM

Kittyfrisk said:

Isn't the metal pickup cover effect actually a treble reduction, rather than an overall muffling of the sound?

Both - the capacitance takes off top-end only, but the eddy current effect softens the magnetic field overall and seems to reduce the bottom-end punch a bit.

hermannkymn

Any thoughts on hollow/open/H-style humbucker covers?

Marshall_stax

So in conclusion, what you're saying is that not having a cover on a pick up not only looks way cooler (obviously) but sounds better too?!

I always thought this was the case. 

ICBM

hermannkymn said:

Any thoughts on hollow/open/H-style humbucker covers?

They have less of the dulling effect, for both reasons - there's less metal around the coils. I would guess the difference in magnetic effect is more important since it's over the top of the coils rather than on the sides.