Pickup cover install question ...

[lopxtc]

To those of you with pickup covers on your j-bass or p-bass, how hard where they to get installed? Im fairly handy with tools, but wanted to know how you all did them?

I was figuring mark for pilot holes, drill pilot holes, and then screw in pickup guards. Anyone do anything different? Also what size screws do they require so I can get some picked up.

Thanks,

Aaron

[Phalex]

I ordered one, and when I was laying it out, I noticed it was about 1/2" too short. I ended up sending it back and just getting a thumb rest. Check your string height before you commit!

[Delberthot]

I bought mine - checked with a picture that they were in the correct positions - marked the screw positions with a pencil - removed the covers - drilled the holes - used pickguard screws to screw them in - done

[SamTheButcher]

What those above said.
There really is no way to measure from any point on the bass, you have to eyeball it. Look at a lot of pictures. You'll see that there are slight placement variations even from the factory. That made me feel better about possibly not getting it 'exact'. The only things I did different than already stated is I put that blue painters tape on the bass in the general area where the bridge cover screws would go, to keep the cover from scratching the bass while I shifted the cover around Drilling into the tape first will help prevent chipping the finish when drilling. The tape also helped because my Jazz is dark and pencil didn't show very well.
Also, my bridge cover had kind of a rough lip on it, i filed it down a little, but I found this black rubber pipe wrap at Lowes, it's about 1/32" thick with removeable cellophane on the slightly sticky side. I stuck that to the cover and trimmed the excess off to make a cusion so it wouldn't mark up the bass.



Good Luck with it!
Let us know how it comes out.

[Jazzdogg]

When I bought a new P bass in '73 it didn't take long before I decided to remove the "ashtrays" that were covering both the bridge and the pickups.

Why are you guys adding ashtrays to your basses? Is it because of the way they look, or because they change the sound in some way you find appealing?

[lopxtc]

For me its strictly looks, aside from being able to add a small piece of foam for a muting effect. Im kind of a jazz/blues player and the look is quite nice. Not to mention that I dont play slap, and I play almost exclusively between the pickups so they dont bother my positioning.

Im going to post pics of mine when I am done tomorrow.

Aaron

[SamTheButcher]

Originally Posted by Jazzdogg

When I bought a new P bass in '73 it didn't take long before I decided to remove the "ashtrays" that were covering both the bridge and the pickups.

Why are you guys adding ashtrays to your basses? Is it because of the way they look, or because they change the sound in some way you find appealing?

I did it for the look, or the " vintage vibe", so to speak. I like the way they look, especially on a Jazz, though the reality is about 75% of the time I play with 'em off. I'm in my mid 40's, started playing bass about 6 years ago. Seen alot of Jazzes and P's with covers as I was growing up.

Just wanted to do it.

To be honest, I don't feel I'm a good enough player to have "earned" them. IMO, they look alot better than I can play. I put them on from time to time, then take them off after a little while.

Someday I'll earn my badges.

The only way they change the sound is that when they're on obviously you can't play exactly over the neck or bridge pup, you gotta play in between the two covers, or when the song calls for it, at the end of the neck. So if you're a "thumb anchored" fingerstyle type of player, and if this matters, with the chrome covers on, you lose two anchor points (thumb on neck pup, thumb on bridge pup), but you gain another point you didn't have before (thumb on chrome cover, plucking in between covers). I tend to use what I've seen here on TB called the 'floating thumb' technique, so it doesn't really matter to me. If I have the covers on and I want more 'bite' (as in playing over the bridge pup), I'll eq in more mids and/or drive and roll off the neck pickup alittle, if I want more of a neck pup sound, I'll play between the neck and neck pup cover, roll off the bridge pup volume, and/or add a little more bass eq.

As always, YMMV.