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Nail polish on those darn pickup poles?


isteen

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I would really like to cover up the poles on my pickups, but I don’t feel comfortable to goof around with raisong the covers. I was thinking about nail polish, maybe that will do the trick? The problem is the “click” sound when the strings hit the poles.

Anyone tried the nail polish thing?

Will it damage the pickup poles?

Better solutions?

 

Thank you from Denmark

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You don't want to put tape or anything else on your strings. Just a strip of black electricians tape on each pickup. Standard clear tape like sellotape / scotch tape might also work, or another colour if you're feeling funky, but whatever you use, try to get something decent that won't go gummy and weird once its been on for a while.

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People have used clear nail polish for years on pole pieces to stop them going rusty and I don't think anyone has experienced any adverse effects?  I'd assume coloured nail polish would be the same....

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On 15/05/2020 at 18:53, Muppet said:

People have used clear nail polish for years on pole pieces to stop them going rusty and I don't think anyone has experienced any adverse effects?  I'd assume coloured nail polish would be the same....

I actually wrote Sandberg to hear if nail polish would damage the pickup/poles.

It should not damage anything, and they were interested in how it worked out for me.

I was hoping nail polish would stop the click sound when strings hit the poles. Any experiences with that?

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28 minutes ago, isteen said:

I was hoping nail polish would stop the click sound when strings hit the poles. Any experiences with that?

Not really. I don't think my strings ever hit the pole pieces.  Have you got a really aggressive playing style or are your pickups set really high?

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Clear nail polish here. Put it on a couple of P pickups years ago. Works well & no adverse affects.

For me it's to stop the slight 'pop' sound if my finger touches the pole piece; my strings aren't anywhere near enough to touch the poles.

Pro tip: take the plastic covers off the pickup before glooping the nail polish on. that stuff will melt some plastics...

Edited by mickster
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On 15/05/2020 at 11:02, isteen said:

I would really like to cover up the poles on my pickups, but I don’t feel comfortable to goof around with raisong the covers. I was thinking about nail polish, maybe that will do the trick? The problem is the “click” sound when the strings hit the poles.

Anyone tried the nail polish thing?

Will it damage the pickup poles?

Better solutions?

 

Thank you from Denmark

 

nail polish works very well, and you get a choice of colours ;)

However, I'd try to fix the problem first without nail polish: you need to ground the polepieces. If they're accessible from under the pickup, all you have to do is join them (conductive copper tape works, for example) and then join that wire/tape to ground. Then the polepieces will not make noise when you touch them.

If that's complicated... then yes, nail polish is an easy solution. I have done it in the past.

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3 hours ago, isteen said:

I actually wrote Sandberg to hear if nail polish would damage the pickup/poles.

It should not damage anything, and they were interested in how it worked out for me.

I was hoping nail polish would stop the click sound when strings hit the poles. Any experiences with that?

 

Yes, it works, it's easy to remove too in the future and it doesn't damage anything (just be sensible).

I still prefer to ground the polepieces first, if feasible. 

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2 hours ago, mickster said:

Clear nail polish here. Put it on a couple of P pickups years ago. Works well & no adverse affects.

For me it's to stop the slight 'pop' sound if my finger touches the pole piece; my strings aren't anywhere near enough to touch the poles.

Pro tip: take the plastic covers off the pickup before glooping the nail polish on. that stuff will melt some plastics...

 

oh yes, do it with the pickup covers off. I am not sure the covers will melt but it is a lot easier to do a tidy job if you remove them prior to coating them. I used the 60-second (Rimmel?) one, and just applied 3-4 thin coats. It stayed put for a few years (I no longer have that bass)

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On 17/05/2020 at 14:32, mcnach said:

 

oh yes, do it with the pickup covers off. I am not sure the covers will melt but it is a lot easier to do a tidy job if you remove them prior to coating them. I used the 60-second (Rimmel?) one, and just applied 3-4 thin coats. It stayed put for a few years (I no longer have that bass)

Did your bass then have the London look? 

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  • 3 months later...
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  • 2 years later...
On 07/09/2020 at 12:38, acidbass said:

Two small strips of paper/plastic/cardboard inside the pickup cover (between the cover and the pickup itself) help to lower the pole pieces so they are flush with the cover, or actually slightly lower than the cover.  Works a treat!


I might try this later, experiencing clicking on pickups when finger touches pole pieces after changing the covers. So just wondering which credit card do I cut up for this?

Edited by Sweeneythebass
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