This may be a stupid question, but when pickups have a metal cover, is that just a cover or part of the pickup. If it's only a cover, can it be removed without affecting the tone of the guitar?
not a problem, as it is cosmetic. some covers are difficult to remove.
Are you talking of the chrome cover on a humbucker????
I've never had humbuckers, though from what I understand....
The covers are on there to protect the coils.
With exposed coils, dust and debris get in there and damage from picking can occur.
At least that's what I've heard.
Hopefully somebody who's done it can attest to the assets/liabilities of such a move.
Ken
"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway
"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles
From Seymour Duncan:
280. I took the cover off my humbucker and it stopped working. What happened?
Like I said in question # 10, there can be damage to the coil if you remove the cover carelessly. If the coil gets snagged by the solder joint burr or jabbed with a screwdriver when trying to get the cover off can cause extreme damage to the coil or coils. Make sure the connecting wires from each bobbin didn't get snagged or pulled and check to see that the solder joints from the cable didn't get pinched or broken. Make sure the hot wires don't short out with the ground. Breaking one turn of magnet wire on a coil will make the pickup inoperative.
281. Should I take my covers off?
Removing humbucker covers will allow slightly higher adjustment to the pickups and can increase unwanted electrical interference. I do not like to remove covers from most Fender guitars as the strings can easily get snagged under the lip of the flatwork. Removing covers on Fender style pickups normally exposes the bare coil or magnet wire which could become easily damaged by accidentally hitting the coil with a guitar pick, fingernails, strings and foreign debris. Removing covers can expose the coil and bobbins to excessive moisture from condensation, sweat and humidity. And don't let anybody play your guitar that's not familiar with your setup and string gauge.
"Everybody got to elevate from the norm."
To answer your question, the covers are cosmetic - although i guess the metal would act as a bit of protection for the wire. Most of the covers on humbuckers are soldered on to the actual pickup, so in that sense you CAN take them off if you de-solder . It usually isn't worth the effort. You can also buy new covers and put them on open-coil humbuckers to dress them up. You do have to get the right kind, though, sdince the covers have screw-head holes that need to line up perfectly with the screw heads on the pickup.
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
