Actually they do, most of this isn't really necessary. I've done it myself and there's no major difference in sound, no crazy feedback etc. Really the only important part is to stop the cover contacting the pole pieces. You can get away with masking tape, and usually the covers are already a tight fit without anything to fix them in place. The wax and soldering here is a good idea, but by no means strictly required.
@@nekrovulpes I have a query bro, I have placed an order at the carpenter's to make 2 custom wooden pickup covers for my Parker p42 . Is it necessary to solder them since it is wooden anyway, and what about that waxing tip???
@@donaldstan no solder necessary, wood is electrically non-conductive, and doesn't get in the way of magnetic fields so there'll be no difference in tone
i watched this the first time shortly after it came out because i LOVE the look of covered humbuckers and i've re-watched it a few more times since then, just to get it to stick into my brain... i don't want to f' this up, right?!? but i did one of these on an old trashed pup that my local shop gave me to practice on yesterday and it worked, first try, first time i've used an electric soldering iron in 30 years, and it went on pretty well... thanks so much for this demo... can't wait for the covers to arrive for my guitars so i can do this for real...
SadHappy Yeah those look good on that Strat for sure. All depending on the guitar color and shape of the guitar tho. Some look better without them and or the Zebra style. Anyhow cool mod.
All I did was put a piece of masking tape over the slugs and popped the covers on mine. No solder or wax and I've had no issues. I used Seymour Duncan covers on a set of zebra Seymour Duncan pickups an the covers fit perfectly snug. I haven't had any issues with noise or squealing.
I should say this was a set of Pearly Gates in a Gibson Les Paul so I'm not playing metal or using high gain. For that I would probably take the precautions of using the wax and soldering them.
Thank you for this post. All I'm trying to do is cover a butt ugly off colored humbucker on a cheap Peavey Raptor Plus. I don't want to go through all that. I would just put a new pickup in it. It has big poles so I guess I'll get a cover with no hole's in it. So masking tape over poles and put it on sounds better. I'm not a professional musician lol
I really like your choice to swap out the covers. Not crazy about the cream / black ones in my guitar. I didn't know you could switch out just the covers. I was thinking you would have to buy a whole new pickup. Thanks for the knowledge and video Phil.
I put some on my Gibson Explorer. It has gold hardware and a natural finish. It sure looks great now. Funny how a small change can make such a big difference! 🤗
Great piece Phil. I've also used 2 sided heavy duty tape to cover the pickup just below the adjustable pole pieces. Seems to hold the cover in place fine and no problems resulted from not using the wax, or soldering them , but remember....I play at home. No one's cranking it up here; if that's your thing so then you may want to wax em first. Thanks for the info and stay well.
Cheers Phil, I've been wondering how to put the covers on my pickups for a while. The first vid I got was a familiar friendly face I recognize and trust. I now know what to do. thanks.
Yeah - like "spread it over the whole thing but I am only going to show me dumping wax on it in the middle"? Do you cover the pickups slugs and the screws - basically the whole top layer of the pickup? Some clarification please and thanks.
Thanks A LOT! I just placed an order for tuners, a nut, and knobs to sharpen my ax and now I have to go an place another order for covers!? DAMMIT! Seriously though, great video, I'm going to wait on the turners and nut until I get covers.
You don't have to sand the base plate as it is raw nickel ,but you should sand the plating off inside the cover for the solder to bond the cover to the baseplate .
I didn't even know this was possible and I love the idea. The only part of my guitar I don't like is the look of the pickups. I have the cream colored mounting rings though. I'm not sure what's under there. If it's nothing then this may still work.
Thanks for the vid Phil, but questions: 1. Do we want to prevent the slugs/pole pieces form touching the cover or not? Do you fully cover all your slugs? You seem to only cover a few of them so not sure about the purpose of this. 2. What do you mean by tight seal/ no air trapped in? What does this achieve? There will be air between the top/side of the pickup and the cover as far as I can tell anyways. Where do we wanna minimize trapped air? Thank you!
The only real reason to choose covered or uncovered is how they look. Any tiny impact to sound can easily be compensated for with minor eq'ing on the amp. I use only covered humbuckers because to me, the uncovered ones look like a kid putting playing cards in the spokes of his banana bike to make it look more like a hot rod.
Awesome Phil. I've been thinking of doing this for a while but was weary because I thought the wax would be a huge pain. I thought you'd need to dip the whole pickup to be "wax potted".
This video made me wonder if that was possible! I don't want to take my covers off because I like how they look, but wondered what it would look like if I did!
@@eigenbroetler321 They come off but it is a lot or work buffing the old wax off them. I am happy I did it. I have plenty with covers that I like too though.
I did something like this only was checking out how it looked and wasn't sure I wanted to keep the covers on. I used copper shielding tape to hold the cover on. Was supposed to be temporary but it's still there a couple of years later lol.
Fantastic! I have a question about the wax: do you pour and cover all the poles, or just the non-adjustable ones? Is masking tape something you would do on lieu of the wax, or tape the poles and then wax it up?
Hey Phil, Love your channel. I've been playing acoustic guitar for 55 years (just turned 69), and just purchased my first electric guitar. I apologize for my rather stupid question, but exactly what part of the pickup were you applying the wax to - the shot was so brief I really couldn't tell. Thanks so much for all the information you impart in your videos - truly one of my favorite channels.
From what I can tell he puts it over the whole pickup top completely. And then once you install the chrome cover and solder, you can use your polishing rag to remove the wax from the screws that stick out the holes. That way everywhere on the plastic pickup there is wax between that and the chrome cover.
It doesn’t say neck or bridge pickup at the stewmac website. Does it mean all the covers are the same height ? I just flip it and it’ll fit in either pickup?
Soooooooooooo they dont just snap on the pick ups like i was hoping lmao
Actually they do, most of this isn't really necessary. I've done it myself and there's no major difference in sound, no crazy feedback etc. Really the only important part is to stop the cover contacting the pole pieces. You can get away with masking tape, and usually the covers are already a tight fit without anything to fix them in place. The wax and soldering here is a good idea, but by no means strictly required.
@@nekrovulpes I have a query bro, I have placed an order at the carpenter's to make 2 custom wooden pickup covers for my Parker p42 . Is it necessary to solder them since it is wooden anyway, and what about that waxing tip???
@@donaldstan no solder necessary, wood is electrically non-conductive, and doesn't get in the way of magnetic fields so there'll be no difference in tone
Depends the pickup👍🏼 Most single coils just screw into the pickguard with the pickup itself. However most humbuckers require this process.
LMFAO MY EXACT REACTION
Simple thing, but for the new guitar people, good to see it. Thumbs up
The tea candle thing was a great little trick. Very clever.
i watched this the first time shortly after it came out because i LOVE the look of covered humbuckers and i've re-watched it a few more times since then, just to get it to stick into my brain... i don't want to f' this up, right?!?
but i did one of these on an old trashed pup that my local shop gave me to practice on yesterday and it worked, first try, first time i've used an electric soldering iron in 30 years, and it went on pretty well... thanks so much for this demo... can't wait for the covers to arrive for my guitars so i can do this for real...
I did mine by melting a bunch of Chanukah candles, and then dipped the pickups.
Mazel Tov!
So its a Shalomocaster now.
Hey sorry to bother but will the wax ruin the pickups? How do you remove the wax safely without scratching the pickups
@@commissioner1969 pickups are dipped in wax at the factory already, so don't worry about adding any wax to them.
Pickup covers look so much better to my eye
SadHappy
Yeah those look good on that Strat for sure. All depending on the guitar color and shape of the guitar tho. Some look better without them and or the Zebra style. Anyhow cool mod.
Yeah zebra pus look ugly imo
All I did was put a piece of masking tape over the slugs and popped the covers on mine. No solder or wax and I've had no issues. I used Seymour Duncan covers on a set of zebra Seymour Duncan pickups an the covers fit perfectly snug. I haven't had any issues with noise or squealing.
I have seen the tape work just as well as anything else.
I should say this was a set of Pearly Gates in a Gibson Les Paul so I'm not playing metal or using high gain. For that I would probably take the precautions of using the wax and soldering them.
do a tutorial man!
Wait so u left the masking on after u put on the covers? Ur not supposed to take it off or what??!
Thank you for this post. All I'm trying to do is cover a butt ugly off colored humbucker on a cheap Peavey Raptor Plus. I don't want to go through all that. I would just put a new pickup in it. It has big poles so I guess I'll get a cover with no hole's in it. So masking tape over poles and put it on sounds better. I'm not a professional musician lol
I really like your choice to swap out the covers. Not crazy about the cream / black ones in my guitar. I didn't know you could switch out just the covers. I was thinking you would have to buy a whole new pickup. Thanks for the knowledge and video Phil.
That's a nice show off way to remove the strings!
My uncle gave me some Gibson 57 Classics that were zebra (ugh). I did this mod last year and it looks great in my faded brown Explorer.
I put some on my Gibson Explorer. It has gold hardware and a natural finish. It sure looks great now. Funny how a small change can make such a big difference! 🤗
Great piece Phil. I've also used 2 sided heavy duty tape to cover the pickup just below the adjustable pole pieces. Seems to hold the cover in place fine and no problems resulted from not using the wax, or soldering them , but remember....I play at home. No one's cranking it up here; if that's your thing so then you may want to wax em first. Thanks for the info
and stay well.
This video can be very helpful with a very easy to follow process to anyone who wants to install pickup covers.
I was about to buy some pickup covers but had no idea how to put them on. Perfect timing. Thanks Phil!
Thanks Phil, I need to do this, you always make things seem painless 👍
I just replaced my zebra SE 85/15s with some Tonerider Alnico 2s and not only is the appearance so much better, the sound is amazing.
Nice Phil! Totally changed the look for the better. Love the tips!
Would it be tidier to pour the wax into the cover rather than onto the pickup?
Cheers Phil, I've been wondering how to put the covers on my pickups for a while. The first vid I got was a familiar friendly face I recognize and trust. I now know what to do. thanks.
Phil you are a god amongst men
Man those looks sweet! Thanks again Phil. Now I need to order like a dozen Chrome humbucker covers.
Would have liked to see the waxing more in depth.. lost me there kinda....
Yeah - like "spread it over the whole thing but I am only going to show me dumping wax on it in the middle"? Do you cover the pickups slugs and the screws - basically the whole top layer of the pickup? Some clarification please and thanks.
Great video Phill, and awesome tip, and save a load of money doing it this way, thank You, and Thank You for your Time , Cheers
Thanks A LOT! I just placed an order for tuners, a nut, and knobs to sharpen my ax and now I have to go an place another order for covers!? DAMMIT!
Seriously though, great video, I'm going to wait on the turners and nut until I get covers.
It looks so much better now.
Welcome back Phil
You don't have to sand the base plate as it is raw nickel ,but you should sand the plating off inside the cover for the solder to bond the cover to the baseplate .
Excellent video! Thank you!!!
I didn't even know this was possible and I love the idea. The only part of my guitar I don't like is the look of the pickups. I have the cream colored mounting rings though. I'm not sure what's under there. If it's nothing then this may still work.
Superb, thank you. I do prefer the covered look, it looks more “finished” somehow. 🤙🏻
Great demo Phil as always
Thanks for the vid Phil, but questions:
1. Do we want to prevent the slugs/pole pieces form touching the cover or not? Do you fully cover all your slugs? You seem to only cover a few of them so not sure about the purpose of this.
2. What do you mean by tight seal/ no air trapped in? What does this achieve? There will be air between the top/side of the pickup and the cover as far as I can tell anyways. Where do we wanna minimize trapped air?
Thank you!
The only real reason to choose covered or uncovered is how they look.
Any tiny impact to sound can easily be compensated for with minor eq'ing on the amp.
I use only covered humbuckers because to me, the uncovered ones look like a kid putting playing cards in the spokes of his banana bike to make it look more like a hot rod.
Awesome Phil. I've been thinking of doing this for a while but was weary because I thought the wax would be a huge pain. I thought you'd need to dip the whole pickup to be "wax potted".
Thank you for the video. I have been thinking about doing this for a while now.
I did the reverse on my Hamer. I liked the pickups but wanted an open coil look. I removed my covers. lol
This video made me wonder if that was possible! I don't want to take my covers off because I like how they look, but wondered what it would look like if I did!
@@eigenbroetler321 They come off but it is a lot or work buffing the old wax off them. I am happy I did it. I have plenty with covers that I like too though.
I found that raising the pole pieces helped when the cover was a touch snug.
I did something like this only was checking out how it looked and wasn't sure I wanted to keep the covers on. I used copper shielding tape to hold the cover on. Was supposed to be temporary but it's still there a couple of years later lol.
TYSM for this tip! Gonna install those my black Squier Mustang HH. The wax info was very useful :)
can you put cover on flat pole humbucker?
I have the same question!
Fantastic!
I have a question about the wax: do you pour and cover all the poles, or just the non-adjustable ones?
Is masking tape something you would do on lieu of the wax, or tape the poles and then wax it up?
Great tips! Thanks!
Thank you so much, you're awesome dude.
Great tip, but I’m glad I prefer the open coil look - one less OCD upgrade for me.
Will covering the pick ups change the sound of them have some that are way to bright thinking about adding covers to dampen them will this work ?
Covering pickups tends to make you lose some of the high end so yeah should be a little less bright
Fresh ideas and tips for a successful project!
Great info, thanks!
Pickup covers change the sound. Thanks for doing this video in case I ever decide I want to do this.😀
Thanks, that was one of my questions after seeing this. I want to do so for the look but would love to see him do a before/after tone analysis.
Phillip do you have to cover the entire top of the pickup in wax? How thick should it be?
Can I use ordinary candle? And what part of pickup do I need to cover of the wax? Thanks Sir
Does the wax only go over the slugs? Or over the entire face of the pickup?
??? This is a few years back but just seeing it now. Wonder what tone difference if any.. thanks for all your videos
Hey Phil, Love your channel. I've been playing acoustic guitar for 55 years (just turned 69), and just purchased my first electric guitar. I apologize for my rather stupid question, but exactly what part of the pickup were you applying the wax to - the shot was so brief I really couldn't tell. Thanks so much for all the information you impart in your videos - truly one of my favorite channels.
From what I can tell he puts it over the whole pickup top completely. And then once you install the chrome cover and solder, you can use your polishing rag to remove the wax from the screws that stick out the holes. That way everywhere on the plastic pickup there is wax between that and the chrome cover.
Nice age
Do you need the wax or masking tape if the cover has holes on both rows of slugs?
Thank you for another great tutorial!!!
Do I have to sauder them? I cant just put them on ?
split mode with the covers still worked?)
Would you wax the PU if the covers were made of plastic like the EMGs for example?
I have a question. If theres no screws on my humbucker, what cover should i put?
do i have to solder the cover or can i just put blu tack or something there
What is the purpose of the wax again? Wax or tape to 'avoid the squeeling' but how? I got my covers ready to install, thanks in advance
Great video Phil!
Thank you for an insightful video! I always wondered; does putting a pick up cover on a pick up change the sound of the pick up at all?
Hey, very good and well explained Video! Thanks for it!
Hi Phillip :)
Do you know if all Seymour Duncans are black under their covers?
I'll do it by myself soon with a SD JB HS 4! Thank you very much!
Awesome vid! Is the soldering necessary for function or does it just hold the cover in place? Thanks
Cool, but how do you install gold pick up covers? Can you do a video on that? I trust Stew Mac to overcharge for shipping.
It's correct put the tin in the back of hambucker, Is there a noise problem?
Can i use double tape to cover betwen pickup and the cover?
Would this work on A someone unique humbucker, the Seymour Duncan Screamin demon?
Awesome...gonna cover my Epi SG pickups
I have a pickup cover with no holes. Would that affect the sound (tone) of the pickup? Please help.
I have a strat with a humbucker , I have a zebra humbucker but black is on the bottom and white on top . Does it make a difference?
Is it a good idea to re-pot the pickup once the cover is installed?
Does the cover reduces humm noise, even a bit
What about with 12 hole covers? Do you still need to wax them?
did this years ago to one of my axes but all i did was push the cover on through the pickup ring.
shame to cover up those lovely zebra's though...
is soldering required
Been planning on doing this with a franken-paul guitar. Much prefer the look of covers. Just my personal opinion on the subject.
I tried this on my PRS coil-splitting humbuckers and it didn’t work. It only made them buzz when touched. Any suggestions would be helpful.
I apologise for my ignorance. but what would the problem be if you didn't solder it at all?
Dude great video thank you very much
It doesn’t say neck or bridge pickup at the stewmac website. Does it mean all the covers are the same height ? I just flip it and it’ll fit in either pickup?
I didn't completly understand the wax thing. do we not want the pole pieces to not touch the cover?
donde estuviste toda mi vida? jaja gran video
I was looking for something like this, thank you!
Will covers fit over EMG or Blackouts ?
Can i use painter’s tape instead of masking tape?
Yes
@philip Mcknight, why do we have to sodder the covers to the pickup base?
What is the purpose of the wax? And how should it be put?
Can I put the wax inside the cover instead of the on the magnet?
Thank you for very informative video, as always! Although some time ago I've done exactly the opposite, taking the covers off :)
Would dielectric gel work instead of wax or silicone?
We have an abundance of that at the shop I work at.
Phil, great video! What model Strat is that?
Can you put covers on SD invaders?
Would this work with a dimarzio super distortion, i ask because that pickup has no screws or slugs on the pickup.?
If I remember correctly, the Super D's have Allen-wrench adjustable pole pieces on both sides.
Can you put covers on an Invader pickup, Or are the poles to high?
How would I install plastic EMG style covers
Wheee did uou buy that pickguard???????????
Or where can i find one like that
I bought it from Warmoth