Can I color these pickup coils?

[Dave Locher]

I have three Bill & Becky Lawrence L500 pickups in two guitars and I love them except the coils seem to be covered with green tape or cloth. It's not so bad on this guitar but the other one has a red casing, and when I look down it's like Christmas in July.
Can I use some India ink or black paint to carefully cover where the green shows without ruining my pickups.
The Wilde pickups are glued together so I can't just remove the bezel and tape over the green.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

I'm wondering if thats not tarnish on the copper tape.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

No, I bought them all brand new within the past two years. It is hard to see in the photo but it is the same light green as masking tape.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

I am trying to figure out what that green actually is. Does it come off? Is it just the color of the tape? Tarnish?

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

I'm wondering if thats not tarnish on the copper tape.

That would be my guess too

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

It is the tape they use. Definitely NOT tarnish. The pickups arrived bright green when new.
It does not show to anyone except the person playing the guitar. When I look down while playing, this is what I see. Kind of spoils the black & cream or black & red color scheme of the two guitars. But it's a VERY minor problem
My new thought is to put a little black silicone sealant in that crevice?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

Could you take the pickup out, and replace the tape with black tape? Or wind black tape around the green?

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

If it were me (and it’s not! lol) I’d just leave it alone.

 

[posite63]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

I'd take a rattle can of black paint to it. Don't bother removing the strings or anything, hold the can about 10" away from the body and point the nozzle in the vicinity of the offending green spot. Bam, problem solved. The black will look a lot more natural.

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

I'd take a rattle can of black paint to it. Don't bother removing the strings or anything, hold the can about 10" away from the body and point the nozzle in the vicinity of the offending green spot. Bam, problem solved. The black will look a lot more natural.

Sent from my LG-H830 using Tapatalk

Excellent advice! Wait, is that...sarcasm??

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

Could you take the pickup out, and replace the tape with black tape? Or wind black tape around the green?

No can do. These pickups are built like the Dimebucker - glued together in a plastic surround. (Actually, the Dimebucker is built like the L500s, which came first by a decade or two, but that's another story.)

I know I can just ignore this, but it would be nice to get rid of that flash of green in otherwise cool looking pickups.

Come to think of it, my old Wilde/Lawrence pickups showed copper in that nook. I cannot imagine why they switched to green insulation?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

Then, maybe your india ink idea is a good one...go to the craft store and get a really thin, tiny brush...

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

If color made a guitar sound good, these relic jobs wouldn't even stay in tune. Just play the damn thing.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

If color made a guitar sound good, these relic jobs wouldn't even stay in tune. Just play the damn thing.

I thought you left here?

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

I thought you left here?

Only here for a minute or two.
What do you care?

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

If color made a guitar sound good, these relic jobs wouldn't even stay in tune. Just play the damn thing.

True. But I built both of these guitars to look, feel, and sound the way I want them to and this is the last little detail.
Like I said before, this is a VERY minor complaint, but every time I sit down to play I'm staring right at that bright green and it's just about my least favorite color.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

That green isn’t really my favorite color either but I think that pickup looks pretty cool with it showing like that. Idk.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

Don't look at it...or get used to it. Those are my real suggestions.

As for my suggestions that enable your condition:

If you want to paint them, I wouldn't use India ink. It's a mess, it has trouble sticking to and covering some materials, and it's relatively difficult to clean up. Use a paint instead. Something thicker, that can more easily be wiped or scraped from the areas where you don't want it. I would be tempted to try black acrylic paint (for art painters) or alcohol-based acrylic model paint, applied with a flat-sided, short-bristled hobby brush.

Here is a hint from model building: You might think that matte paint is the best black to use for painting holes, but gloss is generally better. It will appear as a darker, richer black, and it will obscure more of the detail, texture, and shape that you don't want seen. Matte black will show more detail, texture, and shape, and will read more as a very dark gray than as a pure black.

Acrylic paint should easily scrape off with a fingernail if you get some on the bobbins or the surrounding ring.

It used to be that Gunze-Sangyo was a great alcohol based model paint, but I don't know if it's still around, and it was quite the specialty item – hard to find in the days before the Internet, when I was using it. For your purposes, Tamiya model paint works fine, and it will probably be much easier to find in a local shop.

Tamiya paint: https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-Acrylic-Paint-Gloss-81501/dp/B0069FPPVE

The type of brush I'm talking about: https://www.amazon.com/Tamiya-Mediu...d=1530121854&sr=1-7&keywords=hobby+brush+flat

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

Thank you for an actual answer to my question, ItsaBass.
I think you are right on with thick, gloss black paint. What I don't want is to get moisture into the coils themselves. I may try it on one pickup and if all goes well then worry about the other two. Or...I may just long for the days when what you saw was a glimpse of copper instead and just ignore it. (The vintage one is black and that glimpse of copper really looks cool with the chrome blades and surround.)

Yes, I am shallow and hung up on appearances. Always have been. It's why I customize or custom-build pretty much everything in my life.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Can I color these pickup coils?

Perhaps its OCD...I completely understand wanting to cover up the green. Does it affect the tone at all? Not intrinsically. But if it affects you then it is in one way or another affecting the overall guitar playing. I don't see it as shallow (I'm a stickler for color combos myself.)

I would second trying on one pickup first...with a steady careful hand and a very fine brush.