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bridge and pickup covers, function?

I like the covers on. I've always had them on my P-bass. I find that it allows to hook your thumb onto something thats farther out from the body than the pickup if you're playing by the bridge. I also rest my palm on the pickup cover as I play up by the neck so I can play like The Hook.

On the bridge, I like putting a mute under there, or getting an easy way to palm mute.

On several of my P-basses, I've got the jazz bass pickup cover on there. It makes the bass easier to slap, for me, and I put my palm on it when I pick.

The only cover I use on my jazz basses is the pickup cover so I have something to slap with, and to have a rest for my thumb.
 
Hey there,

i own a great 69 Jazz Bass with old PickUps.

My Problem is, when i hit my my distortion i catch a lot of agressiv phasing drums in the pickups...

I wonder if the Pick-up covers would take away interfering noise or if they are useless.

Optics are not that imporatant for, i dont believe in adding more 'vintage bla' and if its necessary i would work on my picking style.

The only Point is: Do they really clean up my signal?

Does anybody have concrete experiences with that?

Thx & regards :)
- Alex , germany

www.facebook.com/WeAreShotgun
www.youtube.com/WeAreShotgun
 
I love theses covers. The best thumbrest we can imagine. Watch Jamerson on youtube. The right hand is completely free hanging on the covers removing the tension in the wrist so the index and ring finger can play faster , and back and forth. I writed about that in others threads, it changed my way of playing.
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Plus I love the look.
 
Well, here we go again.;)

As someone here old enough to have bought a 70s P bass when they came with covers, let me chime in. Back in the day, the first thing one did when you got home with a new Fender was take those awful things off! With a P bass, yes, I found they got in the way. I can't imagine a J bass with that huge rear cover over both the bridge and rear pick-up.

As for their function, I recall reading somewhere that Leo Fender thought that they helped in blocking RF interference but the prevailing wisdom is that they were a matter of aesthetics and meant to pretty up the "guts" of the mechanism.

Its amusing in this age of "what's old is new again" that covers have made a resurgence in popularity.:rollno:
Yeah I laugh to myself at the resurgence in popularity of covers. First thing we did back in the day was take those suckers off the minute we got the darn thing home.
 
I like the covers on the P-bass. Hate 'em on the Jazz.

The only bass I've owned with a pup cover was my Ric. Couldn't get that thing off fast enough. Now I'm putting together a P-bass with a MIJ '57 RI body, which came with the covers. I want to keep them on because I like the look, but we'll see how I take to it playing-wise.
 
Yeah I laugh to myself at the resurgence in popularity of covers. First thing we did back in the day was take those suckers off the minute we got the darn thing home.
For me it is not a fashion, it is a functionality. Now I have a hard time playing on a bass that it was removed. Sorry but we don't have all the same technique of playing and it is ok like this. The reason why I keep it is because I use it.
 
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I like the covers on the P-bass. Hate 'em on the Jazz.

The only bass I've owned with a pup cover was my Ric. Couldn't get that thing off fast enough. Now I'm putting together a P-bass with a MIJ '57 RI body, which came with the covers. I want to keep them on because I like the look, but we'll see how I take to it playing-wise.
Check my posts. On the jazz it work too except if your in Jaco mood, some buddies keep only the pu cover.
 
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I love the look of bridge and pickup covers, I think they are still supplied with the new MIA fenders unfixed

Is there scientific (like increased pickup performance etc)

or functional (like thumbresting!) reason for these?

Also I know players used to remove them due to feeling they got in the way, any views on this side of things also?

May be a dumb set of questions, but id love to know as never have
Usually the mute was glued in on the bridge cover, other than that it was an aesthetic thing.
 
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It's the first thing people yank off a Ric bass. Hall spouts some nonsense about them providing shielding, but they are just plastic with a whiff of chrome coating, not a mixture notable for shielding properties. They look cool, like somebody else said, similar to the chrome bumpers and hood ornaments typical of the 50's and 60's when these basses were invented. I love how a Jazz looks with them on, but the pup cover in particular would drive me crazy.
 
I sometimes use mine as a handrest (obviously). I forget, until this time of the year comes, how cold that steel is when you first fire up. As to function (probably already mentioned), the steel horseshoe used to be magnetized. Then, (because of Tungsten cost and availability) they moved the magnets to the pickup itself.

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The new Ric will get there eventually.

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