Pickup Cover Help!?

[ninjapowersmm]

Hey guys, I'm the new guy here so play nice:)

However I've been playing for 6 years.

 

ANYWAYS.

I have this Epiphone G-310 that I've had for like 5 years now and I'm trying to put pickup covers on them to add the guitar aesthetically, but I've run into a few problems.

 

1. I didn't wax pot the pick up covers onto the pickup. Will that cause problems?

 

2. The pickup with the covers on them now won't fit through the hole of the pickguard and are sitting at an awkward angle. How can I fix this? Have you guys ran into the same problems? Thanks.

[brianh]

1. I didn't wax pot the pick up covers onto the pickup. Will that cause problems?

If you don't have squealing/feedback problems with them now, then you shouldn't have them with covers. That said, wax potting is a good idea.

More importantly, if the covers are metal, they need to be grounded to the pickups:

 

 

2. The pickup with the covers on them now won't fit through the hole of the pickguard and are sitting at an awkward angle. How can I fix this? Have you guys ran into the same problems?

If you're really handy and have the correct tools you may be able to modify your existing pickguard, but otherwise you will need a new one. Best place to start is here: http://pickguards.us...thergibson.html

 

Welcome to the forum BTW.

[Lefty Bill]

Hey guys, I'm the new guy here so play nice:)

However I've been playing for 6 years.

ANYWAYS.

I have this Epiphone G-310 that I've had for like 5 years now and I'm trying to put pickup covers on them to add the guitar aesthetically, but I've run into a few problems.

1. I didn't wax pot the pick up covers onto the pickup. Will that cause problems?

2. The pickup with the covers on them now won't fit through the hole of the pickguard and are sitting at an awkward angle. How can I fix this? Have you guys ran into the same problems? Thanks.

 

I've removed covers from several Epiphone humbucker pickups, and there is barely any wax anywhere except inside the windings of the coils. It's inside the coil windings to stabilize the ultra-fine wire, at least that's the way I interpreted it's use.

 

I'm glad you brought up the issue of the covers not fitting thru the pickguards, since I've been planning on covering the open pickups on a G-310 SG, too.

It might be easier to use plastic pickup covers which have been trimmed so they don't need to go thru the pickguard, and secure the plastic covers to pickup rings instead of mounting the covers to the pickups. With the plastic covers mounted to the rings, the pickups could still be adjusted, but the covers won't move with them.

I had already contemplated using double-sided tape (not the foam stuff) for mounting pickup rings to the pickguard, instead of drilling holes in it for screws.

 

I think the plastic covers are limited to black or white/cream colors, so chrome/nickel or gold may not be a viable choice. Plastic covers can be painted, but simulated plating covers may look a bit cheesey.

 

Modifying a pickguard isn't too difficult, but my preference would be to keep the original parts as they are, so I may end up looking for some pickguard material, since trying to find a left-handed one may be a waste of time.

 

BTW, mounting metal covers on pickups will affect the inductance of the pickups, so the sound will change. The difference shouldn't be huge, but some of the treble is sacrificed, from what I've read about metal covers.

 

Regards,

Bill

[Lefty Bill]

I've removed covers from several Epiphone humbucker pickups, and there is barely any wax anywhere except inside the windings of the coils. It's inside the coil windings to stabilize the ultra-fine wire, at least that's the way I interpreted it's use.

Snip

 

Maybe Ninjapowersmm has an unusual problem, since metal-covered humbuckers should fit thru the pickguard of the G-310 SG models.

 

I thought it seemed a little odd that I hadn't seen numerous cautions about certain pickups not fitting Epiphones, so I measured the pickguard cutouts in my two G-310 SG models (1998 and 2008).

The cutouts are adequate for either Epiphone or Gibson metal-covered humbuckers.. at least the genuine Gibson and Epiphone metal covers I have, are slightly smaller than the cutouts.

 

1998 model: 38.5mm x 70mm

2008 model: 39.5mm x 71mm

 

The forming process of making the metal covers leaves the bottoms edges of the metal covers flared a bit, so the bottom edges measurements could exceed the size of the cutouts, but since the pickups are installed from the bottom, the tops of the covers should fit thru the cutouts easily.

 

Regards,

Bill

[Bender 4 Life]

a few strokes w/an emory/emery file or fine sand paper to the inner edges if the p'up hole in the guard should "fit" the new covers just fine, and cost what? maybe $1