Re: newbie ? about pup covers
Welcome to the board Maxwell. I'm not sure about the pickup cover you are looking at on ebay, but the standard way to attach a cover is to put it on very tight (some clamp it down with a small vise type plier (with somehting soft on the ends so you don't scratch the cover) and then apply a bit of solder to the edges in the middle (not the ends by where you attach it to the guitar.
If you are going to play a lot of Hi Gain stuff, you really ought to have it wax potted. Call the Seymour Duncan custom shop and ask for MJ. You might have to leave a message but she will call you back.
They can wax pot it for you and attach a cover for a very reasonable charge. I don't know exactly what they get for that operation, but if you're a high gain player, the wax potting will keep your pup from squeeling like a stuck pig. Wax potting means that they essentiallly dip the pickup in hot wax and let all the air bubbles work their way out. This way, there are no air gaps between the cover and the pickup. No gaps, not microphonics, no squeeling.
Wax potting is not mandatory. Just pretty helpful. The old original Gibson pups were not wax potted. But they made sure the covers were pushing down pretty tightly against the top of the pickup before soldering them on. Some people feel that the lack of wax potting adds a bit of a hollow tone to old vintage pups. THe Seth Lover model and the Antiquties that Duncan makes are not wax potted unless the customer specially orders it. I have a set of each and mine have never been squeelers, but I don't play high gain stuff.
MJ will even put on a set of covers for you for a small fee. That way you dont' have to worry about putting too much solder on it. If you do it yourself, just use a tiny bit, minimal amount is best. You don't want hot solder dripping down inside the pickup and ruining it.
