How to remove pickup covers.

I want to tart up the pickup covers on my super headless -



Having unscrewed the pickup surround, I've found that the backplate has been soldered to the cover.
I'm pretty sure it's ok to just melt the solder here to remove the cover, but just in case....

IS IT OK TO DO SO?? :?:







Also, I want to redo the logo on the bridge cover - is it Polly who sells the transfers for this?

Many thanks!

Chay

Hmmm, nice!

That looks like road worn mojo... I would leave it but if you want to touch it up, why not just tape the bottom pickup and just re-spray the top!

If you do remove the cover, can you please take pictures of the pick up? I have a bass coming my way with a blade hum and uncertain if original...

For the bridge, I think that you would be better off painting in the missing parts since a decal would not stay...

Good luck!

Just painting the tops would probably do the trick, as long as you're careful, eh!! A decal under a poly coat or two would be OK; I use that system for putting the decals on German helmets and it works just fine.

Nope; it wasn't Polly; it was someone she had teed up and whom I used as well a year or two ago but I don't think he does it anymore. Someone in here has done this before - hopefully they'll pipe up and save the day!!

As you only want to refinish the p/up's & they don't have pole piece holes, there's no reason to take the cover off the Humbucker's.

Best to remove them complete by un soldering the wires at the pots, taking them off the Bass to refinish them, if that a problem. As Frenchy & Corsair said, mask off the body well & refinish them in situ.

To de solder anything that is solder in more than one place may not be as straight forward as it first may seem. In this case if you were to try & melt both sides at the same time you would need to get it too hot & what are just solder tack's may run further into the gap, sweating the covers on even more in the process. If your proficient at soldering there are solder sucker to suck up solder as you melt it but I wouldn't advise that method.

In my case I needed to re gold plate the Humbuker covers on my Prestige 250, which meant having to remove them. The covers are only surface tacked so I carefully cut through the tacks with a thin knife blade, leaving the solder in tact all ready to re run to tack them back on when assembling

I suggest for the bridge cover you could silkscreen the logo.
Or have it done at a silkscreen printer fascility near you.

Silkscreen printing is a fairly simple technique. If you're adventurous you could give it a try yourself.
Here's a guy who used it on his motorcycle. http://ezscreenprint.com/russellspeer.aspx
He did not use Jacquard Screen Printing Ink (paint)
Maybe if you email the company they can tell you how to proceed.
A lot is explained on site though.
You could test print because the other great thing about it would be your silkscreen is re-useable!

To start with, if possible, make a scan in high resolution of the bridge cover.
You, or the print company will need it to restore the logo outlines.
Or you could go with the logo Dreamraven used for his T-shirts. I don't know how crispy that is.
The higher the resolution the crispier the result.

Good luck.

Many thanks for your help, as suggested I left the pickup in situ while respraying - will post piccies soon!

My housemate runs a t-shiry printing business so will see if he can do the bridge (may have a go at doing pickup logos too!)

chaypup wrote:... (may have a go at doing pickup logos too!)

Oohhhh..... that's gonna be VERY popular if you can pull it off. Sarcaster's leprechaun will be calling soon.