Why use pickup covers?

[Ruben]

Maybe it's just simple because everything put over the pick ups changes the sound for the worse??? Does it actually change the sound? Why put a cover over the pickups? Just for safety so no one can actually spil his beer?

Ed didn't use any pickup covers.

This is what I use for bridge pickups (all in Les Pauls)

* Gibson PAF (7.87 K Ohm) : more 'crispy' hights very touch responsive, beautiful clean

* EVH '78 (8.77 K Ohm) : not as 'crystal clear' as my PAF, but MORE mids. Nice top end response

* SD Antique (1994, 8.46 K Ohm) : very close to the original PAF

So I have actually removed all the pick up covers years ago.

and do notice a slight change in sound (when I put them back on)
but not that much though....

Does it make the pickup respond better to the strings since theirs no cover to absorb some string vibration / sound perhaps?

Thanks!

[Bainzy]

The big mass of metal that is indeed a pickup cover acts like a capacitor, sending high end frequencies to ground; that's why you notice the sound difference when taking them off.

The only reason I can think of that covers have been used on pickups is for appearance, and on some guitars I quite like the look of covers. For my next guitar I'm getting a Bareknuckle pickup with this cover on:



(burnt chrome)

[JD]

The true reason is it acts as a shield, filtering out RF interference, sorta like shielding a signal wire. I suppose it protects the bobbins, and also gives a certain cosmetic look. And, yes, it will peel off a bit of the high frequencies as well.