Nail polish on those darn pickup poles?

[isteen 18]

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

[hooky_lowdown 951]

Putting some tape over the strings will help. Alternatively you could get some of these 'closed pickup covers':

[hooky_lowdown 951]

Nail polish is not a good idea.

[isteen 18]

1 minute ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Putting some tape over the strings will help. Alternatively you could get some of these 'closed pickup covers':

I hope you mean putting tape over the pickups 😉

 

[Bigguy2017 151]

25 minutes ago, isteen said:

 

I've heard of tape wounds; is this a way to make your own crappy😁 Elixir copies? 

[Jean-Luc Pickguard 1,377]

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.

[Muppet 423]

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....

[nilebodgers 383]

I just pop the covers off and stick some little plastic packing pieces on top of the bobbins so the pole pieces are flush. I have done this on both J and P pickups.

[isteen 18]

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?

[Muppet 423]

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?

[mickster 16]

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 May 17, 2020 by mickster

[mcnach 2,814]

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.

[mcnach 2,814]

On 15/05/2020 at 13:54, hooky_lowdown said:

Nail polish is not a good idea.

 

why?

[mcnach 2,814]

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. 

[mcnach 2,814]

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)

[Maude 6,123]

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? 

[isteen 18]

On 17/05/2020 at 15:27, mcnach said:

 

why?

I'd like to know why

[JazzLobster 3]

I just did the nail polish thing on my jazz basses, it worked great. I used the Top Coat 2 from DM, did a couple of layers and made sure to get the angled part between the top and side of the pole piece. Now there's no sound I accidentally touch the pole pieces.

[acidbass 238]

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!

[MartinB 166]

The varnish itself is probably safe, but I've definitely melted pickup covers with nail varnish remover (acetone) before.

[StickyDBRmf 222]

I go to the salon they do my toenails too. (sorry, couldn't help myself)