Gibson101 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 The pick up covers on my ES-335 are looking pretty rugged these days, any thoughts on shining them up? I was thinking about replacing the covers, any suggestions? Anyone know a good place to order some replacement covers? Seems the ones I saw on Stew Mac got poor reviews. Here she is when they were all shiny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 The Gibson covers aren't very expensive & you could always get them in chrome if you seriously want to avoid fading. There unfortunately seems to be a lack of consistency with nickel plating. I have a natural finish 335 from the same year as yours (saw your post in the acoustic section). On mine, the pickup covers still look good while the tailpiece plating is shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sok66 Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Cover scratches & tarnish are part of the guitar's "mojo-fication" process. Just leave them and enjoy the patina that comes with time. I scored a very cool, well worn '72 Les Paul Custom a couple years ago that would have originally been equipped with those goofy early 70s "Gibson" stamped gold covers. Back in the day the first thing we did was take those off and toss 'em. We'd either leave them of, or replace them with a plain set. Anyway, on this particular guitar the pickups covers were long gone so I decided to try and find a set of well tarnished & worn ones to match the guitar. In the world of Ebay, the more battered the cover, the higher the price! On this particulr guitar new covers look ridiculous, so we'll have to look for some way to artificially age a set. Maybe leave them out in the rain or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmyl51 Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 Buy some simichrome at your local auto parts store. Simichrome is the BEST product out there for shining up pickup covers..........you will have to accept the fact that ALL metal on guitars pick up the affects that you are speaking about. You will never be able to keep the nickel plated pickup covers absolutely like they were the day that you received the guitar as new, but simichrome will keep the plating as good as new. On gold plated covers and tailpieces don't keep rubbing and rubbing and rubbing the gold to keep it shiny........rub once with the simichrome and call it a day. You WILL rub off the gold plating if you keep going at it. For years I was one of these guys who wanted to keep everything looking 'as new'. Finally a friend of mine who was a studio guitar guy when I lived in Los Angeles years ago looked at me one day and said to me 'what the hell are you doing?' Rub the part once and 'leave it alone!' Man the guy was and is right! jim in Maine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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