Need humbucker covers quick...sources???

[Possum]

Guitar Jones is out of 50mm string spacing covers for 3 weeks, Stew Mac looks like doesn't have any for a month, I only have 6 covers left and too many orders over that. Andy doesn't answer his email so far, anyone got a source for nickel silver covers. I need about 20, also looking for another wholesale source to buy a large lot of them. Dave

[JGundry]

The last order of All Parts humbucker covers I got looked just like the Guitar Jones covers. The old All Parts covers were taller than they needed to be but the top side looked closer to vintage covers that the Guitar Jones covers. Now they appear to be the same as the Guitar Jones Covers.

[WolfeMacleod]

I need about 20, also looking for another wholesale source to buy a large lot of them. Dave

I've got 'em, but they're almost $100/pair.

[Possum]

I'll take 60

$100 a pair, I think I'll pass on that. All Parts are 1 15/16" string spacing, Stew Macs are 1 31/32" and they are out of them for a month. I guess this stuff must all come over on the same boat, curious they would all be out of them at the same time. I think I'll hook up with Andy, don't know what his are like, but don't have much choice here. It blows my mind that no one in America makes this stuff, what a country.....
You all realize of course that if North Korea nukes S. Korea we're all out of business instantly.....

[TD_Madden]

These any good?

http://www.bestguitarparts.com/guita.../Pickup_Covers

http://www.wdmusic.com/pickup_covers_13623_ctg_1.htm

http://www.guitarpartsusa.com/cat--G...pplies--MAIN22

[JGundry]

A heads up to anyone that orders bobbins and covers from All Parts. They now carry the Guitar Jones size cover and it will not fit the All Parts bobbins but it will fit the Guitar Jones bobbins perfectly. I placed a large order with All parts a couple of weeks ago and I noticed that the covers were shorter. I still have some of the old covers that I am using. This thread prompted me to check the new All Parts covers against the old. The new All Parts covers will not work at all with the All Parts bobbins. Why would they do this? I have no idea. I called them today and they said that I have to ask for the old covers and that they are out of them but will get more.

So does anyone have another source for the taller old style All Parts covers?

[Spence]

There's a pattern emerging.....

It seems like we all perodically run into problems of part supply. I'm starting to wonder if this is a ploy to stop us competing with the likes of Seymour Duncan etc..

AllParts in the UK are utterly hopeless. They can't tell me if the bobbins they have are F spaced or not. This is partly because they employ people as part of a 'Care In The Community ' program designed to alleviate the overcrowding in British mental institututions.

I emailed AllParts in the US and they didn't bother to reply. This maybe because the guy who types had the week off. Actually since posting this, they have got back to me. So they're no longer available. No further info was offered so I'll just go elsewhere in future.

A few of these suppliers seem to think pickup makers are just a bunch of mis-fits to sell over-priced and incorrect parts to when, and only when it suits them.

It's about time they showed some respect.

[Sock Puppet]

Probably no use whatsoever to you over there but for the benefit of U.K. readers:

http://www.axesrus.com/axepupcovs.htm

S.

[Sweetfinger]

Lollar had some

A while back, Lollar was offing some old Allparts covers for good prices. He had since gone to his own supplier and no longer used the Allparts.

[WolfeMacleod]

[QUOTE=JGundry;5559]A heads up to anyone that orders bobbins and covers from All Parts. They now carry the Guitar Jones size cover....QUOTE]

I screamed at Steve about this back when they first got them. I'd ordered several gold covers, and they didn't fit right. I was not happy, and let Steve know it.
Yes, when there's an issue, I'm not the nicest about it...

Just another heads up: Anyone using the Allparts base-plates that have been re-tooled to take out the dents along the "walls" better check the location of the mounting in the feet. I've had to send back 200 base-plates to Steve. I'm super pissed. Pissed does not even begin to describe it. ALL of the retooled base-plates are PHUCKED.

Anyone wanna go in for tooling soon?

[JGundry]

Great now I have to check the base plates.

I would seriously be in on any effort to get tooling for humbucker parts that all fit together correctly. I like the All Parts bobbins but I have to assume that they will be switching the bobbins soon as their new covers do not even let the pole piece screws pass through the covers. All Parts does not even carry keeper bars. What's up with that? Stewart Mac has the same bobbins as All Parts but the Stewart Mac keeper bar does not work the All Parts bobbin if you use the All Parts screws. But the Guitar Jones keeper bar works with the All Parts bobbins even thought Guitar Jones covers won't work with the All Parts bobbins, at least this was the case the last time I checked. It is absolutely insane! It's like they are begging us to put them out of business when it comes to pickup parts.

Stocking parts is a headache with effect pedals simply due to the quantity and variety of parts. It seems like it should be a piece of cake to have a decent reliable source of the few purely mechanical parts that are needed to make an authentic PAF style pickup.

So anyone that is interested in getting the tooling done count me in. Email me, somebody, please, I'm quite serious about it. I only want to make humbuckers and it seems like the hardest part of the job should be making the pickups, not running in circles because of stupid decisions by suppliers.

[Stan H]

I usually buy all of my parts (or most) from Alex. They may not be ultra high quality but they all do seem to fit together ok...so far. The only problem that I have run across is the protective plastic that they put on the tops of their bobbins sometimes leave a oily stain. Seems to only affect the white bobbins.

-Stan

[WolfeMacleod]

Great now I have to check the base plates.

All Parts does not even carry keeper bars. What's up with that? Stewart Mac has the same bobbins as All Parts but the Stewart Mac keeper bar does not work the All Parts bobbin if you use the All Parts screws. But the Guitar Jones keeper bar works with the All Parts bobbins even thought Guitar Jones covers won't work with the All Parts bobbins, .

Absolutely dead perfect keeper bars made from 1018 steel can be got from a company called Merlin5 in California. Fully machined, perfect. They're $2 each, fit the Allparts bobbins and bases perfectly, and are the correct thickness and lenght so as not to pinch the lead coming out the leadout hole. (GJ keepers are not...)
At 2000 pieces, they drop to about $1.90 or $1.80 each.

[Mystic]

I don't make many (yet) but I would be interested as well.

[Possum]

skeptical.....

This idea of sharing in the tooling or buying of parts has been talked about alot before but seldom has anything happened. A couple weeks ago I emailed a few of the commercial members of the forum asking if they wanted to buy into a lot of 10,000 pole screws made vintage correct with correct alloy. No one even answered my email except for one guy who said he would go in but never sent the money. Most on the forum are hobbyists who just aren't going to pony up a couple hundred bucks because they just don't use much.

Dr. X swore he was going to make all these parts available and make them himself and do everything right, but nothing happened, its been over a year or more now and nothing.

StewMac has told me they are going to make more cohesive and better parts availalbe next year, this will be good but they only sell at retail prices, some of them are good most are horribly expensive and no wholesale discounts to builders. some of their current parts aren't so great. They told me they don't make much money on pickup parts.

I wonder if they'd be open to expanding their pickup parts operation to making alot of this stuff and selling wholesale to those of us who need ALOT of parts all the time, and a retail price for the hobbyists. Doubt it but maybe if a group of us talked to them as a whole they might pay attention. I don't know if they'd make enough money selling wholesale to be of interest to them. They own a big ass machine shop and pretty much can make anything they want to.

Buying as a group is tough, who owns the tooling? Who decides what specs to use? Who gets shafted if the product shows up and is crap? I'm always willing to share in a buy of a big order of parts that I am going to get, but sheesh, no one was even interested in good pole screws, and I don't really know who on this list are the real commercial makers who would spend a couple hundred bucks and be good on their word to send me the money on time. I found a local luthier/pickup maker who went in with me on this buy and we're splitting it up so its gone and done.

This parts thing is real discouraging, the only way to get ahead is to sink all your money back into having parts made rather than relying on the boat from Korea or AllParts and their seemingly total lack of knowledge about what it actually is they sell. I find it hard to believe that no one in the USA can make humbucker covers and sell them at a competitive price to Korea. This is depressing stuff, and I am glad I don't make my total living doing pickups, its insane, there's no reliability, suppliers don't think ahead, their parts change unannounced and they don't tell you till you open the package. Aaaargh....