Sick of humbucker covers...

[David Schwab]

Zhangliqun, following Possum's coments, i sort of remembered something about crystal structures and things, and iirc, what you want is cold rolled steel, which puts all the "fibers" the same way. Tho, i thought in a pickup, steel being magnetic, it would reduce the efficiency, or kill the pickup altogether. I don't know about copper and brass behavior regarding to the magnetic field, but it might be worth testing with a gaussmeter and a compass the magnetic field through your covers and other materials. If what you need is non magnetic, you could use pure iron, with no carbon, no zinc, no nickel. As well, avoid platings containing nickel or zinc. One thing which i would try is to heat to the red a cover, sweeping from side to side quickly to avoid melting it, to see if it does anything, heat should burn the carbon content of steel, in steel covers, so they'd be less magnetic. Huh, Ps: Sorry for my lack of proper english terms for techncal descriptions, and my lack of knowlege.

You don't want steel or iron.. both are magnetic. If you have a magnetic substance between the strings and the pickup, it will be a path of least resistance to the flux path, and it will flow through the case instead of the strings.

Nickel is magnetic, but nickel covers are really made from copper, with some nickel and zinc. Copper and brass (which is copper and zinc) are non magnetic. Non magnetic covers still produce eddy currents, which produce magnetic fields that interfere with the pickup.

The thicker the case, the more eddy currents. Also the area matters. If you cut the case in half, you would eliminate a lot of the eddy currents. Or make it from many thin layers laminated together.

Possum had a good post about sanding a cover very thin. That's what we need. Thin metal covers.

A truly almost transparent cover would be nickel plated plastic.

[Satamax]

Hi erybody!

David, that's what i thought, "no steel", Started to state this, but got carried away. Remember, i know nothing. I don't know where i got this, but seemed to remember that pure iron is non magnetic, but no, it's the contrary! Sorry for going astray, and talking out of my ass! (smells bad hey )

Bye.

Max.

[Arthur B.]

What about aluminium? It's nonmagnetic, shiny, and cheap.

[Zhangliqun]

Interesting... but maybe it's hard to plate?

[black_labb]

Interesting... but maybe it's hard to plate?

aluminium is not hard to plate, and you can also anodise it which can give you plenty of colours if thats what you are after.

[Ruel]

aluminium is not hard to plate, and you can also anodise it which can give you plenty of colours if thats what you are after.

One can also go with brushed aluminum.

[Satamax]

Or "la crème de la crème" Engine turned" covers. For thoses who have access to the mimf library, check "David Eldredge's engine turned hollow-body electric guitar milled from a single billet of aluminum " that guitar is impressive. Actualy, David has a site

http://www.metalcarver.com/

[Mark Hammer]

I'm curious as to whether the Filtertron-type cover that provides only partial shielding has the same tonal impact as a PAF-type cover. Anyone know?

[David Schwab]

I'm curious as to whether the Filtertron-type cover that provides only partial shielding has the same tonal impact as a PAF-type cover. Anyone know?

I think the top cutouts are there to improve the tone by breaking up eddy currents on the front surface. Combine that with breaking the shorted turn by cutting a slit in the cover, and I'd bet they would have minimal impact on the tone, compared to no cover at all.