Pickup Question

[Kim]

I've been contemplating on swapping out my active EMG pups for some aftermarket passive pups.  I've always always used EMGs, but lately I've been wanting something a little different.

SC has some pups in the Sale section, and the Breed and PAF Pro that he has are interesting to me, and the price is certainly good.  I'm being extra picky about the looks though.....If I was to change out my pups for passives, I want them to have the nickel covers like this:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DP261FN

The DiMarzio website isn't very clear (to me) about whether these pups are available with the nickel covers or not.   Is it possible (or even worth the trouble) to add those nickel covers if they aren't already on there?  I want them for purely cosmetic reasons and to add that particular "vintage" look to one of my "modern-pointy" guitars.  EMG makes some pups now that resemble that, but I'm thinking of trying passives again.

[mqqse]

You can get covers and solder them on, it's easy.  You'll need a 40w iron to do it.

[Systematic Chaos]

Since both the Breed and PAF Pro have 2 rows of allen/hex polepieces the covered versions (from DiMarzio) look like this:



You can order the covers directly at DiMarzio (sales@dimarzio.com) in a variety of finishes (gold, chrome, brushed nickel, matte black, aged nickel) for ~12$ per cover

...or you can get covers here (don get mislead by the description "DiMarzio Spacing; you'll need F-spacing):
http://www.axesrus.co.uk/Humbucker-Cover-German-Silver-Nickel-12-Scre-p/lpc026dm.htm

I personally wouldn't try to solder a cover to a HB baseplate....the amount of heat required to get a good solder joint might have a negative impact on the HBs wax potting...just sayin'....
Aesthetics-wise (since the hex-poles on both PAF Pro and Breed are the same size) you could swap one row of black from the PAF Pro with one row of chrome from the Breed....

[Harley Hexxe]

Be careful taking out those pole piece screws, a guy I knew a long time ago de-polarized a pickup doing that, and ruined it.

[rnolan]

Apart from the aesthetics, I like (prefer  :dunno: ) the sound better with covers.  Back in the day we were all in a hurry to ditch the covers and see the bobbins, I've gone full circle happy to never see one again), also strings can catch under the bobbin, usually top E and break the coil  :dunno: I killed a really nice SD tele neck PU because of this  :facepalm: , it used to catch often, then, once to often...

[Dante]

It's not the same look, but Stewmac sells flat black plastic covers that look like EMGs. No solder required, just slip the pickup inside and attach your PU ring. The bottom of the cover is too big to slide out of the ring.

I have a set on my Steinberger

[Systematic Chaos]

Be careful taking out those pole piece screws, a guy I knew a long time ago de-polarized a pickup doing that, and ruined it.

No worries with these here. In SCs and older pups it was the polepieces/slugs that were the magnets. In these DiMarzios there are bar magnets underneath the coils. If you wanna be on the absolute safe side swap the pieces from one pups north coil with the others north coil. No biggy
Also, hex poles, slotted screw poles and plain slugs affect the pups tone

[Harley Hexxe]

That would make sense, that was a Gibson pickup from the 70's that happened to. I guess that explains it :thumb-up: