Nickel pickupcovers not matching with nickel hardware

Nickel hardware not matching

Hi my name is Gerard from Netherlands , hope im in the right section.

I've been a fan of the fat tones a long time and 1 year ago one of my relatives, who lives in USA, gifted me this Les Paul Faded 2018 (Bless his soul)
It plays and sounds like a dream, however I felt the need to customize it a little bit



After replacing some parts and adding some Virtuoso Polish I was very happy with the result. I feel blessed to have this guitar so I wanted to truly connect with it.
As you can see in the picture, i've added some nickel pickup covers because I liked it. They are, however, not matching with the other nickel hardware and looks more like chrome even though the site i bought it from said it was nickel. I'm not really familiair with any metals, so I was wondering if the colors will match after a some time because of aging or if I accidently bought nickel covers that had a difference finish?

Hope someone can help me out with this. I've put in some time in finding the right materals, so i'm excited to see the final result

I also believe that those pickup covers are chrome plated. Nickel has a more white-yellowish color and chromium has a more bluish color.

Many websites selling guitar parts are not particularly professional. They will refer to pickup covers made from nickel silver as "Nickel" covers, and other imprecise terms. i've NEVER seen a guitar parts website actually specifying which nickel silver alloy they are selling. There are at least 4 different nickel silver alloys in common use.

These days you can find nickel silver (German Silver) pickup covers made from bare nickel silver without any plating layer, nickel plated nickel silver, chrome plated nickel silver, and a few other dark colors. Some cheaper covers are also made from brass. The plating process can vary considerably with some covers using a very heavy under plating of copper underneath the nickel of chrome plating. They will use a thick copper under plating so that they don't have to polish out the scratches as well. It's a cost saving measure. However, that thick copper layer will affect the tone far more than a thin copper layer, muting the highs somewhat.

Personally I'd prefer to see pickup covers made from 316L stainless steel alloy. That alloy will polish to a mirror finish WITHOUT any plating. It is also extremely corrosion resistant. It will have even less affect on the tone than nickel silver. From what I've read, Gibson was originally planning on using stainless steel pickup covers. However, they had issues with stainless steel being more difficult to solder. Stainless steel is easy to solder if you are using the correct flux.

If you want to use a pickup cover, but don't want the tone to be affected very much, drill an additional set of 6 holes over the slugs in the 2nd pickup coil. Or buy a "rails" style pickup cover that has two long slots in it.

Scott Novak

Scott Novak said:

I also believe that those pickup covers are chrome plated ... has two long slots in it.

Scott Novak

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Hi Scott,
thank you for your detailed reply, really appreciate that!

As i'm probably gonna get annoyed by the difference in color, can you maybe show me where i can get nickel pickup covers looking like actual nickel, like the other hardware on my guitar?
The website I bought it from is actually the only guitar-part webshop (i know of) that sells covers here in Netherlands, so I'm probably gonna have to get them form out of country anyway.
Not looking for anything aged btw.

Also I was suprised to hear a small difference in tone when I added these covers, but i felt it sounded better as the tone was more balanced now. But that's just my opinion I guess

gerardjenz said:

...can you maybe show me where i can get nickel pickup covers looking like actual nickel,...

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I have NOT yet purchased anything from this company, but their product offerings look interesting:
https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Humbucker-Covers-s/2220.htm

Axesrus is located in England. They sell a variety of pickup cover styles, including 12 hole covers so that all of the pole pieces are exposed, as well as two kinds of slotted covers, covers with the tops cut out, covers with no holes, and extra deep covers for use with thicker magnets. Measure the slug spacing on your pickups to make sure that the hole spacing on the covers will match. Or just buy slotted or open covers.

They are however one of the companies referring to nickel silver or German silver as "nickel". But they do have both polished nickel and chrome finishes as well as bare unplated nickel silver covers, and reliced covers.

Do be sure to double check the color of your pickup covers against something that you know for sure is polished chrome. Nickel does change color slightly as it ages. However, the pickup covers in your photos look like chrome to me.

gerardjenz said:

Also I was suprised to hear a small difference in tone when I added these covers, but i felt it sounded better as the tone was more balanced now.

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The tonal difference is to be expected when a cover is added, because the cover has both a small amount of permeability as well as enough conductivity to cause eddy current losses. That's why many people remove the covers.

Regarding the tonal balance change, you can achieve a similar effect by turning down the treble control slightly. But I personally hear a slight improvement in clarity beyond the tonal balance change without the covers. I cut the middle out of the covers on my humbuckers in my '72 ES-335. But back then nobody offered covers that were already cut out or slotted so you had to do it yourself.

FYI, if you use pickup covers with the middle cut out, you can also add a wood veneer to the top of your pickups if you want to match the color of your guitar body. You would only need to drill holes though the veneer so that the screw pole pieces can go through. You can leave the slug pole pieces covered, as wood veneer won't have any effect on magnetic signal from the strings.

FYI, the covers of the pickups on my '72 ES-335, as well as the bridge, and the tailpiece appear to be chrome plated. However, the bracket that holds up the pickguard appears to be nickel plated and the screws that hold the strap buttons in place also appear to be nickel plated. So to anyone that wants to whinge about what is and is not period correct, mixing parts WAS period correct for the Gibson Norlin era.

Scott Novak

The most accurate repro made today are by ThroBak , a bit pricey but the right materials and the way Gibson made them in the 50's www.throbak.comhttps://www.throbak.com/paf-pickup-covers.html

You should be able to buy nickel plated covers online at a reasonable price from a reputable dealer. StewMac, Mojotone, Allparts... I'm sure there are great sources in Europe as well. I'd avoid the cheapy online places.

Scott Novak said:

I have NOT yet purchased anything from ... Gibson Norlin era.

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Thank you again, for sharing your knowledge in detail, Scott.

El Gringo said:

https://www.throbak.com/paf-pickup-covers.html

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The prices from Axesrus appeal more to me than the site El Gringo suggested. Even though the stuff Throbak sells seem really good quality, I don't want to spend 150dollars on 2 covers (right now).

Now for making the right decision on which one to buy. I believe I should get the 'Unplated' one because that way the nickel comes out gracefully when it ages and the color will match with the other hardware, right?
I can also choose between Copper/No Copper. Not sure if I really get this. Having no copper will affect the tone in a better way, but will give a slightly worse finish compared to covers that has copper? I have no idea what this means in visual and audible outcome as I have no experience seeing how both look. Basically I want a cover that matches with the rest (see photo).
Any suggestions?

gerardjenz said:

...I believe I should get the 'Unplated' one because that way the nickel comes out gracefully when it ages and the color will match with the other hardware, right? I can also choose between Copper/No Copper. Not sure if I really get this. Having no copper will affect the tone in a better way, but will give a slightly worse finish compared to covers that has copper? I have no idea what this means in visual and audible outcome as I have no experience seeing how both look. Basically I want a cover that matches with the rest....

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Watch this video to get some idea of how a magnet is affected by a low resistance metal like copper:
"Copper's Surprising Reaction to Strong Magnets | Force Field Motion Dampening"

<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; *</style> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sENgdSF8ppA

Successful plating that is durable and lasts a long time often requires an underplating to act as a barrier to prevent metal from migrating though the plating metal. Or the underplating may act as an interface between two metals that don't normally bond well to each other.

Sometimes all that is necessary is to use an extremely thin "flash" copper underplating. An extremely thin "flash" plating of copper will have very little effect on tone. Some companies might state "No Copper Plating" when they actually mean "no thick copper plating" and are in fact using an extremely thin flash copper plating under the nickel plating.

Instead of taking the time and effort to properly polish a nickel silver/German silver cover, they may instead use cheaper method and just plate a very thick layer of copper over the nickel silver/German silver to fill in any scratches or blemishes and then plate the nickel over the copper.

But a thick layer of copper is very conductive and it has a more serious reaction to magnetic fields than bare nickel silver/German silver, which has a much higher resistance than copper. A thick layer of copper underplating WILL have a noticeable effect on the tone.

Polished bare nickel silver/German silver will look similar to a nickel plated finish, but not quite the same and it may age differently.

If you are wanting a pickup cover with the least possible amount of affect on the tone, use a bare nickel silver/German silver
cover WITHOUT any plating, that either has 12 holes or slots over the adjustable pole pieces and slugs. You will likely need to polish the covers yourself.

If you want the best possible color match with a minimal amount of effect on the tone, I would get covers that were made of nickel silver/German silver, with an extremely thin flash plating of copper, with nickel plating over the copper, that either has 12 holes, or slots over the adjustable pole pieces and slugs. This would seem like the best compromise between affect on tone and aesthetics. It sounds to me that this may be your best option and I think that you would be happy with the results.

Or if you want to take matters into your own hands, you could buy bare nickel silver/German silver covers, polish the covers properly yourself, and then take them to a reputable plating company that can properly nickel plate your covers. It all depends upon how much effort you want to make. Polishing metal is very time consuming. Finding a company that is very good at plating can be difficult. This may be way more trouble than it's worth, unless you are a compulsive perfectionist.

Scott Novak

What about Crazy Parts in Germany? I got a set of their Area 51 gold cover's and really happy with them. Much closer than USA I think?
Edit: I paid 95 US $ for the pair, maybe above your price range,

maxwedge said:

What about Crazy Parts in Germany?

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Thank you! this website looks really promising.


For some reason i cant show a picture, but here's the link
http://crazyparts.de/pickup-making-parts/pickupcovers/humbucker/index.php

They look like the nickel color i need
i have 490r/490t's build in, but these covers from CrazyParts seem to be for burstbuckers. Will they still fit as they are both humbuckers? don't see any other suitable option.

Also, these covers seem to be nickel-plated. How much would this affect tone? I kinda liked the difference when I added the covers i have on now and they are nickel chrome-plated, so it probably wouldnt make a real difference right?

Should be 49.2mm but you should measure the poles to be sure. Can't comment on the sound.

Scott Novak said:

, I would get covers that we...

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I'm glad im not that much of a perfectionist, because that all sounds like a lot of work! I took your advice and bought the german silver/nickel nickel-plated covers from Axesrus. let's hope the tone doesn't get noticabely worse compared to the once I have now, but they looked good so it will probably ok.
You've been really helpful and I found this a very interesting read! i'll upload a pic when they've arrived and update on the tone

gerardjenz said:

I'm glad im not that much of a perfectionist, because that all sounds like a lot of work! I took your advice and bought the german silver/nickel nickel-plated covers from Axesrus. let's hope the tone doesn't get noticabely worse compared to the once I have now, but they looked good so it will probably ok.
You've been really helpful and I found this a very interesting read! i'll upload a pic when they've arrived and update on the tone

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I'll be very interested to hear about your experiences with the covers from Axesrus, because I'm thinking about buying from them. I haven't seen anyone else that offers the extra deep covers that they sell. I've wound some extra tall bobbins for my pickups and a normal cover isn't quite deep enough.

Scott Novak