New Pickups - covers or not?

Which type of pickup should i get

  • Gold covered - it will look much better

    Votes: 3 37.5%

  • Uncovered - it will sound much better

    Votes: 2 25.0%

  • Candy! - it doesnt matter

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • Total voters
    8
C

ColdAsh

New member
Im planning on buying a couple of Seymour Duncan 59s for my les paul custom next week (currently has the EMGs it came with, which are totally unsuitable for me).
My question is should i get them with the gold cover or get uncovered ones?
The gold covers would look more authentic but I've heard that you can loose a bit of the tone with the cover on. Will it realy make a big difference? Also I'd thought of getting the 4 conductor version so i can split the coils, but there are never any 4 conductor gold covered 59s.
 
ColdAsh said:
... but there are never any 4 conductor gold covered 59s.
Click to expand...



Sure there are. You might have to order them, but they do make them.

As for tone, SOME people say that you gain a bit when you remove the covers, but I've never heard it. It is mostly an aesthetic choice. Myself, I like the look of pickups without covers.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Sure there are. You might have to order them, but they do make them.
M.K. Gandhi
Click to expand...
Sorry what i meant to say was there are never any of the 4 conductor gold pickups on ebay
 
supposedely there is more output with uncovered pickups, but the covered ones produce a warmer tone due to the magnetic spred or something like that, if you add the cover on yourself remember to solder it to the base of the pickup and pot the pickup in 80% parrafin wax and 20% bees wax, unless you are an expert with soldering, and pickups, and all that i recemmend just going with it uncovered, because without it potted you will get so much feedback and the pickups will squeel
 
My experience is that it doesn't really much matter. I have an LP clone loaded with a JB and a 59 that are uncovered, and it has a nice thick, warm tone. Meanwhile, I have an Epi LP that has covered Burstbuckers in it, and the output is much hotter and brighter than the uncovered Duncans. I'm thinking that other factors will affect the tone much more than whether the pickups are covered or not.
 
Jacko said:
supposedely there is more output with uncovered pickups, but the covered ones produce a warmer tone due to the magnetic spred or something like that, if you add the cover on yourself remember to solder it to the base of the pickup and pot the pickup in 80% parrafin wax and 20% bees wax, unless you are an expert with soldering, and pickups, and all that i recemmend just going with it uncovered, because without it potted you will get so much feedback and the pickups will squeel
Click to expand...
No i'll be getting them already covered (probably Duncan JB and 59) and professionaly installed
 
I recall a long time ago I was having some kind of jam with a friend, which we recorded into a 4 track for a bit of a giggle. He was using and Epi Les Paul with covered pickups. At one point we stopped for a break but forgot to stop recording. When we listened back we had managed to pickup his side of an entire conversation we had just had. While he had been sitting there with his guitar on his lap, it had been just about close enough for the covers to conduct what he was saying. After that we spent about an hour seeing what we could do using his guitar as a microphone.
Then we took the covers off. Lo and behold, no more voice recording, and less feedback.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top