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OK, so lately I've been using two identical strats. Both have a JB/Jazz set. The only difference between the two is the JB on one of them has a nickel cover. I have been alternating between these two strats for quite a while, but they ended up side by side near my amp in the last couple of weeks and I've been using them both almost exclusively.
Well to make a long story short, I noticed that the nickel covered JB sounds best. The cover seems to soften the sound a bit overall. Uncovered, the JB feels a bit dry or stiff. The cover gives it a slightly looser feel which lets it respond more naturally to my pick attack. It reminds me kind of like the difference between a pickup with rails and a pickup with pole pieces if that makes any sense.
I wondered if my ears could be deceiving me or perhaps I was hearing the difference between the cuts of wood or something, so I swapped JB's. Sure enough, the covered JB still sounded better. I'm not saying that it's much of a difference, but it's enough to notice after a while I think. It's funny because I never paid much attention to how pickup covers affect tone, but it's obvious that they have some degree of effect on the magnetic field..
OK, I once bought two Dimarzio Super Distortions off of Ebay. They were both brand new, but I could swear that one sounded better than the other. I had the same experience with two Custom Customs (I have a habit of buying everything in two's
). I didn't have another JB around to swap so I was wondering if it's possibly just the difference between pickups. So, what I did was unsolder the pickup cover and put it on the other JB to see if it would then sound better. My findings were that the nickel cover really does seem to enhance the tone.
Could this be the easiest, most subtle JB mod there is? It's so simple, put a nickel cover. So, I've got to ask. In your experience, do pickup covers enhance the tone?
Well to make a long story short, I noticed that the nickel covered JB sounds best. The cover seems to soften the sound a bit overall. Uncovered, the JB feels a bit dry or stiff. The cover gives it a slightly looser feel which lets it respond more naturally to my pick attack. It reminds me kind of like the difference between a pickup with rails and a pickup with pole pieces if that makes any sense.
I wondered if my ears could be deceiving me or perhaps I was hearing the difference between the cuts of wood or something, so I swapped JB's. Sure enough, the covered JB still sounded better. I'm not saying that it's much of a difference, but it's enough to notice after a while I think. It's funny because I never paid much attention to how pickup covers affect tone, but it's obvious that they have some degree of effect on the magnetic field..
OK, I once bought two Dimarzio Super Distortions off of Ebay. They were both brand new, but I could swear that one sounded better than the other. I had the same experience with two Custom Customs (I have a habit of buying everything in two's
). I didn't have another JB around to swap so I was wondering if it's possibly just the difference between pickups. So, what I did was unsolder the pickup cover and put it on the other JB to see if it would then sound better. My findings were that the nickel cover really does seem to enhance the tone.Could this be the easiest, most subtle JB mod there is? It's so simple, put a nickel cover. So, I've got to ask. In your experience, do pickup covers enhance the tone?
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