Pickup cover questions

[lpf3]

Hey guys -

I'm using a metal HB ( no holes ) cover on a pup that didn't come with one ......

Is it a bad thing if the cover touches the polepieces ? I'm thinking it's not but since there's no holes , you know ( just checkin' )
Also , I doubt if my 25 watt pencil gets hot enough to solder the cover in place - any disadvantages to using a couple spots of clear silicone ( chemical reaction or whatnot ) to hold it in place ?

FWIW-

I got these covers from the HAS sound site ,all fit fine , look good & only took about a week .
I also liked that he sells them individually so ya can mix & match without ending up with a bunch of extras .

[D2o]

I'll take a whack at it.

Hey guys -

I'm using a metal HB ( no holes ) cover on a pup that didn't come with one ......

Is it a bad thing if the cover touches the polepieces ? I'm thinking it's not but since there's no holes , you know ( just checkin' )

Good question.

Yes and NO, I think.

When testing pickups, one simple way of doing it is to touch a screwdriver to a pole - which results in a "clack" (assuming you've hooked up to an amp, etc.).

Once the "clack" happens, that's it. No more noise, no problem, unless you move or slide the screwdriver around to even the slightest degree.

Theoretically then, it may not matter if your cover touches the poles so long as the cover is in constant contact and does not move at all. The problem is that isn't going to happen.

Which is a roundabout way of saying, NO, don't touch the poles.

But will the cover actually touch the poles?

If not, problem solved.

If so, I guess you could put a bit of something there as a layer between the poles and the cover. Silicon, maybe (but let it cure before installing the cover)... or electrical tape (but that could fall off in time) ... or maybe fasten/glue an appropriately sized piece of plastic that you could cut out of, say, the lid of a margarine tub.

I suppose you could actually smear margarine in there, too (okay, well, maybe not).

This site has some more information: www.specialtyguitars.com/pickupnotes.html

Also , I doubt if my 25 watt pencil gets hot enough to solder the cover in place - any disadvantages to using a couple spots of clear silicone ( chemical reaction or whatnot ) to hold it in place ?

I have a 25 watt soldering iron, and I think it may get hot enough to get away with soldering it in place, but it's iffy. The typical problem with a 25 watt solderig iron is that when it comes time to desolder, you have a hard time melting large amounts of solder from something like that (or from a ground on the back of a pot case, etc.) and you are much better off with a more powerful soldering iron.

As for reactions using silicon, none that I am aware of, but it could be difficult to remove in the future which could risk damage to your pickups. Let's see what others have to say about this.

FWIW-

I got these covers from the HAS sound site ,all fit fine , look good & only took about a week .
I also liked that he sells them individually so ya can mix & match without ending up with a bunch of extras .

Cool! I see that Newey has them included in the wiring section of the links page, sounds like they should be in the parts section too.

[lpf3]

DD -

Thanks for the info - and the link .
Actually , I'm waiting for the pup to arrive , then I'll probably see that you're right - the cover wont touch the poles .
Either way , Specialty's site looks like a big help .

As far as the soldering part - I'm gonna ditch the whole silicone idea , if my 25 watt iron won't do then I'll pick up a 40 or 45 .....

thanks again


-lpf3

[ChrisK]

Generally speaking, good covers are not magnetic and should have no contribution to the tone that way.

While you can use silicon adhesive, I wouldn't get any of it on the enamel coil wire. The whole point of a cover (aside from being purdy) is to SHIELD the pickup. This works better if the cover is actually connected to the frame and shield. That's why they use solder.

The cover, being a metal object (which is occasionally known to conduct electricity) forms a single wide turn around the coils, which is shorted. Now to be fair, this shorted turn goes around both coils so in essence it shouldn't matter. To be fairer, this metal object has a top side and a bottom side (well, if you solder it onto the metal frame forming a shield) which does complete the individual shorted turn around each coil.

Loading a generator tends to affect any harmonics first. The additional capacitance around the coils from the cover also tend to affect the harmonics.

Both will make the pickup sound "warmer", which implies that the harmonics sensed will be reduced. If they get too "warm" (hot) they will sound like a sine wave, which, aside from the amplitude envelope, is indistinguishable from a constant sine wave.

("Warmer" is a somewhat ambiguous term that is more attractive if one pickups tend to be "chilly".)