Great for a wall-hanger ( love the look!) but can't abide them on a player - my hand needs to wander around (on autopilot) to get the right harmonic content...
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Yet another P bass thread....this time about covers.
- Thread starter Andy Daventry
- Start date
I love the look , especially the Pickup Covers.
I am surprised Marcus Miller has always used his on his Jazz bass..
I do find it an impedance to all playing styles
I am surprised Marcus Miller has always used his on his Jazz bass..
I do find it an impedance to all playing styles
I don't like them on while playing. The pickup cover is right where I play ~90% of the time. I play from over the neck to the bridge but around the pickup most of time.
The bridge cover gets in the way of palm muting.
The bridge cover gets in the way of palm muting.
In 1969 I took the covers off my P bass when I got it home and put them in a bag, there they shall stay.
To me they serve no useful purpose and are a hindrance to the way I play.
To me they serve no useful purpose and are a hindrance to the way I play.
My '68 has the bridge cover on, but that's because it has flats, and I have the mute in the bridge. My '88 has no covers as I mainly use that for rock.
Based on the photos James Jamerson managed to work within whatever constraints they can impose. Personally I like switching up the look of my basses: sometimes I keep 'em on, sometimes I take 'em off. I also have 5 different pickguards that all see active duty at different times.
In the old position it's a tug bar that you hook your fingers under when plunking the strings with your thumb. (Not my style either but I left it on.)
I keep the bridge cover on my P-basses just for aesthetics reasons (I liked their look), although, in effect, it can be effectively used for muting the strings.
The pickup cover is nothing but a major hindrance to me.
The pickup cover is nothing but a major hindrance to me.
D
The covers have no practical purpose whatsoever except:
1) The bridge cover can be used to install a foam mute (but this can be done in other ways too).
2) The pickup cover may give some protection for the slightly more fragile pickup in the older single coil 51'style P-basses. Of course the pickup isn't really THAT fragile and doesn't really need protection if you treat your bass properly but that's probably why it's there. Or to put it another way: If the first P-bass was a '57 split coil I doubt it would ever have been designed with a pickup cover at all.
The covers can have unwanted effects on the sound though. It can vary a lot from cover to cover but some of them can make a very audible "PING" at certain notes. The covers that have a high pitched "ping" when tapping them are usually the worst. I always try to find covers that are "tuned" to lower pitch to minimize this problem. I still always take off the covers when recording. They only do bad things for the sound. But I keep them on when playing live because I think they look cool.
1) The bridge cover can be used to install a foam mute (but this can be done in other ways too).
2) The pickup cover may give some protection for the slightly more fragile pickup in the older single coil 51'style P-basses. Of course the pickup isn't really THAT fragile and doesn't really need protection if you treat your bass properly but that's probably why it's there. Or to put it another way: If the first P-bass was a '57 split coil I doubt it would ever have been designed with a pickup cover at all.
The covers can have unwanted effects on the sound though. It can vary a lot from cover to cover but some of them can make a very audible "PING" at certain notes. The covers that have a high pitched "ping" when tapping them are usually the worst. I always try to find covers that are "tuned" to lower pitch to minimize this problem. I still always take off the covers when recording. They only do bad things for the sound. But I keep them on when playing live because I think they look cool.
I like them on my Precision. I usually pluck before the pickup. Sometimes closer to the bridge if I need to.
I had the cover / ashtray on the pictures Jazz. I’m too far all over the place on that bass to justify keeping them on.
I have 5 precisions. Both covers will be found on 2 of them. Why? When I started out eons ago this was the norm. Secondarily they look good. Classic. Other 3 P's have covers removed. I do not find the covers get in the way. (I guess mostly we are talking about the PU cover) I just play finger style on either side of the PU cover. You soon forget its there and just focus on thr music.
I'm adding both covers to see how I like them because I like the look. The bridge cover will house the occasional mute, and I'm going to see how I like anchoring my thumb and/or fingers on the pickup cover. As for the original intent, I'd say, as many people have in this thread, that the covers are purely aesthetic, but many people found uses for them after the fact. Function following form rather than the other way around.
True, the covers are not a Faraday Cage since they do not create a continuous shield.
The first thing I do when getting a new bass is take the covers off, they get in the way, I will pluck anywhere from right next to the bridge all the way to the neck depending on the sound I want. I think they look cool especially on a Jazz bass but nope off and thrown in the case where they stay.
The original P bass had a wire from the pickup cover to ground as it came from the factory and on the aluminum pickguard model and the aluminum shield behind the pickguard model the pickup cover was connected to ground via the cover screws contacting the aluminum if installed properly.
However they still were not a Faraday Cage due to the gaps in coverage.
