pickup cover (hell)

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:45 am

How do you remove a humbuckers pickup cover, as my soldering iron wont melt whatever type of super solder they used when the cover was put on?

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:07 pm

you cant.

i tried doing this with the Epiphone humbuckers that came with my wilshire. there were some very funny videos of me attempting to do this on the internet before i took them all down because i was drunk / swearing in 90% of them

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:27 pm

robroe wrote:you cant.

i tried doing this with the Epiphone humbuckers that came with my wilshire. there were some very funny videos of me attempting to do this on the internet before i took them all down because i was drunk / swearing in 90% of them

I gave up after about an hour, however the fact that someone else tried and failed makes me feel a bit better. I thought I was doing something wrong... fuck epiphone and their indestructible solder.

ultratwin · Post by **ultratwin** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:57 pm

Joy-killing industrial solder FTL.

Those videos were almost as frustrating to watch as what Rob had to have been feeling. It seemed like the Bucker covers would have glowed red before letting loose.

chisa · Post by **chisa** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:29 pm

i cut the solder with a dremel to remove some squire covers

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:45 pm

robroe wrote:you cant.

You can. I did mine, It just took a very long time, and I think I had to break the solder rather than melt it.

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:18 pm

as you can see there are posters that are more industrious (less drunk) than robroe

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:20 pm

More stoned, is probably the answer. That pickup cover became all consuming, and devoured hours of concentration. It paid off, though, I achieved something that day.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:17 am

Anyone tried one of these?

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:22 am

i used a 140watt craftman gun on my epiphone pickups.....

not sure what that weller model is rated at

cobascis · Post by **cobascis** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:14 am

NickS wrote:Anyone tried one of these?

I have, actually. Bit overkill for guitar electronics but a necessity when dealing with epiphone evidently.

Will · Post by **Will** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:53 am

I just cut a hacksaw blade into a little tool and sawed through it. It's lead and tin, so it cuts fast.

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:11 am

I use one of those gun soldering irons. Good stuff.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 4:37 am

chisa wrote:i cut the solder with a dremel to remove some squire covers

This!

You can also use a razor blade and a lot of force; dremel is by far the easiest though.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 12:32 pm

robroe wrote:i used a 140watt craftman gun on my epiphone pickups.....

not sure what that weller model is rated at

That's only 100W so if your 140W gun didn't do it I guess the Weller wouldn't.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:00 pm

Cut it with a thin rotary sanding disc for dremel.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 3:25 pm

Ok, so after reading all these posts I tried again and succeeded, however the insides of the pickup are in bits I expected the pole pieces and the wire bobbins (or whatever you call them) to be attached to the back plate but there not theyâ€™ve just been left to rattle around inside the cover. No wonder they always sounded a bit duff.

so all this has been a waste of time once again ...FUCK epiphone

Asher · Post by **Asher** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 7:43 pm

Poor man's gibson.

Did you use a dremel or melted the solder off?

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:37 pm

Asher wrote:Poor man's gibson.

Is it much easier to take the covers off a Gibson humbucker? I suppose that's worth paying over a grand for.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Wed Mar 24, 2010 11:03 pm

Asher wrote:Did you use a dremel or melted the solder off?