Humbucker covers - Can they be removed easily

[littlegreenman]

Hello, I was looking at a couple guitars where the pickups look a little less than pristine. *My question is, is there an easy way to remove the covers from the humbuckers without toasting the pickup? *Single coils are easy of course, but I would like to paint the humbucker covers and trying to properly mask off the poles on the humbuckers would be a nightmare.
Thanx in advance
Jeremy

[Noodles]

I'm not positive but I think they are just soderd on.

[cmartin]

You could get some pickup covers from Jeannie Pickguards.

http://members.home.com/pickguards/picku.htm

[Noodles]

Forget what I said, when you said pickup covers I was thinking of the metal type. *

[kirk]

I don't think that you can remove them. *I have never looked, but I think that the "covers" (which would be a bad name for them) are all one solid part of where the pickups are wound.

I think that single coils are the only pickups that have true "covers."

[darren wilson]

Kirk is right.

Single coil pickups have a plastic cover over the bobbins and windings. This cover is easily replaced and can be any colour, because it's just an injection-molded piece of plastic that goes over the guts of the pickup.

Humbuckers are wound right on the plastic bobbins. The windings are then wrapped in tape to protect them, and on the original Gibson humbuckers, a nickel cover was then attached. Nowadays, most of the humbuckers we see don't have the nickel cover, so the bobbins themselves are exposed. The exposed part you see isn't a "cover"... it's the guts of the pickup. Thus, the pickup manufacturers have started making them in different colours.

There's no way to change the colour of your humbuckers other than replacing them, painting them or adding cosmetic pickup covers like Roger at Jeannie makes.

[littlegreenman]

OK, well, then how about this, can the poles be unscrewed all the way out of the pickup to simplify painting and then be put back in without screwing up the pickup? *I would just try it but don't want to risk the pickup if you cant' do that.
Jeremy

[cmartin]

Again, I would suggest checking out Jeannie's pickup covers (which just go on top of your current pickups). That would be much, much simpler than painting and almost certainly give you better results.

http://members.home.com/pickguards/picku.htm

If you really want to paint them- yes, you can screw the poles completely out with no worries. They are just common socket set screws that can be easily screwed back in, or replaced if you want brand-new ones. You can find them at most decent hardware stores.





(Edited by cmartin at 9:42 pm on Feb. 12, 2001)

[RSVampire]

why don't you just take them out......spray paint them.....and use paint thiner or something that takes off paint.....and use a cue tip to take them off the poles?

[littlegreenman]

If I paint them, I'll be using Endura which is a plastic epoxy type paint, it will look virtually identical to new plastic covers and won't wear off like enamels do. *However, once it is cured, you can't remove it with a solvent so that is why I want to be able to remove the poles.
Jeremy