Best place to by nickel silver.

[David King]

I'd go for the alloy with lower conductivity on the assumption that it will result in less eddy currents. There may be a table that shows conductivity, perhaps at copper.org?

When folks solder up a pickup cover, what thickness do you generally use?
What's the typical thickness of a stamped cover?

[David Schwab]

I'd go for the alloy with lower conductivity on the assumption that it will result in less eddy currents.

Seth Lover wanted to use stainless steel.

If you want to get rid of eddy currents, and are only using nickel silver for baseplates, then don't use metal baseplates.

[soundguruman]

When you say solder, and you are talking these metals, it's usually with a tiny little O2 torch (a jeweler's rig), hard silver rod solder, and a special flux (safety silv).
Be very cautious not to inhale the fumes from soldering these materials. The fumes can cause blindness or death. The fumes are toxic. There is always a small trace amount of cadmium involved when you are talking nickle and silver. It can't be helped. The cadmium is a trace element that is mixed in with these metals, in very tiny, small amounts.
Usually, a fume extractor is used, that is equipped with multistage HEPA filters. Nickle itself is also toxic.
And that probably explains why covers are usually stamped out, and not often soldered together.
Red smoke-is the clue that trace amounts of cadmium are oxidizing in your solder process.

[enkindler]

There are many Cadmium free silver solders now but you are still using acid fluxes. The disposable welding respirators are cheap these days and they should be used along with good ventilation when ever you solder, braze or weld.

Silver soldering is expensive, unlike silver nickel silver solder actually has silver in it, the prep is involved and it takes a lot of labor to make it look pretty once you are done.

But if you are a small fry and or a hobbyist it is a lot less expensive than a deep draw forming press and die.

I buy normal sized covers but some oddball pickup shapes are unavailable.

[copperheadroads]

I buy my Nickel/Silver sheets up in Canada......... A

[soundguruman]

I think I should mention safety, in case the experimenter is unfamiliar.
The first time I soldered cadmium, I was lucky not to have killed myself,
and the experimenter should stay more informed than I was.
Check on the toxicity of the metal you are soldering first.
Smoke from certain metals causes death on inhalation.
Safety first, rock and roll second.

[marku52]

I buy my NS from McMurry metals in TX. they seem to have the best prices, online metals shipping seems very steep. I use .020" for cans, and it draws quite well. the eddy current losses mellow the sound somewhat. usually Q drops about .1 point once canned.

[David Schwab]

There are many Cadmium free silver solders now but you are still using acid fluxes.

Do you have to use acid flux?

[Joe Gwinn]

Do you have to use acid flux?

Not for soft soldering, I think. Maybe plumbers flux.

For true silver soldering (at red to orange heat), all the fluxes are a bit nasty, and the fumes should not be breathed. But a whiff or two won't do anything lasting, but you'll wish you hadn't.

[soundguruman]

safetysilv

[Joe Gwinn]

BY "safety silv", all they mean is that the alloy contains no cadmium. But flux fumes are still nasty.

I've used lots of cadmium since I was young. In fact, most hardware that is zinc plated these days was cadmium plated back then, and I soft-soldered it all the time using plumbers' flux (intended for copper pipe).

If one brazed it (red to orange heat), one had to be careful of the fumes. This is true of zinc as well, or any other volatile metal. Nor are flux fumes of any kind good for breathing.