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Does the covering on covered humbuckers help stop some hum and buzz?

WhoFan

I've never noticed a big difference, but they are grounded and will act like sheilding.


Originally Posted by Robert S.I've never noticed a big difference, but they are grounded and will act like sheilding.

Ya i was wondering..... I have noisey and quiet humnuckers with and without covers. But i always thought the cover would help stop extra noise.....

Whofan

Do the covers make a differnce, even slightly, is it auditory noticable, because the hotness of my pups (DD) is a huge part of my tone. I want to cover them for looks and bcause of noise? Will this help, or hurt more?

I would seriously doubt if 95% of players/music fans who heard an A/B of the SAME pup (covered vs having cover removed) in the SAME guitar through the SAME amp with the SAME settings could tell any difference. (And I think I'm being generous with saying that 5% COULD tell the difference).

Get either covered or uncovered, whatever suits your taste in looks the most, and play. That's my advice.


Originally Posted by Jeff_HI would seriously doubt if 95% of players/music fans who heard an A/B of the SAME pup (covered vs having cover removed) in the SAME guitar through the SAME amp with the SAME settings could tell any difference. (And I think I'm being generous with saying that 5% COULD tell the difference).

I understand that the covers used today are supposed to be very quot;transparentquot;, but back in the 60's and 70's one of the guitar fads was to remove the covers from your humbuckers, and it really seemed to increase the output a little bit, for a rawer rock sound.

FWIW when DiMarzio and SD started selling aftermarket humbuckers, most of them were uncovered, presumably so that we could hear the quot;pure tonesquot; of the pickups we just bought.

I think that with the covers off you can get the pickups a little bit closer to the strings, without having them hit anything.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but just wondering if there was a different metal used for the hb covers back in the 60's and 70's, a metal that wasn't as transparent as what is used today.

It's an interesting question Blueguitar, and one which may not have a definative answer. I have book called quot;50 Years Of The Gibson Les Paulquot;, and there is a small section about Seth Lovers humbucker design that mentions the covers. Here is what it says:

quot;Additional screening for Gibson's original humbucking pickup was provided by a metal cover, as Lover explained. 'The cover helps shield away electrostatic noises from flourescent lamps and so forth,' he said. 'I needed a material with high resistance so it wouldn't affect the high frequency response, and I considered non-magnetic stainless steel. But you can't solder to it. German silver has high resistance, and you could solder to it, so I used that.' quot;

I can certainly see it acting as a shield, but with wax potting today I wonder what real difference even that makes anymore? I think the point that you can move the pup a little closer to the strings without the cover is valid, and that may allow for certain frequencies to be accentuated. It's a lot of fun playing around with the small differences for sure.

Cheers.