Rehousing SSB-4s?

[lborl]

I recently got a set of these for my old Ibanez ICB300, as the stock DX4s it comes with are a little too polite. I hadn't realised until they arrived through the letterbox how much smaller the Duncans would be compared to the originals: lengthwise they're about 1.5cm shorter. I'm also not mad keen on having manufacturers logos written all over everything so I bought a set of wooden pickup covers that will fit the space slightly better - I'll actually have to sand the edges a bit to bring them down to the correct size. The idea is obviously to rehouse the Duncans in the new covers.

But to do that I have to transplant the innards of the SSB-4s, which are set with some kind of epoxy. What's worse, you can only access the edge of each one because the glued-on baseplate covers all the rest of it. Has anyone ever managed to do this, say with a cheap hairdryer and a craft knife? Or am I chasing a fool's errand?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Rehousing SSB-4s?

Welcome to the forum!

Wow, cool bass! There are a few guitar pickups that are glued together, too. SD recommends that they don't get disassembled. I am not sure about these particular bass pickups, but hang tight and we will try to get someone in here to answer this definitively for you. BTW, I've used Brasso to remove the logos if you don't like them. Also, each pickup has a link on their own product page with the exact dimensions in case you were ever wondering about another bass.

EDIT: I have since learned that the covers are indeed, epoxied on, and it is not recommended to try to remove them.

 

[lborl]

Re: Rehousing SSB-4s?

Hi, thanks for replying so quickly. I thought I'd posted a follow-up but it seems to have gotten lost somehow so I'll try to write it again:

I can understand how it isn't recommended to try to take these covers off, but just for information what's the worst-case scenario if I wanted to try it anyway? There's a few products that claim to be able to dissolve epoxy resin that I appreciate would probably dissolve the plastic cover as well, but I already have replacement covers so that's not necessarily a problem. I'm not planning to resell them or anything. I guess my question is, is it likely to destroy the bobbin or the pickup windings inside?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Rehousing SSB-4s?

That is essentially the warning...the coil can be destroyed, or at least some wire ripped out. Honestly, I've never tried this, but maybe someone here has tried this with any of our other pickups. Worst case, the pickup comes apart, and you have to go to plan B.