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Humbucker covers - Can they be removed easily

11K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  littlegreenman 
#1 ·
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
 
#5 ·
Humbucker covers

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."
 
#6 ·
Humbucker covers

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.
 
#8 ·
Humbucker covers

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)
 
#10 ·
Humbucker covers

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
 
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