suggestions for pickup cover material

[pickupjunkie]

After doing tons of looking for unique pickup covers I see there is a limited supply of diversity. Sooooo I spoke with the machinist where I work and he says its a simple matter for him to build a die and they have a 400 ton punch press for making these kinds of items. My question is for you pickup pros....what is the ultimate material and if you have a source you want to share Id appreciate it. Im thinking Nickel Silver but open to other ideas based on your experience. Depending on the costs of the material and time I may be able to produce these on a semi large scale. Pretty sure I couldnt compete with the Chinese slave labor prices. But my main concern is always TONE!! I am a weekend warrior luthier and I want some unique handmade covers for my guitars!! A mini humbucker with a Dearmond foil style design comes to mind

[David Schwab]

Nickel Silver is the material to use. Stainless steel would be a good choice too, but is obviously hard to work with.

If you came up with a good cover people here would be interested.

[jonson]

nickel

Spot on David. I make Dearmond covers in all styles, and nickel sheet is the best. Non magnetic and no plating if you have good polishing facilities. Did try different grades of stainless and too many down sides to it. Work most of the time with .6mm and have been down to .5 and both work well once your punch is setup right. Less than that is liable to tear a bit. If your tooling guy is goood then he will do all the cutouts in the same tool whereas I have to machine mine in afterwards.

[David Schwab]

Did you once post some pictures here of your DeArmond covers Jonson, or was that someone else?

I'd love some of those style covers. I think those are some of the nicest pickup designs. Too bad they got a cheap image being on Silvertones and Harmonys.

[belwar]

After doing tons of looking for unique pickup covers I see there is a limited supply of diversity. Sooooo I spoke with the machinist where I work and he says its a simple matter for him to build a die and they have a 400 ton punch press for making these kinds of items. My question is for you pickup pros....what is the ultimate material and if you have a source you want to share Id appreciate it. Im thinking Nickel Silver but open to other ideas based on your experience. Depending on the costs of the material and time I may be able to produce these on a semi large scale. Pretty sure I couldnt compete with the Chinese slave labor prices. But my main concern is always TONE!! I am a weekend warrior luthier and I want some unique handmade covers for my guitars!! A mini humbucker with a Dearmond foil style design comes to mind

At first glance a pickup cover look like an easy thing to stamp. However there is a lot more to a good humbucker cover than just stamp and go. I had a discussion with TV Jones recently and he told me the design of his covers cost him almost $20 grand. The stamping has to be done in multiple steps with some good accuracy.

While you may not be able to beat chinese prices, most covers today come out of Korea or Japan, and not China. Some even come out of Germany. Look at the "dead mint club" or DMC covers out of japan, they are a frickin hundred bucks .. and they arent THAT good IMO

[jonson]

covers

Yes Possom has a thread on page 10 Harmony h44 pickups and I stuck some pics there although they have gone a lot further now. Spoke to Jason at the time and I think he was gonna go ahead and try to produce some which would be handy for anybody to buy if he did enough of them. I only make for myself as I am so limited on time to get everything done that I have to do. Maybe post some finished pics in all their glory after xmas. I am like quite a few and just love anything by Harry.

[belwar]

Im currently working on a repro of the 1100, but dont know if I want to invest in the casing. For the number that are going to be made I made just machine them them out of a block instead of stamping them. CNC's are great for that - press a button and five minutes later you have a casing.

[pickupjunkie]

thanks

I appreciate ya'lls input greatly. I do agree that its a process to build the covers but fortunately I work for a company who does lots of that kind of work so they are well equipped and have lots of experience with that particular process (I do not I work in a different division outside the machine realm). I guess I should have said "its a simple matter to make them IF you have the equipment and experience LOL" Hes a friend of mine too and said the only costs I would incur would be the nickel and my time to do the actually forming and trimming.

Thanks again !!! I will advise as we progress...

[Possum]

...

I believe its called "deep drawing" process the covers aren't stamped on one punch but several strokes, not a simple process....

[pickupjunkie]

yes sir

Yes Dave its a process . depending on the depth of the cover and the material the number of dies used to form the metal. I have sketched out a few different ideas but haven't settled on one I want to go with yet.

does that pig 90 of yours have to have a humbucker cover??

heck I'd like to have a nickel silver cover for a soap bar P-90 if nothing else.

[jonson]

Double drawn.

If memory serves me right paf covers were double drawn, second hit tighter.
Had a few tell me I was attemptiing something difficult when I first started my covers but I got round all that. My tooling is all made out of scrap steel and the only help was an engineer friend who knew nothing about press tools , but we put our heads together and I now press 3 different depth covers and have very little problem. You have a press tool engineer there and 400 tons. I have 1/2 ton 1 ton and 5 tons and it works. So just go ahead Junkie and use what you can and I do wish you success. You will find the pitfalls as you go along but if you are determined and your guy is good well there are pleanty of guys on here thet will buy a few if not many off you.

[belwar]

Any chance you might post some pictures of your tooling? I would love to see how that is done!

[jonson]

tool

did that on the Rowe pup thread page 35 and only changes have been some added plates to change depth and different plates to accept different size blanks.
Just a block with a hole in it and a punch, nothing fancy.

[pickupjunkie]

Absolutely will throw up some pics and info

I have found the pros on this board to be a ton of help and more than willing to help me out! I will most certainly post up some pics of the tooling and process.

As far as engineering I am fortunate to have the guys that are as fanatical about that as you guys are about pickups LOL! The response from the lead guy was "OHHHHH hell yeah that would be a cool project" when I asked about them helping me out with it. They would get a kick out of getting props from the guys who make the top of the line pickups.

Thanks again for all your help....

[pickupjunkie]

I like your work jonson

did that on the Rowe pup thread page 35 and only changes have been some added plates to change depth and different plates to accept different size blanks.
Just a block with a hole in it and a punch, nothing fancy.

Your work is most impressive and really is what spurred me into deciding to have a go at it myself!! although to be honest I wont be able to take much credit for it.......... but I have no problem giving credit where credit it due...its a time honored tradition unfortunately it isnt being honored as it once was...