jbw59 Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I have a LP standard and was wanting to remove the pick up covers. Can these be removed easily with a screw driver or does it take tech to do it..? I like the exposed look better. How does it affect the sound or is it only cosmetic..? Thanks for your feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grayzgrey Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pesh Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I have a LP standard and was wanting to remove the pick up covers. Can these be removed easily with a screw driver or does it take tech to do it..? I like the exposed look better. How does it affect the sound or is it only cosmetic..? Thanks for your feedback. Good video posted by Grayzgrey. With regards to the question of whether it will affect sound or just the aesthetic; many will say one or the other. It seems to be a highly speculative. Personally, having removed metal humbucker covers to my own, I noticed no change in sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Sutherland Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Good video posted by Grayzgrey. With regards to the question of whether it will affect sound or just the aesthetic; many will say one or the other. It seems to be a highly speculative. Personally, having removed metal humbucker covers to my own, I noticed no change in sound. Same experience, removed the covers on a set of Sheptones, no noticeable difference in sound, but it looked way cooler (to me). I'm sure in a controlled environment, with the right test equipment and know-how, a set of pickups can be tested both with and without covers. For the OP, one thing to take into consideration is if the pickups are wax-potted, you might have a little 'cleanup' to do after the covers are removed (might have been outlined in the YouTube clip, I didn't bother to watch it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 "Flying in the Face of Convention" I added a set of covers to one of my 1960 Classics..........................................lol! As far as I could tell the change made no difference whatsoever to the end-tone. As Bryan says; with the correct scientific equipment and the right conditions it's entirely possible a very slight change in output frequencies could be measured 'before' and 'after'. The cover's original purpose was to shield against external noise but in so doing some upper frequencies can go to ground. Removing the covers in theory 'frees-up' these very high frequencies which in theory can make the p'up a bit 'brighter' (this is the short version; long version available on request). Whether any difference can be discerned in an actual real-life situation - i.e. playing a gig - is where all the arguments start.......... P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brdeveloper Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 "Flying in the Face of Convention" I added a set of covers to one of my 1960 Classics..........................................lol! As far as I could tell the change made no difference whatsoever to the end-tone. As Bryan says; with the correct scientific equipment and the right conditions it's entirely possible a very slight change in output frequencies could be measured 'before' and 'after'. The cover's original purpose was to shield against external noise but in so doing some upper frequencies can go to ground. Removing the covers in theory 'frees-up' these very high frequencies which in theory can make the p'up a bit 'brighter' (this is the short version; long version available on request). Whether any difference can be discerned in an actual real-life situation - i.e. playing a gig - is where all the arguments start.......... P. What about the aesthetics of removing the cover? Is there an elegant way to hide the screw holes? Forget... I was thinking on the pickguard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Forget... I was thinking on the pickguard Ahhh.....Now that WOULD affect tone. Just ask anyone here and they'll confirm this to be a fact. The mathematics is beyond reproach; P'g ON = Great Tone. P'g OFF = Crap Tone (unless you are good). P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pin Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 The mathematics is beyond reproach; P'g ON = Great Tone. P'g OFF = Crap Tone (unless you are good). P. As a confirmed Pickguard ON man I shall have to remember this startling fact! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Farnsbarns Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Ahhh.....Now that WOULD affect tone. Just ask anyone here and they'll confirm this to be a fact. The mathematics is beyond reproach; P'g ON = Great Tone. P'g OFF = Crap Tone (unless you are good). P. No, no, no. Everyone knows that the pg hides the top and that it's the beauty of the top that creates the tone. The pick guard covers up some of the tone. Don't you know anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 ...The pick guard covers up some of the tone. Don't you know anything?... "I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the reply I gave earlier..." .....P'g OFF = Crap Tone (unless you are good)...... (My emphasis to aid the 'ears-of-cloth' brigade) At least Pin and I realise that we both need erm... prefer to have the p'g ON............ Philip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 There are some guitar players that believe they can hear paint.... That about sums it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Don't forget that long dead trees cut into planks and glued together can breathe. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 What they all said.... Pup cover on/off, a sex thing p/g on/off.....Pippy's formular! and what Searcy & rct said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 I guess I'm like Pippy, in that I put the pickup covers on my 2000 Les Paul Classic! Had the tech do it, right in the store, the day I purchased it. I had done the "no covers" thing, back in the '60's when it was all the rage. NEVER heard a bit of tonal difference. Maybe my ears just don't hear "those" frequencies? So, I ended up putting the covers back on. There's no "right or wrong" way, here, I just prefer them, that way. CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaicho8888 Posted January 29, 2015 Share Posted January 29, 2015 Took the covers on a few of my HB Gibbies and made no difference in toneI The naked pickups looked interesting. I was planning to put new gold covers and hardware to an old early 60's Gibby...my son (17 at that time) said "WTF are you doing?"...Ahhh..just changing the faded gold blings. LOL. I wasn't aware of "keeping vintage" as is. So covers are now all back on again. I also scrap the idea of refinishing all that fine nitro cracks...LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdclmn7 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Gibsons are hard to verify as far as comparing sounds. I did the test with a strat which was a lot faster to deal with. The sound has to be distorted. The familiar screech just wasn't there. As soon as I placed the cover, the change was immediate, the high end screech familiar to the strat was back. Thats why telecasters have the neck pickup with, bridge pickup is without, it balances the relative tone. For the sake of aesthetics, you would need a non-conductive cover for the bridge pickup that is chrome-painted, which is not yet available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mygibbysired Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I don't hear any difference at all. Got mine removed by my luthier. Looks lovely in my opinion though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stein Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 There are some guitar players that believe they can hear paint.... That about sums it up. I can. Sometimes, or often. I mean, I sometimes can, and sometimes I can't, but I THINK I can. Depending on the finish, of corse. Or lack of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Sutherland Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I don't hear any difference at all. Got mine removed by my luthier. Looks lovely in my opinion though When I was ordering the Sheptones (mentioned earlier in this thread), I even asked if there was a difference in tone with or without the covers... Shep said that there was a very small difference and compared it to a tiny capacitor being added with the covers on... With the pickup covers removed, when I turn the volume pot clockwise everything does seem to get louder, and I think it did the same thing before I took the covers off.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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