Hello fine gentlemen - which material do you prefer for a Tele neck pickup cover?

[achase4u]

I know. I know. It depends on the wind. The magnet. The desired whatever. Just wondering what you guys like and why.

Ive been stocking both lately. Definitely calls for a different recipe if you use brass...

Nickel-silver obviously being the brighter sounding. It seems to be it still has a bit of a covered sound, which is good in my opinion. It isnt nearly as dark as brass to my ears. It's also a tougher material than brass. The tabs break quite easily on the brass covers, not so much on the nickel-silver.

Do you suppose Leo used brass because it was soft and easy to form the cover? Do you think he had any knowledge of the eddy currents involved and affect on tone brass had?

[Zhangliqun]

Don't know what Leo liked or preferred. What I do know is al fresco is best. Even nickel silver covers will dull the tone some.

[RedHouse]

It has been written about Leo, that his aim with the Tele neck pickup was to emulate that era's big-box "jazz" guitar sound which was a warm rich tone quite unlike the tone his bridge pickup was getting, I'd bet he knew exactly what he was doing when he applied the metal covers to the Tele.

[David Schwab]

I think he had covers on the neck pickups for the same reason he had a cover over the bridge/pickup. For shielding.

[achase4u]

I think it was shielding too - but then again his idea of shielding didnt make alot of sense to me. I dont really know jack about jack, but why shield the top and sides of one pickup and just the bottom of another???

[Berman]

Perhaps ...
because Leo had a large metalic cover over the Tele bridge (and pickup).
With the shielding of the bottom (brassplate), the bridge pickup is shielded from nearly all sides.
The neck pickup is not so 'hot' winded, so it is not so sensible for interferences.
Greetings Hermann

[achase4u]

Thats so true, the ash tray cover. So few people use it, I didnt even think of it. Good point.