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#1
10-07-2014, 02:57 PM
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Pickups - with or without covers?
Do you like your electric guitar pickups with or without the covers? Is it due to aesthetics or tone?
On some guitars I like the look with them on, others off. I like zebra humbuckers so the new pickup I installed this week-end has no cover. 
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#2
10-07-2014, 03:03 PM
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Mine are however they came stock. Humbuckers on the Eastman and LP are covered, the Tele is half and half. I prefer the look of humbuckers with the covers on.
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"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great." -Zig Ziglar Acoustics 2013 Guild F30 Standard 2012 Yamaha LL16 2007 Seagull S12 1991 Yairi DY 50 Electrics Epiphone Les Paul Standard Fender Am. Standard Telecaster Gibson ES-335 Gibson Firebird
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#3
10-07-2014, 03:25 PM
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My Carvin humbuckers came without covers. The neck has red/black coils and the bridge has red/red coils. You can adjust each pole piece.
I took the covers off my 335 PUs for a while. I could hear no difference in tone, but as we all know, change anything, and someone hears the difference. 
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I don't have a bunch of guitars because they all sound just like me.  1984 Carvin LB-40 bass 1986 Carvin DC-125 two humbucker 1996 Taylor 412 La Patrie Concert 2012 American Standard Telecaster 1981 Carvin DC 100 Harley Benton LP JR DC Bushman Delta Frost & Suzuki harmonicas Artley flute Six-plus decade old vocal apparatus
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#4
10-07-2014, 04:31 PM
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Quote:
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#5
10-07-2014, 04:33 PM
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I prefer covers. I purchased non-covered Seymour Duncan 59's for one of my guitars. They are uncovered and it's not a big enough deal for me to put covers on them.
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=================================== '07 Gibson J-45 '68 Reissue (Fuller's) '18 Martin 00-18 '18 Martin GP-28E '65 Epiphone Zenith archtop
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#6
10-07-2014, 04:35 PM
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I prefer covers. I purchased non-covered Seymour Duncan 59's for one of my guitars. They are uncovered and it's not a big enough deal for me to put covers on them.
There are some players that hear a sonic difference between covered and non-covered, but I doubt if I could hear the difference. I just feel more 'protected' with covers. Sorry, I can't figure out how to delete the above post
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=================================== '07 Gibson J-45 '68 Reissue (Fuller's) '18 Martin 00-18 '18 Martin GP-28E '65 Epiphone Zenith archtop Last edited by DanR; 10-07-2014 at 04:44 PM.
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#7
10-07-2014, 05:36 PM
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i'm too lazy to take them off to see if they do affect the tone, but, i feel it would be quite minimal.
play music!
__________________
2014 Martin 00015M 2009 Martin 0015M 2008 Martin HD28 2007 Martin 000-18GE 2006 Taylor 712 2006 Fender Parlor GDP100 1978 Fender F65 1968 Gibson B25-12N Various Electrics
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#8
10-07-2014, 05:50 PM
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I've read that some people hear a little less high end with the covers on. I've never tried the experiment myself nor do I want to try.
Zebra pickups anyone? 
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#9
10-07-2014, 08:19 PM
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I love the tone of my uncovered PRS 59/09s.
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#10
10-08-2014, 08:44 AM
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Quote:
 . Have they always been uncovered?
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#11
10-08-2014, 11:00 AM
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A changing magnetic field creates a current in any circuit it passes through. In a sheet of metal such as a pickup cover, it creates eddy currents which swirl around within the metal. The effect is to smooth things out a little bit with the loss of some top end. That could be good or bad depending on the pickup and the sound you want, assuming you notice it at all. With nickel silver covers the effect is small.
Tone-sucking brass is a different matter though. Brass covers or baseplates can lose a lot of top end and dynamics.
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#13
10-08-2014, 11:19 AM
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I had a '70's era Gibson ES-335 that I took the bridge pickup cover off of.
Definitely louder and more presence-midrange......
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#14
10-08-2014, 11:25 AM
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I am of the opinion that practicality, which includes tone, always trumps aesthetics. I am rather surprised to find other guitarist that feel aesthetics are more important, but that is another discussion.
When it comes to taking the covers off, you get a change in tone and you lose some of your shielding. Assuming you have the ears to hear the change, whether the change is good or bad is subjective. You can only decide for yourself. If you like the change, then the question becomes whether you like it enough to compensate for the lost shielding.
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#15
10-08-2014, 02:45 PM
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