• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Pickup cover on a P bass question.

#82
i'm about to build a 60s style p bass with covers, and it made me realize something when i took into consideration the effects of the covers. it'll actually let me pick! you can rest your palm on the pickup cover and pick there. i've wanted to pick, but it's too ugly sounding when i can only do it at the bridge on my jazz bass.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jason151
#84
I've been playing around with foam mutes under the strings near the bridge on my Standard Tele P. Just wondering how the mute works with the pickup cover. While the cover looks pretty cool, I'm not sure I'd like it as I use the PU as a thumb rest and tend to play over that zone. Still interested in how it works.

FenderTeleP-bass.png​
 
#85
A
JimmyM said:
First thing to go when I got my 76 Precision new at age 16 were the covers. My parents tried to talk me into keeping them because they liked the shiny, but I couldn't stand the restricted access.
Click to expand...

Absolutely, they also limit the different in tone qualities you can get playing finger style, by placing your fingers above, below, or right over the pickups There are a lot of different sounds avaliable with the covers removed that you cannot get when their installed. Leo was probably more concerned with the 60 cycle hum, that older tube amps would create in an auditorium with banks of flood lights and those massive rheostats they used to control them. That does often happen with a Fender Bassman. My Ampeg B-15 seems to be more resistant to 60 Cycle hum but it can happen with those amps as well. Just my take.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: JimmyM
#87
I had covers on my Precision for a while but eventually took them off because I like playing directly over the pickup. It depends on the context but to me, directly over the pickup is the sweet spot where I find a good balance of articulation and bloom/thump in my sound.

I play closer to the neck or bridge as well when the situation calls for it, and the cover didn't limit that at all.

I think if you don't miss the tone of plucking directly over the pickup then you can absolutely get used to the cover.

B29648F6-8100-4AA7-B2E3-EBA664A00A40.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ric Vice and Jason151
#90
I think there is a practical reason for why they went the way of the dinosaur in most cases. But like a vestigial organ, some just stick around because they don't make the bass unplayable. What about the ones that cover the bridge? I see less of those it seems.
 
#92
As a teenager couldn't wait to remove them. I like the idea of resting my hand on the cover while using a pick on the fretboard side, but prefer finger-plucking on or right next to the pickup so I just never put it on and rarely use a pick anyway. I have a pickup cover new in the bag that I've had for years and every time I go to install it figure I'll be at a gig and want to remove it. Don't know why I still have it.
 
#95
What I liked most about a pickup cover was that it keeps your hands completely off the pickup when you play, limiting the random noise that can come from that. The downside was you have to take it off every time you adjust the pickup height.

I've never used the bridge cover on any P or J. When you adjust your string heights as frequently as I do, you just don't want to deal with it that much. Not many aftermarket bridges accommodate the use of the covers, anyway, and it's one more thing to bother with in changing strings, which is bothersome enough without it.

If you don't mind the trade-offs, there's no harm in using them. Having tried it already, I do not place much value upon them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jason151
#96
iiipopes said:
Hmpf. Forgive my scepticism, because he did play a couple of chords on his Martin guitar, but I will only concede to, "Here's a photo of Elvis Presley posing with a P bass."
Click to expand...
Apparently Elvis loved bass, and would play it any chance he could. There's the famous story of when the Beatles visited Graceland and they were sitting around jamming, Elvis insisted on playing the pbass! I expect he was able to play in a serviceable fashion by that point.
 
#99
For $15 for a PU cover, I'd encourage you to try one and see if it works for you - you never know.

I just acquired a P that came w/ the PU cover installed. I like the "vintage" look.
Thought I'd try leaving it on, but it wasn't working for me - too many years without to start now.
(Although I now have the bridge cover on all my Ps, now that the Badass bridges are gone.)

I had the PU cover on my Jazz briefly 30 years ago – probably influenced by Will Lee.
I don't remember it being a hindrance, but I played closer to the bridge back then.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jason151

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back