Members mbengs1 Posted November 29, 2016 Members Share Posted November 29, 2016 I'm thinking of buying new pickup covers for my les paul to make it look new again. Is this an easy job? i imagine u just need to pull out the old ones and put in the new ones. i heard there could be solder lead gluing the pickup cover to the pickup. is this true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 29, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 29, 2016 Yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted November 29, 2016 Members Share Posted November 29, 2016 Don't bother and here's why. Many many years ago the chrome plating on pick up cover was really good. No so much any more. The chrome no a days is plated on kinda thin if you ask me. I have guitars that are 30 plus years old and plating looks great. The newer stuff no so good after a short period of time. They are soldered . Patina, fetches some extra coin anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted November 29, 2016 Members Share Posted November 29, 2016 Normally you need a large iron to produce allot of heat because the large surface area is going to heat sink the heat away from the solder joints that hold the covers on. You cant use a dinky little 25W iron and expect to de-solder or re-solder the covers. you need a much higher wattage iron to do the job right. I use a Wellman Soldering gun with heavy duty tip because I can heat a joint like that up quickly without overheating the rest of the pickup. Then you need a solder sucker to get the old solder removed. There's usually allot of it and you'd be there forever using wick cord. Next the pickups may be potted with wax which makes it more difficult to remove the covers. You need to use a hair dryer to heat the covers up and soften the wax so the covers can be removed. After replacing them and soldering the new covers in place its usually best to reheat the cover tops so the wax inside adheres to them and prevent microphonics. The whole reason for potting them with wax is to prevent the covers from vibrating and producing a microphonic tone. . Whether you can get away without repotting them is the question. I pulled the covers off a set of Epiphone pickups to convert them to gold covers and lost quite a bit of wax in the process. It was no big deal for me to reheat my pickup potting wax pan and re-pot the pickups with some fresh bees wax. For others like yourself who may have never done any of this or don't have the right tools and experience, I'll side Mikeo on this and say don't bother with it. If the covers are worn a bit, get over it. Its purely cosmetic and shows you actually play the instrument instead of it being a wall hanger. Its not something that's going to improve the sound and unless you're playing live full time and your vanity has no bounds its a wasted effort that lead to several unexpected problems. Just leave it alone and play the darn thing. People want to hear good music. They couldn't care less how your instrument looks, and in fact they may actually stare more at an old beater and wonder how you're getting such great tones from it over something brand new looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members badpenguin Posted November 29, 2016 Members Share Posted November 29, 2016 Leave it alone before you f*ck it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Ratae Corieltauvorum Posted November 30, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 30, 2016 This......if you have to ask, don't do it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mbengs1 Posted November 30, 2016 Author Members Share Posted November 30, 2016 yeah, why would you solder the pickup cover to the pickup? maybe i'll just have a tech change the covers for me... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Grumpy Posted November 30, 2016 Members Share Posted November 30, 2016 yeah, why would you solder the pickup cover to the pickup? The reason pickup covers are soldered on is because it's a metal-to-metal connection. Pickup baseplates are brass, pickup covers are chrome (or gold or nickel) plated brass. Solder is secure and permanent, and creates a good electrical connection too so the metal cover acts as an EMF shield too. And the solder joint can be easily redone if needed, allowing for the cover to be replaced or the pickup to be re-wound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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