Adding a cover to uncovered pickups

mynameistrouble

How easy is this? Is it as simple as soldering the cover to the baseplate, or are there additional steps?

I want to put chrome covers on uncovered pickups but if it’s going to mess them up I’ll buy some that were made that way.

chrisj1602

I got some for a Les Paul Classic and just pushed them on and had no issues. Just check the pole spacing.

axisus

I did it no problem, I did the whole wax potting thing having looked up a demo on Youtube. I bought a big candle from ASDA and melted it. The only thing I would say is that you need a soldering iron that gets very hot and ideally a flat blade end to transfer the heat. I have a cheap soldering iron but you can swap tips and also change the temperature. £12 I think off of eBay, a great purchase.

ICBM

If you don't wax pot them you may have problems with microphonics, although a piece of double-sided tape on the tops of the bobbins can help a lot. You do need to solder them on ideally, but as long as they're a tight fit and there's good electrical contact along the edges of the baseplate they will still work as a shield - it's pretty unlikely that they'll not be touching at least somewhere.

mynameistrouble

Okay thanks for all the responses. It sounds like it’s worth giving it a go - I’m not exactly going to be in a band situation until all this Covid stuff has blown over so if they get microphonic then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

normula1

Before I got a wax bath, I used to put a piece of masking tape over the holes, used a hot soldering iron to melt a couple of wax beads (don't use too many).... keep running the iron around until it's totally liquid (try to avoid breathing the fumes) and then quickly fit the pickup into the cover and gently clamp until the wax cools.
Do a couple of dry runs first, the pickup should sort of click into place and the baseplate have a consistent depth to the edge of the cover all the way round,
I always soldered them as well making sure to scratch the internal plating on the cover to give the solder a better chace of sticking.
It's easier than it sounds.

PonchoGreg

Definitely in the "more daunting than hard" category. Scruffing up the inside of the covers and the baseplate where you are going to solder is a good tip. If not keen on using wax, in addition to the double sided tape on top of the bobbins, a few beads of silicone joint thing (for bathrooms) is good too.