Do pickup covers affect tone?

[gueorgues]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

Well, I was talking about such covers (with 12 holes) http://www.thomann.de/gb/schaller_170b.htm , so actually the poles will be uncovered. I guess it will not affect tone at all. I will see what is going to happen as I try on both with and without covers.

[Jeff5]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

As you can see from the varied responses on this thread, opinions are split =). You'll read that elsewhere as well. Your best bet is to just experiment and let your ears decide.

[nimrod217]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

It says right in the manual for my Les Paul that uncovered pickups result in a hotter signal.

[TSE]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

Just think of it as covers being about as affective on your tone as rolling your tone knob on your guitar back from 10 to 8-ish. And a slight bit on your volume too.

[gueorgues]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

well, thanks alot guys. I will let you know what happened when I make the change.

[Chickenwings]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

Yes. Covers reduce noise from interference, but they also roll off a little of the punch and top end. It just comes down to preference.

[SirJackdeFuzz]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

Looks like even Harmonic Design PU's believe so !

http://www.harmonicdesign.net/allpages/gibsons.html

" Double-black Humbuckers (Open Coils) have a slightly deeper and brighter range, with stronger harmonics (works well with our paper and oil tone cap). "

" The Nickle or Gold covered version is slightly milder all around, with a more rounded treble. These roughly match the output of a McCarty or loud PAF pickup, but with our fatter and more expressive tone. Use with our paper and oil tone cap for an even smoother treble, or our 'orange' tone cap to extend the brightness. "

[ACH91332]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

I have noticed that on a Tele neck pickup with the cover you cant get harmonics on the 5th fret. Am I wrong???

Most stock Tele necks are dark as hell sounding. I wouldn't doubt it killing your harmonic response because of all the high end and upper mids being rolled off. If you don't want to buy a new pickup try taking it out and breaking the connection between the cover and the magnet or baseplate. It'll make it sound like a Strat pickup but you will get a hotter signal and open things up. You'll get those harmonics. I did this on one of my Teles.

[Brown Note]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

You can test wether the cover does anything to the sound or not: does magnet stick to it. If it does then there is a *possibility* of difference, if not then there will be no difference. This applies to every material used; doesn't matter if it is a metal alloy or plastic.

[Despair]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

You can test wether the cover does anything to the sound or not: does magnet stick to it. If it does then there is a *possibility* of difference, if not then there will be no difference. This applies to every material used; doesn't matter if it is a metal alloy or plastic.

Not entirely true, induction effects can generate a magnetic field in metal alloys that aren't magnetic by themselves, which is why metal pickguards and pickup rings can be a problem for some players. Also, electric shielding effects can have an impact on high frequencies and presence (or just hiss).

Whether it's enough to bother a particular player, only that player can answer. Also, tone changes aren't automatically a bad thing, they could be an improvement. Matter of taste...

[Diocletian]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

I have the same pups, C5's and '59n's with and without covers in similar Les Pauls... I can hardly tell a difference. I think any difference can be compensated with your tone knobs or EQ settings. But like I said, the difference is very minor and no adjusmtent will be necessary. I don't think your audience will be able to tell the difference, nor would they be "oh, he would have sounded much better if he only had nickel covers on those pickups"...

So anyways, IMO, its cosmetic. Get what you want, the tone will still be there. If not, you can always remove/add covers.

This.

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

The cover materials don't have to be magnetic to affect the tone. (In fact, if the cover materials WERE magnetic, they would make the pickup louder and brighter.) Take an uncovered pickup and wrap some copper shielding tape around it and ground the tape. You will notice it's duller and a little quieter. It's an eddie current thing as Uopt has been saying.

Not as far as I know. Chrome covers don't really, because they're not ferromagnetic metal. Neither is gold. I have heard that the soldering is what changes the tone, although I wouldn't know. I used a cheat to affix chrome covers to my pups, without solder.

[super rad stuff]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

for the most part, the covers won't affect the tone because whenever people put them on, they usually raise the adjustable screws out a couple turns to make the height match look-wise, cancelling out the rounding of the high end from the cover. the high end will be ever-so-slightly-rounder, and that's about it.

[post toastie]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

hmmm.

i'm gonna go an entirely different route with this.

my thought is that without covers you get more of a hollow body sound. in my uncovered guitars i find that when played without amplification, you can hear the notes bouncing out of the cavity. a very wooden sound. not exactly a true hollow body sound, but definitely setting out in that direction.

i must say that this is just my impression. a theory if you will, because once i plug up, i tends to go off...and not get back to the original thought.

also once plugged up, it may not matter too much, but technically, yes, i think covers make a difference.

[Benjy_26]

Re: Do pickup covers affect tone?

No, I was saying that even when both the magnet and the metal object are placed directly against the material (where the magnetic field will be at its strongest) there will be interference. Adding distance increases the interference by weakening the magnetic pull even more.

Unless you set up your pickups to where the poles are flush with the flatwork and the pickup itself is kissing the strings, your argument holds no water. Plastic is non-conductive.