replacing ach humbuckers

[oldskoolchop]

I just ordered an Ibanez Artcore semi with ach humbuckers and chrome covers. It will be here next wed. I want to put in a set of pups that I currently have in another guitar at the moment. A seymour duncan '59 in the neck and a custom in the bridge, anyways I want to be able to re use the covers, will I be able to use them with these pups or will I have to leave them off. I have never had a guitar with covered pups, don't know how they affect the sound, I mainly want to leave them on for looks. Are covers interchangeable with different brands of pups, will they affect the sound?

On a side note I will have these pups in this guitar for a clean to dirty blues sound, in a jackson I have pearly gates in the neck for a dirty texas blues sound and invader in the bridge for some rock, I then have a dean that I am going to set up strictly for slide, any recommendations (preferably seymours) for pups for slide, kinda allman bros, derek trucks, warren hayes, kinda sound, any one have experience or an opinion?

[Vihar]

Metal covers are not easily interchangeable since they are soldered to the bottom plate of the pickup:



They also affect the sound, i.e. making the pickup sound somewhat duller in the treble range, because of the eddy currents generated in them. The only thing they are good for is forming a shield against radio frequencies, that's why they are there in the first place.

[Greco]

Originally Posted by oldskoolchop

...... A seymour duncan '59 in the neck and a custom in the bridge, anyways I want to be able to re use the covers, will I be able to use them with these pups or will I have to leave them off. .

I am almost 100% sure that you will need to get Seymour Duncan (SD) covers for your new SD '59 and SD Custom. At least, that was the case a few years back when I was doing a lot of experimenting with SD pickups. The covers are made specifically for SD products.

Cheers

Dave

[sixtiesreject]

Hello Hello--

Covers are good for preventing your high "E" string from getting caught under the lip of the pickup bobbin! A few of my guitars need them due to the fact that the pickup mounting rings aren't high enough to protect the top of the bobbins.

[RAQ]

I've used to or three sets of Duncan pickups and put covers on all of them. None of these were special 'Duncan' covers in any way (as far as I know), but you do have to check the pole spacings - some fit, some don't. Mostly I have replaced Epi pickups and have found that only one of the Epi covers fits - I suspect it all comes down to whether the pole spacings of the neck pup differ from those at the bridge.

Fitting new covers is not too bad; getting old covers off is a bit of a test. The best method I have found is to use a big-ish soldering iron and work quickly - trying to use a small iron, and having to leave it on for a while, allows the whole unit to heat up and plays havoc with the wax potting (if they are wax potted). A bigger iron keeps the heat fairly local.

[sixtiesreject]

Hello Hello--

Yep.....a deftly applied 30-watter does the job much better then a low wattage [15 watts] iron. To remove covers I also use a very small X-Acto saw to cut through the solder but this takes some experience.

[oldskoolchop]

thanks for all the info, based on what I have heard I might just wait a few months and then buy a '59 and custom with covers already on them , I would like to leave the ones I have in the current guitar anyway

[TruthHertz]

Originally Posted by Greco

I am almost 100% sure that you will need to get Seymour Duncan (SD) covers for your new SD '59 and SD Custom... The covers are made specifically for SD products.

Cheers

Dave

Absolutely right, the SD is slighly wider. There was someone on ebay a while that sold SD spaced covers for about a buck a piece or something. Bought a bunch then, so they're around. I like the sound of pickups with the covers on, a little different but I like it.
Good move to pull those ACH's off. You'll transform the guitar instantly.
David