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Covered p'ups or open bobbins?


pippy

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As it says on the tin.

 

I've asked so I should perhaps state my own preferences.

 

I seem to prefer covered p'ups at all times.

 

I love the look of 'Zebras' sometimes and occasionally 'Full Cream' works well but I'm 'Traditionally Minded'.......

 

What say you?

 

P.

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Over all these years I've had all sorts of pups on guitars but for all intents, all but one were "covered." That was a Washburn version of the Dot and the pups weren't very good regardless. Never cared for the thing.

 

Meanwhile everything else sounds fine covered, IMHO.

 

m

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I REALLY like the look of uncovered pups and Zebras even more.. My Classic came with them open and I have always loved it so much that when I got my 2008 Standard i was gonna remove them.. BUT I dont think that it will make much difference sound wise and actually decided to keep them on just to have a different looking guitar. :)

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I prefer the look of covered pickups, but in terms of sound I can't really say. I've never had access to both a covered and open set of the same pickups for comparison. I chose "depends on the guitar" because I assume there's a difference in sound between covered and uncovered and that difference could make a huge difference in how happy I am with the sound. My SG Special is uncovered and sounds fantastic. My Les Paul is covered and also sounds fantastic... but since the uncovered is 490's and the covered are burstbuckers I don't know if the covers really make that much difference or not.

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I think the consensus I've seen thus far is that uncovered bobbins provide more treble, where covered bobbins provide better shielding against RF. I believe the treble increase is nominal, however.

I've read pretty much the same. Yas Iwanade goes into it in considerable detail in the text section towards the rear of his "The Beauty of the 'Burst".

 

Removing the covers was shown to free-up the very highest frequencies and was popularised in the '60s but I seriously doubt the difference is greater than turning the 'treble' knob of the amp from 7 to 7 1/2 and I'd be willing to bet flicking on the 'bright' switch on one's amp (if it has such a thing) makes a far bigger difference than removing covers.

 

One of my 1960 Classics came with uncovered p'ups. I fitted covers and noticed not the slightest change in tone afterwards.

 

And Bonzo; I agree, of course, that the sound produced by a p-up is 100x more important than what it looks like but bearing in mind what I've just typed I don't think the presence - or lack - of a cover makes (using your own wonderful turn of phrase) a rodent's buttocks' difference to the final sound as perceived by humans (as opposed to dogs, who MIGHT notice the lack of aforesaid highest frequencies) and, therefore, it comes down to (as Jeff-7 says) a simple matter of aesthetics.

 

P.

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I prefer them covered. As much as I am a horrible player, I am as sensitive about tone. I hate noises, they make me go mad. Although zebras are nice on a heritage sunburst R9, R0. I also like the looks of Schaller's - what to call them - open pickup frames: http://guitar-pickups.biz/hp192976/Pickup-Cover-153.htm. Cheers... Bence

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I guess when the question is actually put to me, I don't know. Can be a tough question, eh?

 

First I should say that I have had very few guitars with humbuckers, and only have one with now. It is an L-7 that had them fitted (L-7 wasn't available with pups like the L-5 does commonly). The pups I'm pretty sure are close to the same age as the guitar, and I would'nt dream of removing them.

 

There are some guitars that would'nt look right with covers (IMO). I had a pretty blue Ibanez that had white humbucks. I sold it before I got the thought of replacing them, but how would I ever find the right pups that were also white? That's a dilema right there.

 

The most rescent guitar I HAD was an Ibanez JSM-100. I was planning on using that guitar to experiment, and buy, different humbuckers to both learn more and get a great sound. Of corse, I would also be able to experiment with covers on/off. Word on the street is that as far as being a difference in sound, gold covers make the most difference.

 

I don't mean to sound like a snob, but I like to play through good stuff. And playing through good stuff makes it so some differences are more easily heard, and worthwhile to be able to hear. What I mean by that is if something done to a guitar makes it sound "better", it will actually sound better through a good amp.

 

So, I said that to say that some guitars (like an LP custom, or an LP) I think look a LOT better with covers on them. Especially, Gibsons with gold covers. I can see a situation where it would actually be a question if they sounded significantly better without them.

 

Another thought. I also have an LP with gold hardware and H-90 pups (look like P90's with of corse, gold poles). I had wanted to also experiment with mini-humbucks and Firebird pups with that one. Had they been readily available at the time when I had the time and money and was looking, they would already be in the guitar, or back out again depending how I liked them.

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Guest Farnsbarns

Surprisingly tricky to answer. I've never had a guitar with uncovered pups but they've also never made me think a guitar looks bad. I think I'm indifferent. I voted other as there's no option for "don't really care".

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I never thought that the purported improvement in tone from removing the covers was worth the danger of exposing all that fine wire, covered by only a little bit of paper tape to the tender mercy of picks, broken strings, sweat etc. I think this began with another of those "celebrity" pronouncements, possibly from Clapton, that removing the covers made a huge improvement in sound. Output maybe, but tone- i'm not so sure.

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I never thought that the purported improvement in tone from removing the covers was worth the danger of exposing all that fine wire, covered by only a little bit of paper tape to the tender mercy of picks, broken strings, sweat etc. I think this began with another of those "celebrity" pronouncements, possibly from Clapton, that removing the covers made a huge improvement in sound. Output maybe, but tone- i'm not so sure.

If we consider all the high-profile players from the mid-'60s on with (mainly) their Pauls back in the day then Clapton's 'Beano-Burst' was pretty much the only one with bare bobbins and he was just trying things out to see what would happen. After the formation of Cream and his 'burst was stolen AFAIK all his Gibsons' p-ups were covered: his 'The Fool' SG; the Albert Hall ES-335; the LP he wears in 'Tommy' and so on.

 

Peter Green (and, later, Gary Moore), Mike Bloomfield, Paul Kossoff, Joe Walsh, Keith Richards and Mick Taylor, Billy Gibbons. All their Gibsons wore covers. Freddy King, Albert King and B.B. King. Page's #1 only lost it's bridge cover, by accident, at the end of the Zeppelin days.

 

Even going forward into the '70s Angus Young didn't feel the need to retreive all those lost VHF waves.

 

Rodent's Bollocks indeed.

 

Aesthetics, however, are another thing.

 

I find it telling that although 'Double Whites' or 'Full Cream' are the rarest PAF, followed by Zebras, the former are much the most commonly displayed type in 'TBOtB'. No fewer than 11 of the 86(?) LPs have uncovered D-W's as opposed to only one with a pair of Zebras. One has a Zebra plus a D-W. Only one guitar has a pair of Double-Blacks - by far the most common PAF of all - and one reputed to be the ex-Jeff Beck Paul is fitted with one Zebra and one D-B. The earliest Paul has one D-B on show but whereas I suspect it has lost it's cover through a hard life on the road the majority of Double-Creams are, I'm sure, just owners scoring points by showing off how even more special their 'bursts are..

 

P.

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