Pickup Covers (Beware of stupid question)

UnfortunateTony · #1 08-01-2010, 08:45 PM

I see and hear all the time about pickup covers but my question is: What do they do? It seems to me like they would just get in the way. Do they add some kind of different tone? Don't hit me please.

VanillaThundah · #2 08-01-2010, 08:54 PM

I've heard that back in the day it reduced hum from lighting and other such things, but that could be total bunk...idk.

Most of the time people dig it as a jazzed up thumb rest or just for some vintage flair. I think they are cool if you want to get that "real" vintage vibe from your oldschool fender or ric basses.

**StrangerDanger** · #3 08-01-2010, 08:58 PM

They dont get in the way for me. The way I understand it they were on there originally to prevent hum from the neon lights in the clubs. I love em because of the vintage look and they provide a great anchor for my thumb. There is no tonal effect as far as I know.

svtb15 · #4 08-01-2010, 09:00 PM

Remember the cars from back then.. All that CHROME .... I think it was just ornament... Any old bass that i have played is not more or less noisy either way. Chrome on Chrome off.

Although the bridge cover did come standard with foam inside to mute the strings... I remember my first Fender bass .. as soon as it got home the chrome came off as did the Flat Wounds and Rotosounds Rounds went on.. Had to make it playable,,,
Now people are going back to Flats and Mute tones.. Well have been the past few years.. Its the trendy thing these days..

troy mcclure · #5 08-01-2010, 09:03 PM

I am no expert but wouldn't they keep dirt/dust out of the windings?

Shadi · #6 08-01-2010, 09:35 PM

Early '1st version' precision basses, and even my early 1968 Telecaster bass has a ground wire running from the pickup lead to one of the screws on the pickup 'ashtray' cover. It was, as some of the others have said, thought that the pickup cover would shield against neon type lighting...it helps very little....the bridge cover had the foam mute. So they originally had a function, then became more aesthetic.

Pilgrim · #7 08-02-2010, 11:18 AM

The original thought (untested by experience) was that they would prevent RF and other interference from interfering with the pickups.

Of course they don't, and the manufacturers quickly recognized this. As noted above, the bridge cover was/is a great place to hide a foam strip which acted as a mute on the strings. I still have the foam from my '63 P bridge cover.

And they look mega-cool, so I use them on any bass they fit.

stiles72 · #8 08-02-2010, 11:27 AM

The cover or "bell" on a P-bass pup also forces you to pluck either closer to the bridge, or closer to the neck. You can't just pluck right over the pup like most P-players do. Playing either way gives you different tones and feels out of the bass. I've always wondered if the bell also somehow affects the magnetic field or response of the pickup...

Paul M · #9 08-02-2010, 11:32 AM

The covers do affect the tone in as much as they limit where you can pluck the strings.

I love the look of them but I only keep the bridge cover on the P-bass because it only covers a small area very close to the saddles where I wouldn't pluck any way. I can still get close enough to the bridge for a bright sound. But the pickup cover is right where I often want to pluck.

The covers on a Jazz look even better but I rarely play with either of them on because they cover too much string and I often want to pluck close to the bridge.

Somebody will probably mention that Marcus Miller likes to use the pickup cover as a place to rest his wrist.

BigOldHarry · #10 08-02-2010, 11:45 AM

Many years ago, it became fashionable for Les Paul players to remove the chrome covers on their humbuckers - somehow this was suppose to make them sound better, but I think it just made their guitar look less "nice" and more "rock and roll". Now it's more common for humbuckers to be fully exposed...

That notion never really took off on bass. I think it's mostly aesthetics.

billiam5billion · #11 08-02-2010, 03:00 PM

I use my J bridge cover to rest my heel when I'm picking and my pup cover for a thumbrest. Also, the bridge cover prevents fraying and tearing by the bridge on the inside of a gig bag.

And of course, they look cool. Chrome rules.

SurferJoe46 · #12 08-02-2010, 10:02 PM

Pretty? - Yes.

Functional? - Debatable.

Get in the way? - Totally!

I mute with the meaty side of my hand right where the ashtrays go and I love to pluck right over the p'ups.

So if my bass had them - it wouldn't.

Pilgrim · #13 08-02-2010, 10:51 PM

So far I've never had covers get in the way - so I use them on all the basses I can fit with them. It all depends on the player's technique.

John Ruiz · #14 08-03-2010, 01:29 PM

What SurferJoe46 said.

walterw · #15 08-03-2010, 10:12 PM

my understanding is that leo fender didn't want his players fooling with any of the settings on his instruments, so he hid all the adjustable parts under covers.

look at the first successful solidbody, the tele (broadcaster). the bridge and bridge pickup were under a cover, the neck pickup had its height crews hidden by the pickguard, hell, the truss rod was hidden away inside the neck pocket.

he honestly thought that the guitars would never need adjustment, and folks would just send them back to the factory if they did.

SMILEYSIXX · #16 08-04-2010, 07:04 AM

One old wive's tale I heard was that they affected the magnetic fields of pickups. The idea is that the metal was the polar opposite of the field that the pickups put out and inverted the field back toward the strings and into the pickups to amplify the sound. From the story I heard, that was the functionality of a pickups cover and the bridge cover was primarily to house the mutes.

I put covers on my P-bass simply for the vintage look and noticed no difference in sound quality.

sonicfantom · #17 08-05-2010, 06:38 AM

Awesome looking.

They're a pain when you play, but I find they make good thumb rests when playing with fingers, and the bridge cover makes a nice arm rest when picking.

Just had a thought. What would happen if you put a reverse-wound (therefore out of phase, and therefore in-phase due to the movement of the string) pickup on the other side of the strings to the normal pickup?

Gord_oh · #18 08-05-2010, 06:43 AM

i just think they look purdy...

PJSShearer · #19 08-05-2010, 09:44 AM

My 1973 P came with the ashtrays over the pup and the bridge (with the mute under the bridge cover) and the finger rest was positioned below the g string.

Back in the day (early '60s onwards) you would pluck the strings with the thumb and anchor the plucking hand by hooking your fingers against the finger rest or "Tug Bar" as some people called it. This would then position your forearm over the strings and so the Pickup cover was there to stop you catching your jacket sleeve and/or cufflink in the strings!!.

joeyl · #20 08-05-2010, 11:21 AM

are you talking about the pickup covers that cover the pickup itself or the chrome "ashtray" covers that go over the strings and the pickup? I believe some posters here are confused. I think you are talking about the ashtrays though